everyonelives | i'm leaving you my last curse

Weren't involved from what I can tell, so they should be fine.

[She takes a deep breath, because really she doesn't know how this is going to fall out in the end.]

Wallace and Corsair put him up to taking a run at the Slayers. They blew up the castle in Scotland. Unfortunately for them, Buffy Summers survived, and probably has something to do with Brannigan's untimely demise.

[She doesn't know that the Butlers were there - Rusty left that part out.]

( Mixed feelings leak like a salve as she nods, head coming up, facing forward. )

Why would Wallace and Corsair... ( Almost opposite from her sinking down a second later, that strong arm pulls herself up to her feet as she heads back down, carefully, her heels clattering. She doesn't think Abernathy has joined them down here yet. ) The Gauntlet. But, they aren't witches.

Members of the Inner Circle are being picked off. Kirsanov and Hernandez are both dead already. I think they might have been under the mistaken impression that the Slayers were involved.

[Which, maybe there's a word where they could have been right. Instead ...]

Now they are involved. They're planning to hit the Riverboat.

( And she knows who. At least, initially. )

He can't be working alone, Donna.

( She knows the he to which she is referring as she crosses the warehouse floor. ) And now he has a pissed off slayer in his pocket. Wallace and Corsair ordered a suicide mission? They served Brannigan up on a platter, I don't what they think they were doing. They're getting desperate, which means every other witch will be right behind them. ( Drama aside, she has to check in, under the neon yellow light of the entryway. ) Are you okay?

They didn't do no damage. As far as I know, Buffy may have been the only one to make it out.

[But that's a question to sort out later. For right now, she tries to sort out how she's actually feeling.]

I can't believe he's actually dead.

[Not because she cared about Brannigan by any means, but because he's been such a fixture in her life that she doesn't know what to do with the empty space he left behind.]

And I don't know what the old man is going to do.

It's Buffy, the vampire slayer. I doubt she was a sole survivor. I also doubt the younger slayers got very far. Reckless.

( That is what matters more. )

Chances are, it hasn't gotten back to the old man yet. But when it does, he'll do what he always does. Trade up - or down, depending - take them under his wing, and start the cycle over. Along with a slow, methodic, decades long revenge on them and their ancestors.

( He's brutal. Like a science. And not to be trifled with. )

But, first he'll mourn.

( And that will last a while. He is a maudlin person. )

Brannigan always was his favorite.

[Donna was the apple of his eye for a while, but she didn't take to the Tower the way he wanted her to. Brannigan was always a political power player, always reaching for more, the way he should. She's convinced her sire expected to be deposed by him one day.

And now he's gone.]

Anyway, with the Gauntlet ramping up, I need to make some more calls. But I wanted to make sure you were aware. Be careful, Aalis. Things are going to get a lot messier before they get better.

For a long-ass time.

( When things get dire, she swears. She used to do it much more when the swears had more thought to them. But Donna has heard it all from her. )

And now I need to make just as many. If not more. You stay safe. And you know where to find me.

( She gives herself a minute to pull herself together before knocking on Abernathy's office door. )

["It's open."

The usual crisp words are slightly garbled around a mouthful of turkey, but it's still enough for Aalis to let herself in. He's perched at his desk with his plate, watching his people from the wide window as they enjoyed their holiday time.

He glances over to Aalis' and they've been working together long enough that he knows her bad news face. "What happened?"]

( While she can't shoulder Donna's burden of where she comes from or what The Ivory Tower was to her, it's what they have in common. It was always be their shared scar between them and what bonds them in her eternal and her (nearly) eternal life. She has her own connections, but for the time being, she has to play for her own team. Which means ruining one person's holiday and possibly rallying others'.

For the record, she would have started with happy Thanksgiving or happy holidays. )

The Inner Circle enlisted members of the Ivory Tower in an attack on the Slayers in Scotland. Their castle. Casualties haven't been logged yet, but Buffy Summers survived and is bent on revenge and Brannigan - didn't.

[He lets out a low whistle as he processes that, because of all the things that could happen, that's a big one. But he also knows that given Aalis's involvement in the Tower this is about more than just the hit.

"How are you handling that?"]

I'm doing my job.

( Which isn't enough for Abernathy. She knows. He expects to hear more. They have a deeper history even before she fell back in with him. But, she's also not going to let it affect her. Not like that. There are more pertinent things. )

It's the Gauntlet.

[Abernathy nods, because he can read the implications. They knew the Gauntlet was coming, but now it's here, and they need to be ready. For better or worse.

He sets his plate to the side. "I'll start making some calls. Go find Cordy and see if she can dig into her Slayer network and get the details of what actually happened in Scotland. Then start reaching out to your witch contacts and see if any of them need to be moved or require back up."

If she wants this to be all business, then they can be all business. They can talk later.]

I will.

( She thinks about asking something else, but she has her orders. He will meet with his son. They will weather this storm. At least they know to batten down the hatches.

Closing his door behind her, she slips her cell phone back out. She has a call to make before she finds Cordelia.

She dials a familiar number she hasn't in awhile.

When the call connects, she speaks. )

Hello, Sophie.

Aalis. What a pleasant surprise.

[The noise of the giant quarter Thanksgiving celebration floats in through an open window, but she, Eliot and other members of her team are planning on staying in. Eliot is cooking and Sophie is helping. Mostly by pouring wine and providing witty conversation.

But when her phone rings, she steps away, moving towards the sounds on the street below.]

Happy Thanksgiving.

[She says, despite the fact that they are both older than the idea of America, let alone the nation.]

Happy Thanksgiving.

( It is weird to celebrate something you remember the slow inception of, the glorified holiday that people formed through word of mouth and consumerism. Perspective is easy when you're older than most things and people. When you're history itself.

Like everyone else, she doesn't sugarcoat. )

Brannigan is dead.

[Sophie immediately straightens, her body filling with immediate tension at that news.]

Are you sure?

[Not that she doesn't trust Aalis to get her facts straight but that is a very significant person to be dead.]

I'm sure. Donna called me.

( And Donna knows what she's talking about. Always. She doesn't make mistakes. She's often the first person in the room to know. Maybe the second. )

The Colony threw the Gauntlet. And in doing so, Wallace and Corsair sent the Ivory Tower after the slayers in Scotland.

[Well. If Donna is saying it, then it must be true.

But when she hears the reason why, she blanches.]

Have they lost their minds? What did they think they would gain?

[Brannigan's usually smarter than that, but he always was a sucker for Corsair's charms, no matter what form they chose to take.]

Someone ( cough ) has been taking out members of the Inner Circle. Wallace and Corsair believed that the slayers were involved. And, even if they weren't, that going after them said something.

( Besides the office. )

Buffy Summers survived, but I don't know who else is on the ground there. I've been tasked with finding out, but I thought you deserved to know first.

I appreciate the heads up. I assume that Ms. Summers is going to be turning her attention to the Riverboat?

[Because if you're going after Wallace and Corsair, that's the logical place to target.]

A full-on assault is imminent. If you have anybody affiliated, I'd pull them out yesterday.

( For their own good! )

Noted.

[She pauses, weighing her next question carefully.]

Are you safe? In need of an extraction yourself?

I'm safe. I work behind the scenes.

( She could be less safe if she inserts herself, anywhere. Or, just on the streets. But, as of this moment, she is safe. )

We'll let each other know what we need.

( If they need anything? And with that, she doesn't keep her on too long. She has an assignment.

Without her, the party continues, everyone none the wiser. Alice finds Angel in a turtleneck standing next to a laughing Cordelia. )

Cordelia, a word?

Yeah, of course. Oooh, have you had any of the pie yet?

[She points down to her plate which contains a half-eaten slice of pumpkin pie.]

Delish.

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