[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? )
[What does David want? David wants Ezra to run as far away as humanly possible and forget he exists if it means he'll survive what's coming. He wants to be sure that there's no risk of Ezra getting possessed by his mother, for better or worse. He wants his husband to survive, even if it means sacrificing himself in the process, and he won't hold it against him if he did.
But he knows that he can't tell Ezra what to do here. Because at the end of the day, he got stuck in this the moment Ezra helped exorcise him. The moment Ezra agreed to let him go with him instead of going home.]
I can't tell you what to do, Ez. I love you, but I can't choose for you.
[He turns to face him, cups his face in his hands and holds his gaze.]
I know. That's why I can't tell you what to do.
[Because what he wants is for Ezra to leave him, to find his parents and be safe and off the board. He wants Ezra to live, because the only way out of this may be David and the others dragging their parents down with him.
He leans in to kiss him, fondly and firmly, before he's yanked back suddenly as someone back in the room wakes him from his brief nap.]
( Ezra lets go of Rusty's hand and opens his eyes, the feelings of his husband's kiss still lingering on his lips. Only a minute or so, sixty seconds, if that have passed. He's still not any closer to any answers. Except.
He doesn't set his seatback upright again. Not yet. He stays reclined. )
They're monitoring communications. It's weeks away. He told me to choose.
( He knew his answer the minute he asked. He also knows what David wants, what he tried to do at first. When he tried to leave. Ezra should choose himself. Not David's family. Not his legacy.
It stopped being a choice. It just is. )
I'm staying. It gives him an angle, should he need it - the husband who finally betrayed him and the company. And if not - something happens - to him - or to me. Irina still has one of us.
( And if not, someone at the bunker. )
Maybe I can do more good before they drag me back.
( He sends one more message. A black heart to his husband before breaking his phone (nat 20) and tossing its' parts into the glove compartment, closing it with his knee. )
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bravebartender) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
everyonelives2025-03-12 08:39 pm
no subject
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.
no subject
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. )
no subject
But when the response comes, its not a correction or confusion.
❤️ Miss you too. Send me a door and I'll come get you.]
no subject
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.
no subject
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.
no subject
( Or, expect. )
no subject
[Sometimes its easier to put things into those terms.]
no subject
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?
no subject
[But he will pull over and offer his hand to Ezra.]
But feel free to channel me and try.
no subject
( 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 )
no subject
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.
no subject
( 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. )
no subject
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.
no subject
( 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? )
no subject
But he knows that he can't tell Ezra what to do here. Because at the end of the day, he got stuck in this the moment Ezra helped exorcise him. The moment Ezra agreed to let him go with him instead of going home.]
I can't tell you what to do, Ez. I love you, but I can't choose for you.
no subject
( Make it clear. Make it make sense. )
no subject
I know. That's why I can't tell you what to do.
[Because what he wants is for Ezra to leave him, to find his parents and be safe and off the board. He wants Ezra to live, because the only way out of this may be David and the others dragging their parents down with him.
He leans in to kiss him, fondly and firmly, before he's yanked back suddenly as someone back in the room wakes him from his brief nap.]
no subject
He doesn't set his seatback upright again. Not yet. He stays reclined. )
They're monitoring communications. It's weeks away. He told me to choose.
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[Rusty won't judge him either way. In the end, it's Ezra's decision, and regardless, he can't go back to Kansas. He just has to decide.]
no subject
It stopped being a choice. It just is. )
I'm staying. It gives him an angle, should he need it - the husband who finally betrayed him and the company. And if not - something happens - to him - or to me. Irina still has one of us.
( And if not, someone at the bunker. )
Maybe I can do more good before they drag me back.
no subject
Ditch your phone. Anti-scrying charms are in the glove box.
[And once the phone is gone, he'll shift the car into drive and put lots of distance between them and it.]
🎀