best to take a moment present

[maleficum]

Comments

[maxxx]

I like to think I have more self preservation than that, but I didn't know about my gilded cage until now.

We're holed up in a Siberian hotel. Surprisingly swanky.

[tearhiseyesout]

David always had good taste in hotels. And I don't know that for the reason you think.

[Even if they were betrothed once, it was when they were seventeen and he wasn't sweeping her off to hotels for shenanigans.]

[maxxx]

I know. That's not our life. Never was.

[tearhiseyesout]

How'd the wild card work out?

[And by wildcard she means Rusty. The job seems to have been a success, so that's good, but is their secret weapon going to be continuing? Or are they starting from the scratch on an informational level.]

[maxxx]

Still singularly focused. Haven't seen blinders that in place since Preakness.

( does it smart? a bit. but he got his pipes cleaned otherwise and rusty was witness to the goodbye in the morning. it's whatever. clearly, he has feelings about this, though. she can read into that a mile away. )

[tearhiseyesout]

[Oh, yep, and she is definitely going to call him out on that.]

Is that a hint of bitterness I'm sensing?

[maxxx]

He turned me down.

But, if you're talking about bitterness, he's leading that parade. Not that anyone would blame him for what they put him through.

He's with us, but he made no qualms that it's body to body.

[tearhiseyesout]

[Jaqueline hasn't spent much time with Rusty by virtue of not caring, but he hasn't seemed ... unreceptive to Max's presence. But she's never imagined her brother lingering too long over rejection, beyond the fact that it doesn't help him often.]

Maybe there's something involved that he hasn't told us.

[maxxx]

( beyond him never having been rejected before. he's maxim. man, woman. who actually says no to him? he's the heartbreaker. he tows the line and finds his fun. but, something's niggling at the base of his spine with this guy. it's true. )

No, I think he just really wants everyone dead. Can't see past it. Again, I don't blame him

( but come on. even saying no to some recreation with him? )

What about you and Sierra? Guessing you're not anybody's favorites right now.

[tearhiseyesout]

[Yeah, Max has never handled rejection well, and this is no exception. But maybe it will give him a chance to learn and grow, but in the interim, she might go do some digging of her own. She makes a note to see if Sierra wants to go see their old friend Hallewell.]

We're fine. We spent several hours trapped in an FBI conference room because an uppity Gemini witch got involved.

[Quietly leaves out the fact that she sort of kidnapped her brother.]

[maxxx]

( first, he doesn't "take rejection well" because it doesn't happen to him. things have come easy. she has fear, he has charm. but that charm dies on the vine of an immortal inner circle member. )

She "got involved."

[tearhiseyesout]

[There's a long pause before:]

Okay, I may have held her brother hostage, but she stole the baby vamp out from under us first, I was just obtaining leverage.

[So not the point, the point is your sister's suffering, Max:]

Also the feds have an agent that can't be influenced by magic, so try not to get arrested by someone named Audrey Parker.

[maxxx]

She stole Stiles, so you stole....

If the plan ever involves getting arrested, steer clear of Agent Parker. No relation?...

[tearhiseyesout]

Luke Parker. But I don't think it counts as stealing when he came to me to try and get information out of me.

[Or at least that's how she'd argue it. She just didn't let him leave. But to his second question:]

No. She's not a witch.

[There's a pause, because remembering how it felt to put a hand on her, and she can't help but feel this sinking, horrifying sensation. Is this going to become an obsession? Maybe. Good thing she has better things to worry about.]

I don't know what she is. I don't think she's human.

[maxxx]

Our alchemist is Gemini.

Better to not end up on the wrong end of an FBI investigation, sis. Maybe let this one go.

[tearhiseyesout]

He is. Though I think he's resigning his post.

[Jaqueline doesn't know if she can. It's rare she runs into something she doesn't know, but she will at least promise to keep it to internet deep dives and not go confront the woman in person unless she has reason to.]

Fine. But if it turns out she's an eldritch beast from dimensions unknown, you're going to wish you had me digging.

[maxxx]

Pretty sure, you and I are his only Colony contacts, but he does play his client list close to the vest. I wouldn't be surprised if he wormed his way into the other families.

Not if I convert to Cthululism.

[tearhiseyesout]

We'll see. Sierra was with me so the Harpers are probably out too.

Then if you want to surrender to the madness of the beast, that's your own sanity to risk.

[maxxx]

Then we are probably his only Colony contingent. Or, we were. That dicks any alchemical needs we have.

You wouldn't save me from a Lovecraftian cult?

[tearhiseyesout]

I'll make it up to him. And if we're desperate, I have some other contacts.

[Of course she would save him from a Lovecraftian cult. But for the purposes of the banter:]

I'd like to believe you're too smart to get tricked into a Lovecraftian cult in the first place. But if you want to prove me wrong ...

[maxxx]

And it all comes out of in the wash!

[tearhiseyesout]

Sue me for having faith in your intelligence and sense of self-preservation.

[maxxx]

You really think you can sway him back into helping us. If we need it

[tearhiseyesout]

I think he's more pliable than his sister. And if I promise to set aside my irritation at his sister in exchange for his help ...

[She thinks he's persuadable.]

And honestly, I could have done much worse to him and I didn't. I think that should get me some points.

[maxxx]

And it's not like alliances are born and broken out of necessity. I agree.

Where are we meeting when we're back in the states?