[They both fail (14, 6), and Wallace is already snarling as she tries to break free.
Mia takes out another vampire (19 vs. 6), and glances around at the flames growing and frowns.]
William, how bad is this fire getting?
[They don't have the full view from where they are, and she's not sure if they need to be bailing already.
Rusty steps forward, flicking the dagger in his hand before leaning in close to Wallace's snarl. "See you in Hell." He then stabs the dagger down (nat 20 vs. nat 20) and takes away a chunk of her shoulder as she manages to twist out of the way and just barely manages to miss him catching her throat.
Stefan catches Mia's request to her brother, before hopping over the bar and pulling out a couple of bottles of alcohol. "Maybe we should get it to burn a little faster."]
( William gets a (1), so a couple of the cameras are obscured, one is fogged over with smoke - and two have broken from magic residue.
"Bad enough it's obscuring my one camera. But, all the others are compromised. I lost eyes," he says, switching through his views. "But it's all evidence, so, if it's done, burn it?" he asks, asking Stefan through comms. "Is that what we're doing?"
Damon knees Melanie's vampire, and half-heartedly attempts to land a fist on an advancing vampire but he dodges. Or, maybe that's what Damon wants. "Should we just start a vampire bonfire?" He tosses a lit lighter at the vampire, "Catch," he calls out, to see if he's dumb enough to catch it.
Buffy steps past Ezra. It's not often things get this up close, nor that she has a shot like this. Usually, her blows are equal. As guilty as she might feel that they're subdued, they killed innocent girls who will never grow up. And that's good enough for her.
"He's right. I was nowhere near this. You should've done your homework." Instead of attacking her slayers. And her friends. And her sister. Her boyfriend. She sighs, pulling out her knife. "But, I am happy you're not going to be stealing your son's or daughter's bodies. Gotta say it. You're taking the oedipal complex just a little too far if you ask me. I'm sorry," she says, finally, swiping her knife - aiming for Corsair's neck. (nat 20)
Faith takes Stefan's lead and flips another table of abandoned drinks and bottles, striking her own lighter and setting her pile ablaze. A vampire tries to tackle her but she hops up and onto his back, pushing him into the flames as he cries out. "It's BYOB, except our B is fire, sorry about it," she says to no one in particular.
Rhett thanks Damon, dangles his jacket over the fire and then tries to ensnare the last vampire near them around the neck (nat 20!) )
Edited (whoops, all the html headaches) 2025-07-25 04:41 (UTC)
[The vampire catches it, almost like a reflex - unfortunately it's also caught flame first (4). There's a scream as the vampire in question goes up in flames.
Scarlett looks at the carnage around them before shrugging.]
Why not? Burning it all down seems best for most involved - we just have to make sure we don't get singed in the process.
[And she will let Stefan pass her one of the bottles and toss it into one of the nearby flames, watching it rocket up in size.
Melanie backs away from the vampire torch, before picking up a chair and using it to shove the vamp in question towards three more coming toward them (10 vs. 1) and watching as all three go up in flames.
Corsair can't dodge the blow, even if he wanted to (3), and Buffy's knife opens a neat slice across his neck. He tries to gurgle his last words but eventually all he can do is slump down, motionless.
Wallace offers a scream of rage as her partner dies, before she turns her attention on Rusty. "Sure, you might be able to take us down. But I can drag you down with us." She channels that anger into breaking through her holds (13 vs. 7), and lunges at Rusty, hands wrapping around his throat (19 vs. 8) as she pins him to the floor.]
( Twisting his wrist, he reaches out, attempting a clean neck snap after Corsair lunges forward and lands on top of Rusty, needing this done once and for all (15).
(Apparently, down below there's raging fire, according to the comms, so they don't have all day to snipe at one another.)
Any remaining vampires are taken care of swiftly. One sees she's between Stefan and the Butler's, so, instead, she pulls her necklace off and cries out as flames engulf her from the angle of the sun. Another runs and jumps off the side of the boat, engulfed in flames.
Faith runs after him, but as she readies to jump in after - she sees nothing hit's the water.
"Time to jump ship?" she asks comms.
"Anyone know how to drive a lifeboat?" William suggests. Granted, that's lower, start, and drive. )
[Wallace's neck snaps (11) and she collapses on top of Rusty, who quickly shoves the body off him and slices her throat, just to be sure. He glances down over the burning boat beneath them, and he nods in agreement.]
Let's get the hell out of here.
[There may not be a lot of life boats given that this boat is usually staffed by vampires and they don't have to worry about such things, but there are one or two on the side of the ship that is quickly being consumed by flames.
But vampires and Slayers maybe able to just fling themselves overboard and survive the collision with the water below. The jump doesn't look too high.]
Ezra, Buffy, and Rusty are cut off from the stairs, almost as flames have reached the stairwell and creeped halfway up. However, the office has a sliding door to it and it comes out on an upper deck.
Ezra realizes it's leap or nothing, so he makes a run for it and jumps (15) to land far enough away from the flaming boat.
Buffy tells Rusty to go first, as she looks out on the unobscured carnage below, before following after.
Faith dives in with a (17), Damon, too, with an (18). Rhett is an olympic diver??? with his natural effing 20. But, Buffy's 4 is the least graceful jump she's ever made, as she flails around. Something between flashing back to being dropped in a sewer of horny swim team creatures -- she's never been a swimmer like she's never been a driver. But, she's a slayer, and the force of the impact only knocks the wind out of her for a second. She emerges from the water in pain, but okay as she looks around who's on her side of the boat.
"Stefan?" she calls out. "Mia?" She sees Faith, Ezra, Rusty if he dived off of that side. )
[Rusty is also not a jumper (4), and lands on the water hard, but manages to summon enough magic (14), to buoy him to the surface even if he can feel his ribs are bruised if not broken.
Mia (16) flings herself elegantly off the side of the boat and swims to the shore like the superhero trained Slayer she is. Stefan (13) is more awkward but he's a vampire he'll live. Scarlett (18) almost matches her husband's grace, while Melanie (9) gets her dress caught on a piece of the wreckage and has to tear part of it off in order to break free to swim to shore.
Once they've all recovered, however, and prepare to go their separate ways - Mia and Faith heading back to pick up William, the vampires scattering, Rusty approaches Ezra, ignoring the tightness in his breathing before nodding to the car.]
( After realizing his phone is ruined from taking the plunge, he sighs, knowing he'll be back behind enemy lines, anyway.
Making sure that everyone involved is going their separate ways, finding who they need, drying off, with Ezra's part done here, he nods, ready to follow him to - wherever. Because, this isn't just a ride and he knows it. )
[They pile into Rusty's car and start driving in the direction of Lawrence, even if he knows they aren't going to actually get there. He lets the silence settle, before asking a question that he probably should have asked long before now.]
When was the last time you talked to your husband? Actually talked to him, not texting?
( No, eventually, Ezra will have to veer off - catch a flight, or magically hotwire a car. He has to strategize how he's coming in from the cold. He might use the slayers as reasoning, he needs a reason, he knows that.
Waiting for Rusty to address him, he taps idly along the car door. What's he getting at? )
After we got Irina somewhere safe, we Facetimed once, maybe twice. ( When he was in Mexico City. Things got more complicated and crazier with each doused body. ) Since then, there have been intermittent update texts. He's under their eye. Are you telling me I might not be able to trust my husband, Rusty?
( Because he knows anything is possible, but everyone back at home have fallen in line. It's only him and he's sure his husband gave them a proper excuse. Likely tied to Elena, though he hopes he didn't use her. )
[Rusty nods slowly because he assumed as much. In the beginning, he may have responded to that question with yes. But now, having gotten to know them, even superficially, he admits they have more strength of will than most.
But given that things have continued to escalate.]
I'm telling you that communication is fallible and you may not be able to trust that David is the one you were talking to.
( Ezra knows. There are no guarantees with his husband's family, or the other elders, as there are no guarantees in this life.
His fingers curl around the phone in his pocket as he, stretches, shifts, to pull it out with a sigh. )
There are ways.
( He taps Siri to record a text message for his husband. Hoping to prove that, indeed, he is who he says he is. And he's not compromised. The words populate as he speaks.
Hey, Dave, it won't be long before we're in the same place again. I'm coming in. I've been thinking about UC Riverside. That ugly green bedspread I found at Goodwill. I remember coming back after class, seeing that you'd replaced the entire set. Made yourself at home. I made that nesting joke, but only to cover how relieved I was to find you there. It's us against the world. Always. See you soon.
The familiar pang of Siri sounds as the message ends and he hits the send button, the message wooshing to its' recipient, as if by magic. Phone in his fingers, he rests it against his knee, tapping again.
He speaks, watching the road. )
The bedspread was orange, and cheap, and I only bought it because my mother was on a color kick that fall. David hated it, hated even more when I insisted he take the bed while I took the couch. I relented when I realized my hours were so crazy -- we barely slept in it together. But, every time we did. Whether I poured myself into bed near dawn after cramming all night, or, he came home from - a run, or an errand, and wanted to take a nap -- maybe it looked like I wanted to be held. Or, maybe he wanted something or someone to hold onto. Even on the hottest days. We just fit. He's himself. I know it. I'd know something was wrong. Colors would just - fade.
( It's a romantic notion, but behind his eyelids, there is still a fear there. A fear he's been captured, compromised -- if the demon that claimed him once was called back.
It reeks of endgame and he doesn't need a cliche like that. )
[It takes some time for there to be a response and Rusty let's that silence rest between them, because contrary to popular belief he doesn't want to be right, but if he is, he wants Ezra to be prepared for what he's walking into.
But when the response comes, its not a correction or confusion.
❤️ Miss you too. Send me a door and I'll come get you.]
( Rusty doesn't say anything else, so Ezra settles back, trying to not look like he's anxiously awaiting a response.
When that response comes, his eyes fall. If he had the strength, he'd break the phone in his hand. At least it was worth magically restoring it before.
His look turns icy, turning the phone so Rusty can see it. )
He's been compromised. He's sentimental in his own ways, and he'd correct me in a heartbeat. Not to mention the heart.
My guess is that they're either monitoring his messages, or they're asking him to verify any hidden messages and he let you give them away.
[Probably more the latter than anything else.]
So your choice now is to either let them know you caught them and stay on the outside with me - and they will probably come for you more violently as a result - or you can go in and try and work from the inside.
( Can he? On the outside, without his other half, and without seeing him with his own eyes? )
I don't have enough information. ( He thinks, and checks his watch, before turning. ) We need to pull over. I need to know. ( He has Rusty pull off and onto a side street before explaining what he wants, pressing the button to lower his seat back. ) On the estate, he takes naps before dinner, often, either because dinner is always so emotionally ( and sometimes physically? ) taxing, or, to keep a channel open to anyone that might want to communicate. Out from under their eye. Have you projected someone into another person's dreams before?
My father's the born witch, but he was bound and his magic manifested in dreams - or while he was sleeping, as did mine. That... manifested differently in me - and my peers. I influenced their dreams, their -- decisions. My mother and her "coven," focused on the holistic, body and mind, but my specialty - David's is space, travel - but I can travel differently.
( He just doesn't. He thinks people should make their own decisions. He focused harder on physical magic. And, in a time, had to lead his mother's coven who taught themselves magic. And his father's magic, once unbound, was shared by his wife because of their union.
He takes Rusty's hand. )
It's been a while.
( Shutting his eyes, he channels Rusty's magic to center himself and stave off the anxiousness he's feeling. a nat (20) projects himself into his husband's mind - that is, whatever he's dreaming about, currently )
[He finds, when he taps into the well of magic Rusty is offering, that Rusty talents also lean towards the space. While David folds the space between doorways, Rusty's magic is an unspooling of the miles he's traveled, lifetime over lifetime, and he lets some of those carry Ezra the distance to his husband's mind.
David, unfortunately, is not asleep. They're waiting for Ezra to provide a door for him to open, so his parents would not be giving him the opportunity to sleep. But allowing Ezra into his mental space is as easy as breathing, so with that nat 20, David's eyes close and he finds himself drowsing ever so briefly, to find his husband in the dreamscape standing next to him.]
I think you set that bedspread on fire. Pretty sure I found it in the fireplace a few days later.
( Ezra, admittedly, was curious about the dreamspace he'd be inhabiting, but he recognizes a micro-nap. If David were asleep, there'd be an environment. He'd be dropping into a scene. )
You're not alone. You're with them now? ( He doesn't wait for the answer. ) What am I walking into? If I walk into it?
( He needs to make it clear, the plan might shift. )
[Maybe another time, when every one isn't on high alert. For now, this is the option they have.
David grits his teeth, because he's not sure how to explain things.]
They're tightening their grips. And they're suspicious. Whatever it is they've been planning, they're getting closer to pulling the trigger. So they're monitoring our communications as a result.
[David runs a hand through his hair.]
You don't have to come back. We can figure it out. But if you were coming back, I didn't want you to come in blind.
( For a long, long time it was what Ezra wanted. What they wanted together. But, when he said he was all in - his vows, med school, Elena - all of it - he'll do what he's asked.
Maybe it could go right either way. Work out. His instincts say strength in numbers, be in the belly of the beast. But Max, Sierra, Jaq, David, they're there. Is it making a difference? )
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everyonelives2025-03-12 08:39 pm
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Ezra recognizes, and then feels the change in the air, fingers flexing at his feet. )
You always were better with the tease than with the follow through.
( Fingers splayed, he casts his spell, attempting at locking Wallace and Corsair into their bodies. (18)
Should it work, a sigil burns into the sides of their necks. )
Clausa pellis.
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Mia takes out another vampire (19 vs. 6), and glances around at the flames growing and frowns.]
William, how bad is this fire getting?
[They don't have the full view from where they are, and she's not sure if they need to be bailing already.
Rusty steps forward, flicking the dagger in his hand before leaning in close to Wallace's snarl. "See you in Hell." He then stabs the dagger down (nat 20 vs. nat 20) and takes away a chunk of her shoulder as she manages to twist out of the way and just barely manages to miss him catching her throat.
Stefan catches Mia's request to her brother, before hopping over the bar and pulling out a couple of bottles of alcohol. "Maybe we should get it to burn a little faster."]
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"Bad enough it's obscuring my one camera. But, all the others are compromised. I lost eyes," he says, switching through his views. "But it's all evidence, so, if it's done, burn it?" he asks, asking Stefan through comms. "Is that what we're doing?"
Damon knees Melanie's vampire, and half-heartedly attempts to land a fist on an advancing vampire but he dodges. Or, maybe that's what Damon wants. "Should we just start a vampire bonfire?" He tosses a lit lighter at the vampire, "Catch," he calls out, to see if he's dumb enough to catch it.
Buffy steps past Ezra. It's not often things get this up close, nor that she has a shot like this. Usually, her blows are equal. As guilty as she might feel that they're subdued, they killed innocent girls who will never grow up. And that's good enough for her.
"He's right. I was nowhere near this. You should've done your homework." Instead of attacking her slayers. And her friends. And her sister. Her boyfriend. She sighs, pulling out her knife. "But, I am happy you're not going to be stealing your son's or daughter's bodies. Gotta say it. You're taking the oedipal complex just a little too far if you ask me. I'm sorry," she says, finally, swiping her knife - aiming for Corsair's neck. (nat 20)
Faith takes Stefan's lead and flips another table of abandoned drinks and bottles, striking her own lighter and setting her pile ablaze. A vampire tries to tackle her but she hops up and onto his back, pushing him into the flames as he cries out. "It's BYOB, except our B is fire, sorry about it," she says to no one in particular.
Rhett thanks Damon, dangles his jacket over the fire and then tries to ensnare the last vampire near them around the neck (nat 20!) )
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Scarlett looks at the carnage around them before shrugging.]
Why not? Burning it all down seems best for most involved - we just have to make sure we don't get singed in the process.
[And she will let Stefan pass her one of the bottles and toss it into one of the nearby flames, watching it rocket up in size.
Melanie backs away from the vampire torch, before picking up a chair and using it to shove the vamp in question towards three more coming toward them (10 vs. 1) and watching as all three go up in flames.
Corsair can't dodge the blow, even if he wanted to (3), and Buffy's knife opens a neat slice across his neck. He tries to gurgle his last words but eventually all he can do is slump down, motionless.
Wallace offers a scream of rage as her partner dies, before she turns her attention on Rusty. "Sure, you might be able to take us down. But I can drag you down with us." She channels that anger into breaking through her holds (13 vs. 7), and lunges at Rusty, hands wrapping around his throat (19 vs. 8) as she pins him to the floor.]
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( Twisting his wrist, he reaches out, attempting a clean neck snap after Corsair lunges forward and lands on top of Rusty, needing this done once and for all (15).
(Apparently, down below there's raging fire, according to the comms, so they don't have all day to snipe at one another.)
Any remaining vampires are taken care of swiftly. One sees she's between Stefan and the Butler's, so, instead, she pulls her necklace off and cries out as flames engulf her from the angle of the sun. Another runs and jumps off the side of the boat, engulfed in flames.
Faith runs after him, but as she readies to jump in after - she sees nothing hit's the water.
"Time to jump ship?" she asks comms.
"Anyone know how to drive a lifeboat?" William suggests. Granted, that's lower, start, and drive. )
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Let's get the hell out of here.
[There may not be a lot of life boats given that this boat is usually staffed by vampires and they don't have to worry about such things, but there are one or two on the side of the ship that is quickly being consumed by flames.
But vampires and Slayers maybe able to just fling themselves overboard and survive the collision with the water below. The jump doesn't look too high.]
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Ezra, Buffy, and Rusty are cut off from the stairs, almost as flames have reached the stairwell and creeped halfway up. However, the office has a sliding door to it and it comes out on an upper deck.
Ezra realizes it's leap or nothing, so he makes a run for it and jumps (15) to land far enough away from the flaming boat.
Buffy tells Rusty to go first, as she looks out on the unobscured carnage below, before following after.
Faith dives in with a (17), Damon, too, with an (18). Rhett is an olympic diver??? with his natural effing 20. But, Buffy's 4 is the least graceful jump she's ever made, as she flails around. Something between flashing back to being dropped in a sewer of horny swim team creatures -- she's never been a swimmer like she's never been a driver. But, she's a slayer, and the force of the impact only knocks the wind out of her for a second. She emerges from the water in pain, but okay as she looks around who's on her side of the boat.
"Stefan?" she calls out. "Mia?" She sees Faith, Ezra, Rusty if he dived off of that side. )
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Mia (16) flings herself elegantly off the side of the boat and swims to the shore like the superhero trained Slayer she is. Stefan (13) is more awkward but he's a vampire he'll live. Scarlett (18) almost matches her husband's grace, while Melanie (9) gets her dress caught on a piece of the wreckage and has to tear part of it off in order to break free to swim to shore.
Once they've all recovered, however, and prepare to go their separate ways - Mia and Faith heading back to pick up William, the vampires scattering, Rusty approaches Ezra, ignoring the tightness in his breathing before nodding to the car.]
Let me give you a ride?
[Code for they should probably talk.]
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Making sure that everyone involved is going their separate ways, finding who they need, drying off, with Ezra's part done here, he nods, ready to follow him to - wherever. Because, this isn't just a ride and he knows it. )
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When was the last time you talked to your husband? Actually talked to him, not texting?
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Waiting for Rusty to address him, he taps idly along the car door. What's he getting at? )
After we got Irina somewhere safe, we Facetimed once, maybe twice. ( When he was in Mexico City. Things got more complicated and crazier with each doused body. ) Since then, there have been intermittent update texts. He's under their eye. Are you telling me I might not be able to trust my husband, Rusty?
( Because he knows anything is possible, but everyone back at home have fallen in line. It's only him and he's sure his husband gave them a proper excuse. Likely tied to Elena, though he hopes he didn't use her. )
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But given that things have continued to escalate.]
I'm telling you that communication is fallible and you may not be able to trust that David is the one you were talking to.
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His fingers curl around the phone in his pocket as he, stretches, shifts, to pull it out with a sigh. )
There are ways.
( He taps Siri to record a text message for his husband. Hoping to prove that, indeed, he is who he says he is. And he's not compromised. The words populate as he speaks.
Hey, Dave, it won't be long before we're in the same place again. I'm coming in. I've been thinking about UC Riverside. That ugly green bedspread I found at Goodwill. I remember coming back after class, seeing that you'd replaced the entire set. Made yourself at home. I made that nesting joke, but only to cover how relieved I was to find you there. It's us against the world. Always. See you soon.
The familiar pang of Siri sounds as the message ends and he hits the send button, the message wooshing to its' recipient, as if by magic. Phone in his fingers, he rests it against his knee, tapping again.
He speaks, watching the road. )
The bedspread was orange, and cheap, and I only bought it because my mother was on a color kick that fall. David hated it, hated even more when I insisted he take the bed while I took the couch. I relented when I realized my hours were so crazy -- we barely slept in it together. But, every time we did. Whether I poured myself into bed near dawn after cramming all night, or, he came home from - a run, or an errand, and wanted to take a nap -- maybe it looked like I wanted to be held. Or, maybe he wanted something or someone to hold onto. Even on the hottest days. We just fit. He's himself. I know it. I'd know something was wrong. Colors would just - fade.
( It's a romantic notion, but behind his eyelids, there is still a fear there. A fear he's been captured, compromised -- if the demon that claimed him once was called back.
It reeks of endgame and he doesn't need a cliche like that. )
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But when the response comes, its not a correction or confusion.
❤️ Miss you too. Send me a door and I'll come get you.]
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When that response comes, his eyes fall. If he had the strength, he'd break the phone in his hand. At least it was worth magically restoring it before.
His look turns icy, turning the phone so Rusty can see it. )
He's been compromised. He's sentimental in his own ways, and he'd correct me in a heartbeat. Not to mention the heart.
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My guess is that they're either monitoring his messages, or they're asking him to verify any hidden messages and he let you give them away.
[Probably more the latter than anything else.]
So your choice now is to either let them know you caught them and stay on the outside with me - and they will probably come for you more violently as a result - or you can go in and try and work from the inside.
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( Or, expect. )
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[Sometimes its easier to put things into those terms.]
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I don't have enough information. ( He thinks, and checks his watch, before turning. ) We need to pull over. I need to know. ( He has Rusty pull off and onto a side street before explaining what he wants, pressing the button to lower his seat back. ) On the estate, he takes naps before dinner, often, either because dinner is always so emotionally ( and sometimes physically? ) taxing, or, to keep a channel open to anyone that might want to communicate. Out from under their eye. Have you projected someone into another person's dreams before?
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[But he will pull over and offer his hand to Ezra.]
But feel free to channel me and try.
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( He just doesn't. He thinks people should make their own decisions. He focused harder on physical magic. And, in a time, had to lead his mother's coven who taught themselves magic. And his father's magic, once unbound, was shared by his wife because of their union.
He takes Rusty's hand. )
It's been a while.
( Shutting his eyes, he channels Rusty's magic to center himself and stave off the anxiousness he's feeling. a nat (20) projects himself into his husband's mind - that is, whatever he's dreaming about, currently )
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David, unfortunately, is not asleep. They're waiting for Ezra to provide a door for him to open, so his parents would not be giving him the opportunity to sleep. But allowing Ezra into his mental space is as easy as breathing, so with that nat 20, David's eyes close and he finds himself drowsing ever so briefly, to find his husband in the dreamscape standing next to him.]
Hey.
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( Ezra, admittedly, was curious about the dreamspace he'd be inhabiting, but he recognizes a micro-nap. If David were asleep, there'd be an environment. He'd be dropping into a scene. )
You're not alone. You're with them now? ( He doesn't wait for the answer. ) What am I walking into? If I walk into it?
( He needs to make it clear, the plan might shift. )
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David grits his teeth, because he's not sure how to explain things.]
They're tightening their grips. And they're suspicious. Whatever it is they've been planning, they're getting closer to pulling the trigger. So they're monitoring our communications as a result.
[David runs a hand through his hair.]
You don't have to come back. We can figure it out. But if you were coming back, I didn't want you to come in blind.
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( For a long, long time it was what Ezra wanted. What they wanted together. But, when he said he was all in - his vows, med school, Elena - all of it - he'll do what he's asked.
Maybe it could go right either way. Work out. His instincts say strength in numbers, be in the belly of the beast. But Max, Sierra, Jaq, David, they're there. Is it making a difference? )
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