best to take a moment present

[maleficum]

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[maleficum]

[David spends most of the initial time on the train sitting next to his husband fighting with Jaqueline in WhatsApp. He’s simply trying to confirm that they left Stiles alone and are moving on but Jaqueline is being difficult and decisively ends the conversation with a middle finger emoji.

Irina is curled up on the pair of seats ahead of them, swapped around to face him. Not long into the gentle rocking of the train car, she falls asleep and it’s only then that David decides to bring up the subject of what to do with her when there aren’t any little ears listening.]

We need to figure out where to send her.

[beanchaointe]

[Lydia spends most of the train ride back to Moscow lightly dozing against Harvey’s shoulder as some of the tension eases out of her. She doesn’t feel like she did much, in the grand scheme of things, but the moment she sits down she feels exhausted, almost as though all the worry and fear that was keeping her going and now she doesn’t have any energy left.

After that, David opens a door right back to her apartment and the two of them are home again, at least for her. She looks around her apartment, taking it all in again and takes a deep breath before rubbing the back of her neck.]

And now I feel like I should move.

[She’s sure the witches will find her whether she wants them to or not—they clearly did the first time—but that doesn’t mean she should make it easy on them.]

[wildkingdom]

[Malia does not set up shop near the rest of the group. She still doesn’t trust the witches—she doesn’t need to have been upstairs to know that—so she takes Parrish and grabs a pair of seats towards the back of the car. She angles herself slightly so her legs are kicked up over one of his, eyes looking out the window, ears picking up on snippets of conversation from the witches but purposefully trying to give Harvey and Lydia some privacy.

It’s a talent that took her a long time to develop, through years of relearning what it meant to be someone’s friend, and while she’s not sure she trusts Harvey, it’s Lydia’s choice. And given some of her past choices, he seems … okay. Human lawyer is one of the least dangerous options she could have gone with. And he was arguing for them with the help they provided so … at least there’s that.

She watches the snowy tundra pass them by as they head back into Moscow before glancing over to Parrish.]

How much time do you have left before you have to go back to Beacon Hills?

[an_honestword]

[There’s a kind of satisfaction that comes with killing something when you’ve spent a long time imagining their death. He’s killed Kirsanov hundreds of different ways in his mind, over and over again, some similar to the way he’s been killed in the past. So many deaths over so many lifetimes and he’s finally taken a definitive step forward to ending this curse.

Maybe he’ll still die and have to start all over again, but it’s one less target on his list. That’s progress, no matter what way you slice it.

He’s likely the most at ease on the train—seat reclined back, eyes closed—but he can sense Max’s eyes in the seats facing him.]

There something you want to say?

[swillpot]

[Annie Chen is a lot of things: impressively organized, a keen eye for detail, and always knows the right questions to ask to get the information she needs. Even if she weren’t standing in as the head honcho in charge while Alexander was in Moscow and Daniel was off doing business with Rowena, Alexander would still want her to be the one to help sort through the roughly twenty surviving members of Kirsanov’s collection, trying to figure out where to send them.

She unfortunately also has not the best bedside manner, so she tends to need a soft touch with her to sand down the sharp corners of her questions.

Alexander is happy to fill in until Taylor arrives to help, and as he goes to head to bed Annie has them sorted by most recently obtained (most likely to have family to return them to) to longest held (less likely to have an immediate place to go). He leaves them to their work and heads up to his room to find his boyfriend, and moves to sit on the edge of the bed next to him.]

How are you doing? It seemed like it was a lot.

[tearhiseyesout]

[She and Sierra find other ways to burn off their frustration—a nice dinner, some drinks, some other activities—which throughout all of David continued to be a buzz kill, so concerned about the leverage and not factoring in any concern for his two supposed best friends who happened to have a very terrible day.

However, after some of the energy has come down, she realizes that while David said the job was done, he didn’t say if there were any casualties. So later, when Sierra is asleep next to her, she reaches for her phone and sends out a WhatsApp message to her brother:]

You better not be dead.

[geminated]

[They make their way out of the FBI building, and then head back to drop Stiles and Cora off back at his place, and then they climb into Liv’s car, her in the driver’s seat, Luke in the front passenger’s seat and Shep in the back. Liv stares out the windshield for a moment, looking at the busy DC street, before glancing back at her brothers with a sigh.]

So that’s one way to spend a family reunion.

[The silent “now what next?” lingers in that statement. Their time together now is limited, even more emphasized by the fact that Shep’s phone dings, again, with a text from Annie.

We just had a big intake. Could use your help with placement. Do you need more time with your family?

There’s an apology in that text but duty calls, and work wasn’t going to stay away forever.]

[impetere]

[The Parkers drop them off and Cora looks over the mess that was created in Stiles’ apartment by the witch fight earlier. She doesn’t really know what to do, given that they were still finding their rhythm before the witches intervened. Now Stiles’ apartment is a mess, and while they’re finally alone, she feels like she’s back on the back foot.]

Do you want to stay here?

[She knows this is his home, but if he doesn’t want to be here, they have options.]

We could go get a hotel or something.

[gambled_ourmistakes]

So. What’s the verdict?

[The mark had shifted slightly as they arrived in Chicago but it’s not gone completely. Damian doesn’t know what to make of it, but he also doesn’t know what to make of the man studying his arm, introduced to him by Rowena as Daniel Abernathy, yes that Daniel Abernathy.

For a man of his reputation, he give off a rugged, gives-no-fucks air, but there’s a gentleness to him as he takes Damian’s arm, applying his practiced eye to the symbols seared there by magic they weren’t prepared for. Damian’s never had the opportunity to meet him before now, and to be honest he was fine with that, but there’s still something about the man that is impressive. He understands the power he commands just based on the factions of the world they play in, and Damian doesn’t intend to cross him.

But he hopes for answers that are better than what he expects.

“It’s definitely still a problem.” Daniel rears back and sighs. “The Colony likes backup plans for their backup plans, so while yes, Kirsanov’s death does change things, it doesn’t break the spell. There’s another person, likely another member of the Inner Circle, that set the trap with him.”

No, that’s not the answer he wanted.]

Lovely. That is unfortunate.