because the lives of the wicked should be made brief

[somanyadjectives]

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[whumpawhumpa]

( Eliot dodges the first and is pushed back into a car, hard, breaking the glass on the door before landing with a thud.

Shooting his head up, he tosses one of the batons hard back at number two (16) to land against his chest and jumps back up, trying to slam a kick into number three. (14) )

[wereall_addicts]

[Number 2 takes the blow to the chest with a groan, and possibly a snapped rib (11). He still tries to recover and take another swing at Eliot (14).

Number 3 takes the blow hard on the other hand (3), and stumbles back, cracking his head heavily on the curb.]

[whumpawhumpa]

( Eliot, the punching bag, takes the hit (4), before attempting the same hit, but harder. (nat 20) )

[wereall_addicts]

[Yeah, that's gonna be lights out for the last remaining goon. Sophie rolls down the window on the driver's side of Vincent's car before raising an eyebrow.]

Ready to go?

[whumpawhumpa]

( He takes an extra second to remove any fire power off of the two bodies, unloading the magazine and dropping the bullets on their bodies.

Then he climbs into the backseat. )

They interrupted my cassoulet.

[wereall_addicts]

I'll rebuy the ingredients for you. We'll make it again.

[And with that she pulls away from the curb and starts rocketing through the streets of New Orleans.]

So where are we going?

["Marcel's. He'll do a sweep, make sure there aren't any left picking off other witches."]

[whumpawhumpa]

You were the target.

( He holds out a small picture of Vincent, showing him in the front seat. )

They probably got it from your license photo.

( He sits back. )

That roux took hours.

[wereall_addicts]

[Vincent takes the photo from him and sighs. "Yeah, that doesn't surprise me. The Gauntlet was called a few weeks ago. There have been witch attacks all over the place."]

Alys mentioned something about that. I didn't expect for it to include military commandos.

[whumpawhumpa]

You don't think there are witches in the military?

( There's everything in the military. )

Besides. They were Romanians. Someone after you has deep ties. They're old world.

[wereall_addicts]

Of course there are. But they don't usually bring machine guns and batons to a witch fight.

["Lots of old world covens don't like what we do here," Vincent admits. "Wants to maintain the lines of delineation between the species instead of working together. Which is rich coming from the Colony considering their storied history of working with the Ivory Tower."

Sophie shakes her head.]

That's more Wallace and Corsair than anything else, and if the rumor mill is true, they've recently shuffled off this mortal coil themselves.

[whumpawhumpa]

Machine guns and batons get the job done.

( Or, normally they do. Not when Eliot is involved. )

This wasn't Wallace and Corsair. Or the Ivory Tower. These were witches. Well. Hired by witches. Pure dirty work. This wasn't personal. They wanted you off the map.

[wereall_addicts]

That's what the Gauntlet is. Reset the balances of power in the witch world. I remember the Inquisition. I was in Europe when it was happening. It wasn't about grudges or retribution. It was about claiming power.

[Sophie shakes her head as she continues to drive.]

Vincent and Davina have been doing something different here. When the dust settles and the blood dries, they don't want what they're doing to continue.

[whumpawhumpa]

Then we keep them safe until this is over. And, the only way the Gauntlet gets picked up is when the power vacuum is sealed. There are big moves being made in the witch world right now. People who threw the Gauntlet need to go down - or get what they're after. Either way, you need to get a hold of Davina. Take this serious.

( It's dangerous until it isn't. )

[wereall_addicts]

[Sophie glances over to Vincent. It's his call, he likely knows Davina's protections better than she does. Vincent exhales then nods.

"She hasn't been living alone these days, but probably better safe than sorry to check on her."

Sophie nods, before making a hard turn and heading in the opposite direction of Marcel.]

To Davina's it is.

[When they get there, it seems that someone also tried to make a move on the regent of New Orleans tonight. But as they approach the front door, one of the intruders likely is getting tossed out by a very annoyed true alpha.

One day they will have a successful date without one of them getting attacked.]

YOU BEAT ME TO THE IDEA OF THEM BEING ATTACKED OFFSCREEN

[whumpawhumpa]

( A growl follows as Scott in an unbuttoned shirt and sleep pants follows where he threw his intruder, eyes going red.

"Don't come back." he threatens before he sees they have company. He scrunches his hand over his button down shirt to squeeze it closed. His eyes return to normal.

"Davina, Vincent's here and he brought --" He recognizes her (19). "Sophie?" he asks, breaking into a smile as he moves toward her and embraces her like an old friend.

Eliot just eyes him and turns to Vincent. )

Is that Scott McCall?

I FOLLOWED THE CLUES!

[wereall_addicts]

[Vincent nods to Eliot, his voice low. "I said she wasn't living alone."

Sophie, on the other hand, is delighted.]

Scott! What a lovely surprise.

[She will take that hug before pulling back with a nod.]

If I'd known you were in town, I would have invited you to dinner as well.

[She then glances down at the witch groaning on the ground.]

It would have ended in more of the same but slightly different. We had Romanians.

[Davina, after having thrown the witch she was contending with out the back window, glances over at her boyfriend in confusion. "You know Sophie?"]

SO WELL, I FORGOT TO ASK OR MENTION IT

[commend]

( "He's a lot more cuddly than he sounds," Eliot remarks, low, graveled drawl. )

You know Sophie?

[wereall_addicts]

Oh, Eliot and I and the rest of the team have been set up in New Orleans for a little while now. Davina occasionally sends cases our way if she thinks they suit our purposes.

[Davina nods as she makes her way closer. "It's actually really helped while we haven't had a human advocate in place. And some things don't need a big supernatural solve." She then snaps her fingers. "Which reminds me, I need to introduce you to Beck."]

[commend]

Beck's cool. Way Irish.

( What does that mean, Scott? )

We played pool once at the Mystic Grill. In Mystic Falls.

( Back when that was the plan. )

You guys should get inside! Davina just opened up a bottle of red. And there's dessert. ( He points to Eliot. ) Vampire?

( "Vampire." )

More for Vincent!

[wereall_addicts]

Just because we're vampires doesn't mean we can't also eat, darling. We just don't need it to live.

[She will happily have some dessert, thank you, and she's sure Eliot will likely appreciate some as well. She glances over to Davina.]

So long as we're not interrupting?

[Because it does seem like they were on a date. Davina sighs, before shaking her head. "We're well past the point of interruption. And probably better if we stay in groups anyway."]

[commend]

Agreed. And, ( he shoots his girlfriend a look. and then lets everyone file in as he buttons his shirt. he gives one more look to make sure the retreating witch retreated. ) Do you still like jazz?

[wereall_addicts]

Of course I do.

[She smiles as she settles on the couch as Davina returns to the kitchen to get more glasses.]

Can't settle somewhere like New Orleans and not enjoy the jazz scene.

[commend]

I used to not really get it, but Davina's turned me on to it. What kind of name is Fats!

( Eliot will politely follow Davina and lean against the entrance to the kitchen. Scott has too much energy. Very Parker and Hardison-coded. "Got a beer?" )

[wereall_addicts]

People weren't always creative with their nicknames. Sometimes they just swung for the low hanging fruit. But some of them could really play.

[Davina nods, because yes she does for when Aiden is over, and she rifles around in the fridge to pull one out and pass it to him. "Thank you for helping Vincent. You said they were Romanians?"]

[commend]

Fats wasn't his real name!

( That seems to blow his mind and he asks if Waller was his real last before Eliot focuses on what's important.

"You know, your boyfriend's got quite the reputation," he says, accepting the beer. He's between nodding to Scott with respect and enrolling him in summer school. Better to the point! "Yeah. Romanian military. Hired by the Romani. Gauntlet's bringing everyone out of the woodwork. Romanians ever make a play for NOLA?" )