there are prizes all around you if you're wise enough to see

[praevaricatio]

Comments

[eredite]

[Somewhere Liv is sensing this young adult distrust and patting her on the back. Good, Lizzie, at least one of you is smart.

Alice is she that she and Lizzie will have to have a talk about Black Badge later, but for now she's focused on Archer and getting him out of their space as easily as she can. His question though, throws her for a loop because oh yeah. A person with common sense probably would have blocked him.

Alice didn't. Maybe that says something about her, that she's not as smart as she likes to pretend she is, but that doesn't change the panic that he sent her into when he just showed up. It doesn't change the boundary crossed, but it doesn't mean he can't see the conflict mixing across her face.]

I guess we'll never know, will we?

[kiwicompany]

( Her hurt, distrust, and wall she's now erected cuts him to the quick, so his voice lowers along with hers, ignoring Lizzie being there. )

I know I disappointed you royally, and scared you, and violated you and your friend's trust. But, I'm not going anywhere. You'd rather me than Janders. We both know I'm right about that. ( He sighs. ) Pretty silly of me to think you might be happy to see me, wasn't it?

( He moves past the both of them and turns back. )

Please give me a call, on your terms. It was - interesting meeting you, Elizabeth.

( He leaves them alone there. Stepping into the stairwell, he calls his other superior, Waverly. )

Hear me out.

[eredite]

[Well, he's not wrong there. She definitely doesn't want Janders to come sniffing around. And her face does flicker because while she can't help but churn in her stomach she knows there's a version of events where she would have been happy to see him.

But instead of saying anything, she just nods and lets her and Lizzie back into their room. She wants to trust him, she doesn't trust Black Badge, sorry Uncle Jeremy (9).

She props herself up on her bed, running her hand over her face before glancing around.]

I will explain but do you have a spell that lets you suss out like ... bugs? Like listening devices?

[She says out loud, but she's an Earp, and she knows how Black Badge operates.]

[bibrid]

( Lizzie locks the door to their room and turns back. How to go about this. How long until they can discuss how hot he is? But, to the point at hand. )

You really think he'd bug us? Black Bitches...

( She can work magic, not really electronics. )

I could fry our electronics, and the floor's, but we need electronics for school and I don't think my parents would chip in for replacements. We could talk... not here?

[eredite]

He wouldn't. But them ... better safe than sorry.

[But yes, they should go talk somewhere else. She'll see if she can borrow Waverly's bug detector and go through the room tomorrow.]

But yeah. Coffee?

[bibrid]

Like I'll ever say no to coffee.

( The Salvatore school ruined her for it. Had the best breakfast coffee.

They head to the student union, order their cafes. Lizzie sets her purse on the back of the chair to a table and sits. When Alice joins her, she blows on the edge. )

OK. Spill on what looks like musculature.

[eredite]

There is.

[Alice groans, before flopping her head forward into her hands. In other people she probably wouldn't be so openly thirsty, but at this point she knows that Lizzie won't judge her.]

He's so hot it makes me feel stupid sometimes. He did make me stupid sometimes. This is not the best place to start the story.

[She shakes her head before going to the top of the story.]

So back when I was in high school, Archer was a mid-year transfer. He was ... so cute, and he didn't look at me like the other guys at school looked at me and we got close. Which is all well and good until I found out he was an undercover Black Badge agent, and the only reason he was even talking to me was because he thought I could help him solve his case.

[bibrid]

( Lizzie has been there! Stupid dumb handsome vampire. Better left in the past. MG felt like someone she had to earn but therapy let her see him and their connection (and how he saw it) for what it was. She listens, sipping as Alice talks about high school. )

How old is he?

[eredite]

Nineteen now, I guess? He was eighteen then. He was an actual teenager, it's just ...

[Deep breath.]

His dad basically runs Black Badge. His dad also happens to be an old family friend, so we were all kind of pissed he didn't tell us. Turns out he had no idea this was going on and the training agent that Archer was working with went rogue to "give Archer the chance for undercover training."

[She rolls her eyes.]

It sucked, but we still had a monster to find, so we put feelings aside for the greater good.

[A beat, and this is the part that always feels awkward and messy.]

Once the greater good was achieved, I ... sort of slept with him. I figured it was just a get him out of your system sort of thing. People do it all the time. But that felt ... really shitty so I just sort of bailed while he was asleep. And then he left and I figured I was never going to see him again, until he showed up in our dorm room and now you're all caught up.

[Alice Earp: Stealth Messiness.]

[bibrid]

( her heart pace slows as she confirms he was of age and show was she comparatively. she doesn't like the shadiness of any of this, but she can definitely help with outsiders perspectives. )

Okay. Setting way aside the everything non-statutory, why was he even sent in the first place? Was your high school a hot bed of supernatural activity, they needed someone to be brought in?

( considering her history with the Salvatore school, it feels like overkill, major. )

And, like, you didn't know who he was because you never met? And your aunt had? Also, I wasn't there, but I know he didn't just spend time or pay attention to you because of the, like, mission. I mean, were you the target?

[eredite]

I mean, Purgatory was always a hotbed of supernatural activity. The Ghost River Triangle has decades of recorded supernatural activity. So it wasn't anything out of the ordinary but for some reason, Black Badge had a vested interest in it.

[They were supposed to talk to Wynonna and loop her in but that didn't happen.]

We had not met. He was adopted by Jeremy and his partner when I was in middle school and we hadn't had a chance to meet face to face yet. My aunt works for Black Badge though, so she had but she was also out of town on another case so she couldn't bust him.

[Would have made a lot of things easier if she could.]

I was not the target, but it was in the high school.

[bibrid]

If you weren't the target then why would he have to spend all that time with you? I know I wouldn't. I mean, I would because you're awesome. And that's why he did.

( Just listen to yourself. )

Going undercover is bogus, though. If you had gotten close, he should've told you who he was.

[eredite]

Yeah, that's the part that I had issue with. He didn't even have to, just fucking Janders convinced him that this would be good for his development or something.

[She rolls her eyes. She may be unhappy with Archer but Janders she wants to punch in the face.]

[bibrid]

... Right.

( She sips again, sets her cup down. )

Just asking, were you or I in any danger at all back there?

[stupetballs]

[In fairness to Archer, Waverly isn't concerned about him being around her niece. She knows that Alice came out this scenario at an eleven, mostly out of shock and surprise, Waverly knows Archer is a good kid.

Things are just complicated.

So the tone that greets him is calm curiosity, more than anything else:]

I'm listening.

[kiwicompany]

( he's expecting more than calm curiosity so he slows his pace on the stairs, stopping altogether. this won't be a contentious call, then. )

Hi, Waverly.

( and then he continues. )

When I realized Alice was involved in where I was assigned, directly involved, I didn't want to involve her in public. Until I determined what happened and what I was going to say to Janders, I thought it better to meet privately.

( he imagined what it might be like for her to find him in her room. maybe it could romantic. or a welcome surprise. but that's now how it transpired. )

I didn't want an electronic trail, or a paper trail. I startled her. I know that.

[stupetballs]

Okay.

[There is some logic to it, she'll give him that. But she also thinks she can gently maybe hope him see where he swung wrong there.]

When was the last time you and Alice actually talked?

[kiwicompany]

Not since I was recalled back to Black Badge.

( He didn't know if she even wanted to hear from him. And she never reached out. )

[stupetballs]

So you don't see how it would be a little weird for you to go from radio silence to suddenly appearing in her dorm room?

[Her tone isn't accusatory, just pointing out the small flaw in his logic.]

I don't think you were wrong for trying to be safe, but there were other options. Why didn't you call me?

[kiwicompany]

You don't think I know that now. I had this -- quite honestly, romantic notion.

( And botched it. )

...He asked to keep you out of it, said you were on holiday. Now I know he just wants the glory for himself.

[stupetballs]

Fucking Janders.

[Waverly doesn't drop F-bombs often but this particular agent deserves it.]

Where is he now?

[kiwicompany]

Janders? He's back at headquarters. He trusted me to handle it and, frankly, I'm not sure where his orders came from. Maybe my dad. He sounded the kind of concerned that might kick in if I discovered something major. And now I still have no answers... but I want to keep Alice out of it.

( he just can't go back without some kind of answers. )

[stupetballs]

Okay. Here's what we're going to do.

[She wants Archer to get his answers and she knows that Alice probably owes him something of an apology so maybe they can kill two birds with one stone.]

I'm going to send you an address. You are going to meet me there, and fill me in on your case, and I will do my best to get Alice there too, and you two can sort this out.

[kiwicompany]

I won't blame her if she doesn't make it.

( He fucked up. )

[stupetballs]

She'll make it.

[His phone dings with the address as promised.]

It'll be okay. C'mon, I'll order us some lunch.