for the rest of us death will be a relief

[praevaricatio]

Comments

[lengthened]

Waverly. I take very little personally. And this wouldn't be any different. I care about him and I worry for him, but I know he might not be anything I recognize. He doesn't know I exist. If he did, when that light didn't go out, he would know I was on the other end.

( She'd hope. )

[stupetballs]

Okay. Just ... making sure.

[She then pushes up.]

Let me grab my kit so we can get this started.

[And they do. The DNA results go in, and while they're waiting for those results to come back, Waverly's dad reappears! How strange! So she winds up running away from New York to go deal with that.

It's not until she is on her way back to New York, in the back seat of Dolls' car with Julian next to her, that her phone pings with the DNA results. At first, she perks up when she sees there's a hit, and then frowns when she realizes it's a dead body, not a living person.

But that also doesn't make any sense. How can someone who died forty years ago be setting off Adal's magical radar now?

She pauses, before swapping to her text app and starting to type:]

You said your son appears and disappears. When was the last time he fell off your radar?

[lengthened]

Originally, in the 80's. And then straight into the 90's. 1993 or 94. The 90's were a bit of a blur, admittedly, and I had some outside forces I was battling, so I couldn't try as hard as I wanted to find him. And, I thought I'd have time.

( it could have been 1995 or 1996. this is very important to her. but she is a very old woman. and the 90's had a lot of experimental drugs. rock and roll. and anti-establishment causes she fought with and for. )

[stupetballs]

Got it.

[She goes back to her search. Tapping her thumb nail lightly against the side of her phone for a moment, she takes the image of the victim and plugs it back into the search for a reverse image search. She then puts her phone to the side and lets the search run.

Once they hit the New Jersey Turnpike, it's completed, and her hunch seems a bit more concrete.]

I got a hit off the DNA test. I'm on my way back to the city but if you want to come by the apartment tomorrow we can walk through it?

[lengthened]

I don't want to take you away from anything.

[stupetballs]

Oh, you're totally not. I was going to be home handling some work calls anyway, so you'll be a nice distraction.

[Alice already has plans to go in search of Christmas onesies for Julian and will probably take him with her to make sure it fits properly. This is New York City, and she is a girl on a mission.

Waverly may go with them, but she also told Adal she'd help, and the sooner she has this information the better. And just to sell the deal:]

I may have a picture. I'm still doing a little bit of digging to confirm, but I also think I may have some answers about why he keeps going missing.

[lengthened]

What time, tomorrow? I'll bring bagels.

[stupetballs]

Any time after noon should be good! I should have everything organized by then.

[lengthened]

Let's say 1p. I like absolutes. And donuts.

And you, Waverly Earp.

[stupetballs]

[It's been a while since she's been liked - or liked someone back for that matter. She can't help the smile that crosses her face, but remembers she's in the car and not alone so she tries to neutralize it, before texting back.]

I like you, too. See you tomorrow.

[The next day, she will be ready and waiting. She's dragged the roller whiteboard out of her room once Alice and Julian slipped out on their quest, and has all of the information she's found laid out in front of her.

Now all she needs is Adal and they can get started.]

[lengthened]

( Adal delays the whiteboard moment so she can put the bagels on a plate, pour them each the mimosas she's brought - she's double-fisting a coffee - and sat on the couch like she's in a class, she's ready for whatever Waverly has for her. )

Did you just happen to have this white board on hand?

[stupetballs]

Oh, I bought it when we moved in.

[She flashes her a grin.]

My mind works better when I can lay it all out visually.

[lengthened]

I bet you call them murder boards.

( It's cute. )

Okay, let's begin.

[stupetballs]

[... Way to call her out like that. There's a bit of a flush at being seen, but she clears her throat and turns back to board.]

Okay, so I ran your DNA through several law enforcement databases and I got a hit for a murder case in 1991.

[She moves to the far end of the board, because technically it's the most recent piece of information she has.]

His name was Jacob Holmes. I don't know if he went by other names but that was the name on his legal paperwork. He seemed to have been stabbed with several shards of glass - Black Badge flagged it at first because they felt like their might be witchcraft involved, but the case had his license photo.

[Which she will pull down off the murder board and pass to Adal so that she can look at a thirty-something Rusty in one of his previous incarnations. Then she continues.]

Since I had the picture and I was thinking about what you said about him blipping in and out, I decided to run just the picture. DNA is a relatively new forensic tool so the nineties is probably the earliest we'd be able to use that as a metric. However, photographs of crimes like this - especially the victims - are quite common, so I thought I'd see what popped up. I found three more cases.

[She gestures to the other three pictures, each cropped to manage the gruesomeness as much as she can, but it's clear that each death was brutal in it's own way.]

Each of them are spaced thirty to forty years apart, each having a different manner of death and different names but the same face.

[She pauses, because this is really the hard part.]

I think ... I think he's being murdered over and over again and then ... restarting somehow.

[lengthened]

( she thinks about 1991. it started with the end to the gulf war. she was a nurse in the late 80's and early 90's then. between wartime and AIDS. she slides off the bed, balancing, as she takes both cups and herself over to the whiteboard.

she wishes she recognized him. )

Black Badge believed a witch had killed him? In 1991?

( Well, he is of a witch blood-line. She looks at that picture. The close-up wounds, the longshot of the body. At his surroundings. She's just so unsure of where he could have been, she gets a (6) to recognize anything in the photo with him or with the background.

She tacks it back on to keep Waverly's organization.

She steps back, looking at the other two crime scene photos. One, a crude illustration. )

And Black Badge didn't have a significant presence around the time of these murders?

( She puzzles over it, fingers running along her son's dead form in an old microfilm she found. )

You think he's a target.

[stupetballs]

[She nods.]

They didn't investigate. They found out that it was witch-on-witch crime and washed their hands of it.

[Which isn't the best approach, but Black Badge wasn't a great organization at the time.]

More like they didn't hear about the cases until they were long over. Information didn't travel as fast back then and he was always in a different place. Las Vegas in '22, Boise in '54 and then New York in '91.

[lengthened]

Those three places have barely anything in common. Well, Las Vegas and New York, but Boise?

( Nothing happens in Boise. )

Maybe he was hiding out? He tried a big city, then he went -- smaller population, then tried blending into New York? ( She makes a face. ) Do you think he figured out how to reset his life?

( She takes a step back to take the whole picture in. )

Is there anything distinctive about where his bodies were found?

[stupetballs]

[She shakes her head slowly.]

The others don't seem overtly witchy. In Vegas he was shot in a casino, and in Boise he was stabbed in his home. There's been no signs of ritual or anything for any of them.

[It seems like they killed him just to killed him.]

[lengthened]

If he's in hiding, and he keeps getting attacked, then he didn't ... do this to himself. Waverly, I think... ( it doesn't make any sense. not without more information. but. he regenerates. and eventually, he's found. and killed. and the process begins anew. ) he wants to die. But, not by anyone's hand. Maybe he... has to.

( she holds a hand to her chest, feelings overwhelm her. )

What if prolonging my life did this to him? What if they're punishing him because of me?

[stupetballs]

No. No, no, no.

[Waverly turns to her, reaching for her hands. Giving her something to ground herself in that isn't her deepest fears. Waverly doesn't think this could be that simple. The data doesn't add up to something so simple as a side effect of her search for him.]

We don't have any data that points to that. All we know is that he keeps dying and coming back. That could happen for a whole host of reasons. He could have a magic immortality ring. He could be a weird kind of vampire. He could be cursed for something he did. What we do know isn't enough to draw a conclusion.

[She keeps hold of her hands, trying to remain steady.]

We have a picture now. Why don't we take it to your friend you mentioned? See if she recognizes him.

[lengthened]

( She nods, hearing Waverly's words. )

Donna has lived a long life. Almost as long as mine. I would feel better getting another set of eyes on it.

[stupetballs]

Donna.

[That name sounds familiar, and she doesn't think it's because Adal has mentioned here. Her hand stretches up over her head as she describes her.]

Redhead. Tall. Works at a law firm?

[lengthened]

Paulsen? Specter-Litt-don't make me list all the names?

( That is her. )

[stupetballs]

She's a friend of Doc's. I don't know her well or anything, but she always seemed cool.

[Getting the chance to meet her will be great.]

Do you know if she's in town? With the holidays and everything?

[lengthened]

She should be. Harvey is not, which usually means she must. Maybe there's a holiday party we can crash?

( Looking dressed to the nines of course. )