for the rest of us death will be a relief

[praevaricatio]

Comments

[lengthened]

Take your time. I keep my room just so, or I'd be doing the last minute scramble, too. No judgments here. And no hurry. This is a very nice building.

I'm being silly, we can have this conversation actually in person. See you in a minute. I'll be the one at your door.

( In case she didn't already say that. Yes, she looks different.

She now has two more minutes to prepare herself for Waverly's reaction. How do you tell someone that something has shifted in the force so-to-speak and a natural glamour has worn down the clock, which brings even more implications about your not uncomplicated parenting situation. She hopes Waverly can relate.

There are things she doesn't share with her other friends. Things she can't bring to Abernathy. Or, his son.

She did send an alert to everyone in the warehouse with a selfie so nobody turned on the stranger making everybody coffee this morning. It seemed... impersonal to do that to Waverly. So. She waits. )

[stupetballs]

[Waverly flies through some quick straightening, and changes out of her super comfy pjs and into something more suitable for company, before making her way to the door, taking a deep breath and pulling it open with a bright smile.]

Hi!

[And then she looks at her for a moment, because that's not the face she remembers. But the energy feels the same? She blinks before trying again.]

Hi?

[lengthened]

... Hi. I think I should explain myself. Perhaps, inside?

( She's trying here. She even holds her phone up. See, same chat. Same chat they've been having. A cute little Waverly-lite ramble for her efforts. )

[stupetballs]

[Her eyes glance to the screen and she nods, before stepping back to let her in.]

Yeah, of course. Come in.

[Once she's inside and the door is closed behind her, she glances over at Adal.]

Can I get you anything? Snacks? Drink?

[lengthened]

My old look? ( She raises one shoulder, cheeky. ) Kidding. I will take snacks and a drink. Whatever you have. I... have a story to tell and I think it will go great with snacks and a drink. Preferably something alcoholic, if I may be so bold as to make a request.

( She moves into the living room while Waverly grabs whatever she's thinking of. She feels the fabric on the chair and the couch and peers out the onto the giant veranda. It's a very impressive find and reflects well on her. But the little, holiday touches feel most like Waverly and she really likes that.

She tilts her head, confused at the top of the Christmas tree. As Waverly returns, she points ) Is that...?

[stupetballs]

Oh, one of those talks. I'll go find the whiskey.

[She fishes out the bottle, some glasses and something salty to go with it, before making her way back around and following her eyes up to the tampon angel.]

Yes. I promise there's a very cute little Waverly story to go with it.

[lengthened]

Well, maybe we start with your cute Waverly story and we can work up to mine. I'd love to hear about young Waverly.

( Since she'll be hearing about young Adal. )

[stupetballs]

Okay.

[She pours them both a glass before settling back onto the couch.]

When I was younger I had a lot of people pleasing tendencies, especially when I was younger. Side effect of growing up with a "father" who hated you. Anyway, the holidays were coming and Daddy was too drunk to go get the ornaments from storage so I made some of my own. Out of the arts and craft supplies that I had on hand that I did not realize were feminine sanitary products. I was like, six.

[She glances up at the new tampon angel fondly.]

My sister loved it though, and she insisted on putting it on the tree every year. We didn't bring the O.G. with us from Purgatory, so Wynonna made a new one.

[lengthened]

I'm sure she did her justice.

( Adal smiles up at it, then back at Waverly as she rests her head on the couch. And then, she just says it. She starts her story. Or at least the very beginning. )

Waverly, I have a son.

[stupetballs]

[Her eyebrows go up ever so slightly at that reveal. And because it's hard to tell with Aalis, because there's a certain agelessness to her that makes her hard to pin down, she has to ask.]

Like a son -

[She hovers her hand at a low height, indicating a child.]

- or a son?

[She lifts her hand to something taller, indicating an adult.]

[lengthened]

Well, the latter. I assume. But, I wish I could tell you more like what he looks like, or where he is but I can't, because, he's missing. He's been missing. ( All her life. ) He was taken away from me as a baby. I searched for him after I returned to the world at large ( from the Ivory Tower, not going into that now. ) and for a long time, my scrying showed me he was still alive, but not where he was. ( She pulls out a necklace from under her sweater, a crystal dangling off a gold chain. There's a swirl of yellow and black. ) And, then one day, he dropped off. Except, this crystal continued to come alive. It was as if he were living an entire life span and then the signal would snuff out before inevitably lighting up again. ( she holds the crystal in her palm out to her, still around her neck ) Something's shifted. For my own safety, I tied my appearance to him - were I ever able to find him - I would be like this again. How I was born. In this body. ( She will miss the striking red hair. But she can be just as no-nonsense and menacing. ) But, I haven't found him and I lost my glamour. He's alive, again, and I only have so long before I lose him again. But, I can feel him this time, Waverly. I have a piece of him as he has a piece of me.

[stupetballs]

[Waverly takes all of this in and honestly, her heart hurts for her. She knows how much it hurt Wynonna to have to give Alice to Gus for her safety - she can't imagine what it would be like to have your child taken from you. Then all this back and forth, appearing and disappearing, it feels ... cruel.

She really has no idea how cruel it actually was.]

What do you need? How can I help?

[lengthened]

Your support means something. Very few people know this. I wanted you to. I trust you, Waverly.

( She hopes she means something to the other woman, too. That there is a real friendship here. )

I truly don't know what step I should take next. I'm afraid if I go looking...

[stupetballs]

[The fact that Adal would trust her with this does mean something, triggers a flutter that she hasn't felt in a long time. She's trying not to lean into things too quickly - not that she ever did - but the fact that there is trust there already does feel right.

When it comes to next steps however.]

Well, I don't know how to find someone in a mystical magical way. But depending on what you know about him, I might have some other options?

[lengthened]

We would be following a trail that ran cold long ago. Hundreds of years. But, if you think it's possible, I'm willing to start anywhere. This has to be the time. I want answers, even if I don't like them.

( She deserves them. )

Only two other people know about him. An old, old friend and, technically, my boss. I don't believe you've crossed paths. Abernathy. We met and had a torrid affair in the 90's, but nowadays he is much older and has a son of his own. He's not mine. ( She smiles. ) Though I do admire him greatly. Alexander uses his craft for the right reasons. I don't like is taste in men, but I don't date them. ( They're not for her. ) But, I wonder if reconnecting with Donna could help us with a new lead. Or, an old one.

[stupetballs]

Well, if you think he might have an arrest record we can run a DNA test.

[Her resources at Black Badge would allow her to do that covertly, and have access to a number of databases.]

We would use your DNA and run it against our databases to see if we get any hits. It would only cover the last thirty to forty years really, but it's a place to start, while we hit up your contacts to see what they can find.

[lengthened]

I'll try anything. Maybe that could give us somewhere to start.

( She hasn't tried modern conveniences in her findings. )

It could really be finally safe to go to trusted friends. I do know one person who was there, then.

[stupetballs]

Are they a witch like you? Or are they some other kind of immortal?

[There are apparently a lot of them out there and Waverly is trying to keep up.]

[lengthened]

They're a vampire. We were a part of the same guild. That's what they called themselves back then. They are a conglomerate now. ( Big business. ) And not where I would look. ( Or poke her head back in. ) Thank you, for listening.

[stupetballs]

Of course. Thank you for trusting me with it.

[She knows how hard it must be to talk about, given how long they've been separated.]

But yeah, we can start with the DNA test. It will take some time to process. But if we can identify him or find a picture I can start running image searches and see what's out there.

[And then she'll know what he looks like now. Really looks like, not just imagining what he might look like.]

[lengthened]

That's somewhere to start. It's... what I needed. Just a - kick.

( She takes a sip from her whiskey, finally. )

I know we started in a strange and fearful place, but, I am very happy where we've ended up, Waverly Earp.

[stupetballs]

I am too.

[It's been good to have new friends. It feels like a while since she's made them, never mind more than that.

Her fingers run down to the chain around her neck and she looks down at the ring.]

It's funny that I'm kind of the reverse. You're a parent looking for the child you lost, and I was the child looking for the parent that lost me.

[lengthened]

Did you ever find the parent that lost you?

( She's hopeful Waverly will want to talk about herself. Her life. They don't know each other as well as they should. Between the friendship and flirting here and there, there has always been a connection between them. And this parallel shows it. )

[stupetballs]

I did.

[And there's a twinge of sadness to it, because it didn't work out the way she hoped.]

Unfortunately he died shortly after. We didn't really get a lot of time together.

[lengthened]

That couldn't have been easy. Did he find you or did you find him? Did you find each other, even for that brief time?

( The twinge of sadness still comes with a lot of meaning. )