["He bagged Wes? Dang. Lucky him." Quentin can appreciate aesthetics, even if most of his bedmates are women.
Mia focuses on Connor, because he's the one who's annoying her the least right now. And she does like his smile. Though that brings up a complicated swirl of the feelings she's trying to ignore.
She misses the camaraderie they had, in the timeline that never was. She misses him. But JJ makes everything complicated.]
That's not surprising. I think he would put coal in my stocking if he could.
("Probably why I didn't," she says into her glass of wine. As she sips, she peers at the exchange going on in front of her.
He sees her lingering look, but doesn't know what to do with it. To say he's had the same feelings, himself. He can't not. But it's a betrayal, right? )
Well, nobody here will. I think the Merlyn's brought gifts, too, but, if those gifts light up, I'm out.
("We did not bring pot, Connor," JR says, rolling her eyes. She stretches out on the couch since she has it alone. "Nor anything else that lights up.")
It counts because we promise not to burn her apartment down.
( Mia can be a little bit of a stick-in-the-mud, but she was raised a Queen, not a Merlyn. And Merlyns are about fun. (And the little guy.) )
Speaking of, you need to dish on all things slayer, because Quentin and I tried, but there's like nothing out there about it except for some explosion in the early 2000's in London. And even that was, like, fully redacted.
( her eyes tell her brother their friend is being a Christmas buzzkill. and for the first time, she sees all the cracks, the stitched together parts of a girl she no longer knows, one she misses. god, they tore up the town together. )
I don't know. What happened. Why, all of a sudden, were you an engaged socialite one second and then ditching your friends and fiancee the next. I'm not downplaying responsibility, I just want to get from point a to point be.
[In her defense, she was great at family Christmas. She might have significantly less of a buzzkill if she had been consulted first, but this feels like JR looking for an ambush.
The other problem is that she doesn't know how to explain it.
Quentin buys her some time, piping up with: "Attempted engagement. I don't remember Mia actually saying yes."
Mia shoots him a briefly grateful look for at least one of them being somewhat on her side, but she knows from the look on his face that he wants answers too. So she tries to find a place to start.]
Okay, so ... Slayers are kind of like metahuman abilities in the sense that they just sort of happen. A long time ago a bunch of shaman took this girl and gave her superpowers so she could fight vampires and when she died, it was passed to the next girl in a world full of potentials. And that's how it went for a long time. One girl doing the best she could until it killed her and then it getting passed to the next. Until someone started hunting all the potentials and the Slayer at the time decided that they should be able to fight for themselves, so she woke them up. All of them. Or at least she tried to.
It still maxes out at a certain amount, so it's not every potential immediately becoming a Slayer the second they're born, but the process is still the same. One Slayer dies, the next potential on the list becomes a Slayer, there's just a lot more of us now. And that's what happened the night JJ proposed. A Slayer out there, somewhere, died and it was my turn.
[Which is a lot of information so she's going to pause there so they have some of the context of what Mia was coming into and shove another popover in her mouth.]
Basically. And it's not just the strength and speed. It's also memories of past Slayers and the things they've been through and prophetic dreams and ...
[Her voice trails off as her eyes meet Connor's briefly before dragging back to JR again. This is weird enough, she's not bringing that into it too.]
... and it was a lot. And I didn't know what was going on, so I bailed. And then I met someone named Faith, also a Slayer, and she filled me in.
Faith found you. Meeting her wasn't a coincidence. And it's a good thing she did, or you might still be on your sabbatical.
( "JR," Connor stays her with his hand.
She fights the roll of her eyes she can already feel. )
I'm just - it's a lot. It's one thing - uncle Barry's one thing - but now there are slayers.
("Are you jealous Mia's life blew wide open and not--")
Mine? I know where I come from and where I'm going. I'm not jealous that it's... all up in the air now. And I am sorry. You're all right, I can't imagine what you're going through. I only wished it were more scandalous and not less of this world.
[Quentin puts a mixed mocktail in everyone's hand as he moves through the room.]
- that the world has always been wild and wacky, and so long as Mia isn't planning on dying and activating the next Slayer in the line anytime soon, there are worse ways she could have handled it.
[He lifts his own glass in a toast motion.]
In my opinion, saying no to JJ is not the worst thing she could have done.
[Mia does soften some, because she knows that Quentin is trying to make peace, and she looks over at JR. "I'm sorry I didn't call or tell you guys what was going on. I just ... didn't really know how to talk about it. I still don't."]
( Yeah, Q, what everyone needs in this room is now a mixed cocktail. Connor sniffs his. No alcohol. He sips. It tastes good, too.
He realized there's a toast to be made, swallows what he sips and holds his glass up. He, too, for reasons he can't name, is happy she said no to his brother. As happy as they were, they always seemed so perfect. The two people who would find one another. He always saw Mia's edges. Feels like no one acknowledged them, besides her dad. )
Well, we're here. Even when you think you can't explain it.
[And she does. One thing she always knew is that the Merlyns wouldn't abandon her, no matter what. They may be pissed at her, but they're still Team Mia. Their parents wouldn't produce a child who could do anything else.
Tommy and Laurel were always the rocks. They were always the ones who stayed.
Behind them, there's a knock on the door as the last member of their party lets herself in. "I know, I'm late." Zoe sighs as she sheds her coat. "But the assholes at City Hall just would not let me go."]
( Having finished her wine, she sets the empty glass down on the table. Zoe's arrival has her springing to her feet. Whereas Mia always had that edge, Zoe shows the edge. She has a grit she doesn't hide, probably because of her father's origin story and JR likes that. Very naturally, her best friend slots shifted and she found herself gravitating more toward Zoe. Things will even out again. )
Everyone at City Hall is a complete asshole, she's right.
( She air-kisses her friend. )
Q, someone needs one of your signature cocktails. Taste.
[Mia leans over the counter to try and get a better look at what's coming. "If you're going to break into my apartment the least you can do is feed me."
Zoe shakes her head.]
We didn't break in. Jay Michael knows we're here.
["Yeah, you plotting with my roommate behind my back is a conversation we're going to have later."]
That's right. Zoe and Connor have met him. It's just timing. Small world with William and Cooper and then you shacking up with his friend. Even better, I don't think anybody involved is British.
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The warmth she brings Connor has him smiling, at least. That's it. Calm down, Mia. )
I did Christmas with the family. JJ's unrecognizable. Really into Christmas this year. But, not into crashing your apartment after.
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Mia focuses on Connor, because he's the one who's annoying her the least right now. And she does like his smile. Though that brings up a complicated swirl of the feelings she's trying to ignore.
She misses the camaraderie they had, in the timeline that never was. She misses him. But JJ makes everything complicated.]
That's not surprising. I think he would put coal in my stocking if he could.
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He sees her lingering look, but doesn't know what to do with it. To say he's had the same feelings, himself. He can't not. But it's a betrayal, right? )
Well, nobody here will. I think the Merlyn's brought gifts, too, but, if those gifts light up, I'm out.
( "We did not bring pot, Connor," JR says, rolling her eyes. She stretches out on the couch since she has it alone. "Nor anything else that lights up." )
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[Quentin flashes them a smile before putting some of the plates up on the counter near the stove for people to start to partake.]
Don't worry, buddy. Everything is completely Connor-safe.
["Connor-safe works for me. Not like I can really get drunk anymore anyway." Being a Slayer is lame sometimes, what can she say.]
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It counts because we promise not to burn her apartment down.
( Mia can be a little bit of a stick-in-the-mud, but she was raised a Queen, not a Merlyn. And Merlyns are about fun. (And the little guy.) )
Speaking of, you need to dish on all things slayer, because Quentin and I tried, but there's like nothing out there about it except for some explosion in the early 2000's in London. And even that was, like, fully redacted.
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[But that's not really the point. She takes a deep breath, before nodding.]
What do you want to know? Because it's kind of a wide swath of information.
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I don't know. What happened. Why, all of a sudden, were you an engaged socialite one second and then ditching your friends and fiancee the next. I'm not downplaying responsibility, I just want to get from point a to point be.
( you. here. buzzkilling christmas. )
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The other problem is that she doesn't know how to explain it.
Quentin buys her some time, piping up with: "Attempted engagement. I don't remember Mia actually saying yes."
Mia shoots him a briefly grateful look for at least one of them being somewhat on her side, but she knows from the look on his face that he wants answers too. So she tries to find a place to start.]
Okay, so ... Slayers are kind of like metahuman abilities in the sense that they just sort of happen. A long time ago a bunch of shaman took this girl and gave her superpowers so she could fight vampires and when she died, it was passed to the next girl in a world full of potentials. And that's how it went for a long time. One girl doing the best she could until it killed her and then it getting passed to the next. Until someone started hunting all the potentials and the Slayer at the time decided that they should be able to fight for themselves, so she woke them up. All of them. Or at least she tried to.
It still maxes out at a certain amount, so it's not every potential immediately becoming a Slayer the second they're born, but the process is still the same. One Slayer dies, the next potential on the list becomes a Slayer, there's just a lot more of us now. And that's what happened the night JJ proposed. A Slayer out there, somewhere, died and it was my turn.
[Which is a lot of information so she's going to pause there so they have some of the context of what Mia was coming into and shove another popover in her mouth.]
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So, one second, you were almost engaged, and the next minute you were - what, activated?
( like a sleeper agent? )
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[Her voice trails off as her eyes meet Connor's briefly before dragging back to JR again. This is weird enough, she's not bringing that into it too.]
... and it was a lot. And I didn't know what was going on, so I bailed. And then I met someone named Faith, also a Slayer, and she filled me in.
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( "JR," Connor stays her with his hand.
She fights the roll of her eyes she can already feel. )
I'm just - it's a lot. It's one thing - uncle Barry's one thing - but now there are slayers.
( "Are you jealous Mia's life blew wide open and not--" )
Mine? I know where I come from and where I'm going. I'm not jealous that it's... all up in the air now. And I am sorry. You're all right, I can't imagine what you're going through. I only wished it were more scandalous and not less of this world.
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[Quentin puts a mixed mocktail in everyone's hand as he moves through the room.]
- that the world has always been wild and wacky, and so long as Mia isn't planning on dying and activating the next Slayer in the line anytime soon, there are worse ways she could have handled it.
[He lifts his own glass in a toast motion.]
In my opinion, saying no to JJ is not the worst thing she could have done.
[Mia does soften some, because she knows that Quentin is trying to make peace, and she looks over at JR. "I'm sorry I didn't call or tell you guys what was going on. I just ... didn't really know how to talk about it. I still don't."]
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He realized there's a toast to be made, swallows what he sips and holds his glass up. He, too, for reasons he can't name, is happy she said no to his brother. As happy as they were, they always seemed so perfect. The two people who would find one another. He always saw Mia's edges. Feels like no one acknowledged them, besides her dad. )
Well, we're here. Even when you think you can't explain it.
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[And she does. One thing she always knew is that the Merlyns wouldn't abandon her, no matter what. They may be pissed at her, but they're still Team Mia. Their parents wouldn't produce a child who could do anything else.
Tommy and Laurel were always the rocks. They were always the ones who stayed.
Behind them, there's a knock on the door as the last member of their party lets herself in. "I know, I'm late." Zoe sighs as she sheds her coat. "But the assholes at City Hall just would not let me go."]
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Everyone at City Hall is a complete asshole, she's right.
( She air-kisses her friend. )
Q, someone needs one of your signature cocktails. Taste.
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[But he will fix one for Zoe, and pass it over to her with a smile.
"I'll take it," Zoe smiles, before leaning in to give him a kiss one the cheek. "Merry Christmas."]
Merry Christmas. And, now that you're here, we can show William what he's missing.
[He pulls out his phone and crouches down in front of his sister and Mia, before pulling up selfie mode.]
C'mon. Everyone get in here.
[Zoe tucks her arm through Connor and pulls him in closer, getting into place so Quentin can snap the shot.]
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Would you ever consider ditching City Hall for Parliament? I think you could do wonders whipping for the Labour party.
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Much as I would love seeing you more often while you're at school, I feel like I'd make a lot more headway here, even with the assholes.
["Besides, your dad would be lost without you, even with Dinah keeping him in line," Mia teases and Zoe shakes her head.]
Don't even get me started. He found out that a mayor in New York had made me a loose job offer and he threw a fit.
[Everyone's phone dings with the new entry to the group chat.]
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JR turns, eyeing what's being cooked and then taps on their group chat. )
Always a master of the angle, brother.
( Connor gets his own hug in with Zoe.
"Zoe, did you do Christmas with Dinah and your dad?" )
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Zoe nods.]
We do Christmas Eve, though. Always have.
[A holdover from their Latino roots. They may not do midnight mass, but staying up late to open their presents is a Ramirez family right of passage.]
He and Dinah are drove out to see Curtis and his husband for dinner.
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Curtis is energy and loves entertaining, so Connor can see why Zoe chose the cool kids over Curtis and his husband. )
Whatever Q's making is almost ready. Smells good, though.
( Which is all they can ask for.
"Whatevers. Plural. He planned courses," his sister says. )
Hope you brought your appetite.
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[Mia leans over the counter to try and get a better look at what's coming. "If you're going to break into my apartment the least you can do is feed me."
Zoe shakes her head.]
We didn't break in. Jay Michael knows we're here.
["Yeah, you plotting with my roommate behind my back is a conversation we're going to have later."]
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( She's not even giving her a hard time, now. She's just curious. )
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[So he's certainly not hot for her.]
We met in London. He's a friend of Coop's.
["Coop being the mysterious boyfriend William is hiding from us."
Mia rolls her eyes.]
He's not hiding him from you.
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( Hot it still hot. But, fine, to her point. )
That's right. Zoe and Connor have met him. It's just timing. Small world with William and Cooper and then you shacking up with his friend. Even better, I don't think anybody involved is British.
( "They aren't," Connor confirms. )
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