coming at you fast, midnight

[cosmiccon]

Comments

[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?

[maleficum]

If we have help and a really good plan.

[There's five of them and ten targets. He drums his fingers against the table and starts pulling over the various condiments and decorations.]

Our parents are holding court in Baltimore.

[He'll use the napkin dispenser for that. Then he'll grab his set of cutlery and place it to the side.]

Wallace and Corsair Like to hob nob with the Ivory Tower. We don't want to get on their bad side, but if any of us has connections there or knows where they're hanging out these days, that's where we can start.

[None of them seem like they party with snobby vampires, but there are other ins among them.]

Hernandez is in Mexico City.

[He places the sugar packets at the far end of the table.]

She lives in a fortress not even I can get into. And that leaves Kirsanov.

[He holds up another silverware set.]

And no one has seen him in a decade. But as far as we're aware, he's still alive.

[praevaricatio]

( "The Ivory Tower has been doing business down in Louisiana out of a refurbished riverboat," Sierra starts, very familiar with their setup. "Gamblers wash their money for them and some of their acquisitions are on staff. Wallace and Corsair have gotten close to the manager there, Wren. He graduated from his civil service with them." And he's doing alright for himself, she makes it clear.

"The Gauntlet needs a majority. If we take our our parents, Wallace, and Corsair, it won't matter what's done by the time Hernandez and Kirsanov surface. And my money's on Siberia."

Sierra has a lot to contribute, but she also has a lot of time to make up. )

The Ivory Tower are negotiators first and foremost. We come at them right and they'll take are of Wallace and Corsair for us. If they're turned, if any of them are turned, that's it, that's their body for life. And they can forget about their magic and we can forget about a Gauntlet. So, the question is:

( "Questions. Several. Nothing is that simple," Sierra says."But, turning our parents, while making them actually and not magically immortal will cut them off from the Colony's shared source of power. Not that our parents will willingly ingest any vampire blood." )

[maleficum]

[He shakes his head.]

My parents need to be dead-dead. I don't honestly care to give them a second chance at immortality. And I have someone working on burning the bodies of the original witches to avoid any future possession.

[Jaqueline, however, leans back in her seat. "I think we should also consider that while the Gauntlet will be gone, the power vacuum won't be. There are some that are loyal to the Inner Circle, and we need to be prepared for them coming for us. We need to make a show of strength. So I don't think just making them vampires and calling it a day is going to cut it."]

[ostensively]

( "Not just our parents. If we do this, we do it one tier down. We think we have ten targets, but when a company cleans house, they don't just lob off the head of their... heads. Let's make another list." )

Loyalty doesn't die unless they do.

( "We have to Godfather them and then some." )

[tearhiseyesout]

[She lets the silence gather for a moment, before crossing one leg over the other. Because maybe the ruthless call isn't just stopping the Gauntlet. Maybe the play is letting it ride.]

Maybe instead of rushing to stop the Gauntlet, we use it to our advantage?

[Someone has to put the suggestion out there, and no one at this table is Glinda the Good.]

We have allies. People we could use. What if we let the Gauntlet start, and let the chaos do the heavy lifting for us. At least for those not directly in the Inner Circle.

[maxxx]

And, even non-witches will off a witch they want out of the chain of command. For some of our targets, all we'll have to do is point them in the right direction, wind them up, and let them fly.

( Ezra shakes his head.

"And what about everyone else. What about collateral damage? What happens when you get what you want and the Gauntlet continues. You started it, do you stop it?"

[tearhiseyesout]

I think we all need to get very comfortable with the idea that there's going to be collateral damage no matter what we do.

[Because they kill the Inner Circle before the Gauntlet, there's going to be innocent people dead in the power vacuum. They use the Gauntlet to their advantage, then it's the Gauntlet.

Either way, people die.]

So I think it's a better strategy that killing the Inner Circle is our way of winning the Gauntlet.

[praevaricatio]

How does winning the Gauntlet end the Gauntlet. Where is the guarantee you come out on top and the killing stops?

( Is there one?

"David, I liked your husband more when he was morally grey. What happened to the witch doctor trailing after the Doppelganger?" )

[maleficum]

[Jaqueline turns her attention on David. "You understand what I'm saying, don't you? This is your plan."

David places a hand on Ezra's leg under the table, because he understands what he's saying. He gets that. But they're going to war, and they're going to need to be prepared for all the death that's coming with them next.]

We're the heirs. If we kill the Inner Circle, the Gauntlet ends when we say it does. I don't think Jaqueline's wrong. No matter what we do, there's going to be collateral damage. And we need everyone here to be okay with that.

[praevaricatio]

( Do no harm's looking real good right about now, but he married into this. He knows what he signed up for. In sickness and in health. His hand covers his husband's and he goes silent, indicating he's - in.

"I think we need to ask the most important question," Max says.

"Who gets to ride on the riverboat."

But yeah. He's in too. Kill Parents is a go. )

[tearhiseyesout]

[With that, they settle in for dinner, quiet conversation and light plotting, but as things wind down, she waves Max off and says she'll catch up with him later. Then she waits out the husbands, and once they head off to whatever they're doing, she reaches for Sierra's hand gently.]

Hey. Are you sure you're okay with this? With giving it up?

[ostensively]

( her smile turns endearing as she cover's Jaqueline's hand with her own. )

You don't have to worry about me. I know what I'm doing. ( She squeezes her hand. ) We both do. Don't we?

[tearhiseyesout]

[Jaqueline nods. But from her perspective, she always had a feeling that her death would be a bloody end at the colony's behest. At least this time, she's going out on her own terms.]

Just making sure. How did things go with Danny?

[ostensively]

( Not if Sierra can help it. ) I said my peace and the door wasn't slammed in my face. And I -- micked him a bit.

( on the one hand, it looks like she helped him, but really she slipped him a little extra of his magic she recovered. if that made him a little wobbly, well, he's gotta get his magic on his own merits. she's not innocent. )

[tearhiseyesout]

[She nods slowly.]

Then I guess we'll have to see where things stand once the solstice passes.

[Either he'll be the heir, or he'll be dead, but it won't matter in terms of the Gauntlet. Just in terms of the supposed reward.]

[ostensively]

I'm not handing over his birthright he should be fighting harder for. He needs to toughen up or bow out.

( And the playing field needed to be evened. )

As for us, we need to strategize where we should position ourselves. And I know what you think I'm going to say, but, I think you and I have spent enough time apart. Do you think the boys would let me and you take one of the targets? Like old times.

[tearhiseyesout]

I think they'd be happy that we're occupying each other rather than troubling them.

[For the most part.]

But I promised Max I'd keep him in the loop. That we were doing this together too.

[ostensively]

Well, nothing says you can't keep the golden boy in the loop and partner up with me.

( Unless there's fine print she's missing. )

[tearhiseyesout]

Trust me. I always want to partner up with you.

[She smiles widely.]

Just wanted to let you know that I am keeping him in the loop.