perpetual anticipation is good for the soul but it's bad for the heart

[maxxx]

Comments

[drugdeals]

As far as she's concerned, I have no car, so I won't be anywhere near it.

( Before climbing into the car, he pauses. )

You guys be careful.

( And with that, he has to navigate his way toward the Loop (8), before taking his phone off airplane mode and navigating.

Shepherd scans the building.

"We should stay out of sight until she leaves. Sweets, what's Stiles' apartment number?" )

[geminated]

[Sweets supplies said apartment number, and Liv turns her attention back to the windows.]

We also shouldn't assume she's alone. I can do a cloaking spell before we head up.

[pricetags]

The old standard.

( He borrows some of Liv's juice in case he needs to do anything with it, she cloaks the three of them and they make their way up through the apartment.

Meanwhile, Liv's brother pulls into a garage, leaves the car there and finds a fancy French restaurant to drop a pin to.

Someone lent me a charger.
Really having a shit day.
Is this close to you? )

[likeababyduck]

[Jaqueline: Can be there in thirty. See you soon. And with that she will make her way out of the building and over to the restaurant in question, brushing past the three cloaked folks as they make their way up to Stiles' apartment.

Sweets leads the way, and when they reach Stiles' door, he glances down and frowns.]

That looks like mountain ash.

[He may be a human, but he knows how the world works.]

[pricetags]

( Shepherd shudders as Jacqueline passes right by them, but follows Sweets to Stiles' door. )

That's mountain ash.

( Inside the opposite apartment, Sierra's ears perk up (18).

"Who do we have here?"

She doesn't recognize either voice (10), but she comes closer to the front door. Should she interrupt, or should she listen? And then see what needs to be done? )

[impetere]

[As Liv drags her shoe through the line of mountain ash, breaking it, Cora's head snaps towards the door (20), when she hears the shuffling of voices outside.]

Someone's at the door who knows about mountain ash.

[pricetags]

( Stiles nat (20) really hones in how far he's come.

"Dr. Sweets," he says, speeding to the door in an instant and unlocking it. ) )

There's a sign, too. Offering --

( Stiles opens the door. )

cash.

( Stiles squints.

"Hello?" )

[likeababyduck]

Stiles! It's me.

[A beat.]

You can't see me. It's a cloaking spell. Let us in?

[phonetically]

Uh, come in.

( Sweets is under a cloaking spell? He steps aside, holding the door -- for what he thinks is a long enough time. After a delay, he pauses, and half shuts and then fully shuts the door.

He shrugs at Cora )

Hello -- all?

( Across the way, Sierra only hears cloaking spell but doesn't make the Parker-Gemini connection, only that Stiles has help.

She calls Jacqueline immediately... )

[likeababyduck]

[Liv drops the cloaking spell as soon as they're fully inside, and Sweets glances to the other two.]

Stiles, Shipp and Liv. They're friends. We got word that you might be in some trouble, fully verified by the fact that you weren't answering your phone or receiving texts and the mountain ash in front of your door.

[Jaqueline glances down as she parts ways with the ATM, and brings her phone to her ear. "Yes?"]

[phonetically]

( "Stiles has cloaked visitors," she says quickly, peering through the keyhole." )

They don't look like agents. And how do you know about cloaking spells?

( "Priorites," Shipp interrupts. )

Yes. We were stuck. Trapped. In order to pressure my friend to help them.

( Meanwhile, Sierra with a (19) starts a spell to carefully track the mountain ash telepathically, and slowly, to tighten the noose as it creeps under the door. )

[likeababyduck]

["Does he? Well, isn't that interesting." She tips her head to the side. "Should I put off Luke, or do you think he's part of the problem?"]

I know about a lot of things.

[They're going to need to have a much longer talk about the things he knows, but later.

Liv feels an itch of the magic in the back of her mind (12). She turns back towards the door and frowns. "I don't think we got in clean."]

[phonetically]

( "I think if he's a part of the problem, he and everyone else underestimated us. I can handle things here. Nail him to the wall."

Shipp feels more like a scratch, a (4), something he can't pinpoint. )

Cora, everyone - and my FBI shrink. We're not alone. Two women tried to babysit me - after trapping us.

( With a (15), Stiles looks back and spots the slow crawl of mountain ash. )

It's them, they're doing something.

[tearhiseyesout]

Have fun, babe.

[But with that, she will make her way over to where she's supposed to meet Luke. She slides into her seat at the table across from him, and flashes one of those uncomfortable smiles of hers.]

Luke.

[drugdeals]

( With his best feel-sorry-for-himself expression (16), Luke looks up from his phone. )

Jaq. I - can't even tell you how much this means to me.

[tearhiseyesout]

Of course.

[She crosses one leg over the other as she considers him. She can just smell the lie (17), but she's not sure why yet.]

Why don't we get a drink? From the sound of your day, it seems like you could use it.

[drugdeals]

Yeah, sure. I - should get back to the city soon, though. But, there's no harm in one drink.

( And of course, a transaction. )

I don't have much with me, but I'll double your supply the next time you need it, if you need it.

[tearhiseyesout]

[She shakes her head.]

Don't worry about it. It's on me.

[She raises a hand to flag down the waiter, before glancing over at him curiously.]

So what are you doing in DC?

[drugdeals]

( he sticks to why he was down in Maryland, continuing the lie (11) )

Weekend away with the new boyfriend. It didn't go well with my sister who had to go back to Baltimore, and then he stranded me. She's always lending me money and she's just going to say 'I told you so.'

[geminated]

[Liv turns, and when she spots what Stiles sees, she lifts her hands and starts to channel a wall of magical force, intending to knock the "them" in question off their game (15).]

Not this time.

[And yes, it's true that Liv can't see her but Liv Parker isn't a slouch of a witch either.]

[ostensively]

( The mountain ash dissipates in a flash of fire against Sierra's (10).

"Thank you Shipp or Liv," Stiles says, the fire traveling along the circle of mountain ash on all sides. Liv is just that powerful.

Before anything else can be done, Sierra comes surging down from the ceiling, phasing from the apartment across from them. The burst of magic as she drops to her feet sends Cora and Stiles to the ground.

She straightens up, standing tall. She sends a spell, attempting to drop EVERYONE to the floor (14)

et cincinno

[geminated]

[Cora just stays down (8). It's better that way. Sweets ducks behind the couch (18), to try and stay out of view now that the magic is flying. Liv catches the spell before it can connect with her, sending it back towards Sierra intending to knock her towards the door (20).]

That's a pretty fancy trick, dropping through the ceiling like that.

[ostensively]

( Running away from your destiny as the heir can't compare to Gemini power (6) sends Sierra back into the door, hard.

Stiles tries to pull himself up but gets slammed back down.

Shipp taps into his sister's magic and deflects (16).

"Is there another way out," Shipp asks.

"Fire escape," Stiles answers, through gritted teeth.

"Dimittis," Shipp says, releasing Cora and Stiles. )

[geminated]

[Cora scrambles up, pulling Stiles with her and gesturing for Sweets to follow as well. They head towards the back window while Liv stands where she is between Sierra and the escaping hostages.

She crouches down to meet Sierra's eyes, tipping her head to the side curiously.]

So I gotta ask, what did you expect to get out of this?

[ostensively]

( In a shady, last ditch effort to separate allies, her fingers slip from around Liv's wrist (4 vs 9) and she phases back out, sinking into the ground.

Shipp stays up on the landing, blinking.

"Really cool trick." )