[?] The name of the wind

[shibrogane]

Quote:

1. America
2. Horace
3. Jeremiah
4. Algie
5. Shun

Ezra didn't send an email. He just went to the bookshop, and loitered until he saw Algernon.

"Do you have a moment," he said.

iloveyouDIE

 

[iloveyouDIE]

Algernon had merely been checking in, doing his boss duties where and when he could. Considering what had happened to Jeremiah there was a lot on his mind.

When was there not a lot on his mind?

Being intercepted by Ezra hadn't been in his carefully structured routine for the day, not even considered a possibility. His surprise was possibly palpable but considering Ezra was not his favorite person, it also took concerted effort for Alg to keep himself calm and civil and keep his expression polite and poised as he nodded, "Of course.."

He motioned to the back before leading the man to a small management office, offering him a seat, and closing them in for privacy.

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"Only a moment and then I'll be out of your hair," said Ezra. He summoned the Charter-but-not to hand; it was slowly filling with thumbprints. Almost every juncture was filled now. "I'm preparing the revocation of permission for the Charter," he said. "If I could get your thumbprint."

iloveyouDIE

 

[iloveyouDIE]

Algie was at least glad he'd closed them in the office for this. Shifty magical contracts in the non-fiction section wasn't a tag line he wanted attached to the shop.

'Free Wi-fi! Use our Club Room! Let Reading Carry you Away - Blood Pacts in Travel Section!'

Algie blinked down at the page as it filled with thumbprints. He hadn't even gotten to sit yet, instead leaning on the desk edge with his knuckles. It was clear he was turning things over in his mind.

"I haven't heard a peep of this.." There were so many prints and no one had mentioned it? He knew this step was part of things but that other part of him was reluctant to agree to anything Ezra said, even out of foolhardy stubbornness, "Why is that?"

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"Because the listserv is compromised," said Ezra. "Why would I use it to share information? I'm on it." He shook his head. "And if you think the person signing their emails M is on your side, you're wrong."

iloveyouDIE

 

[iloveyouDIE]

"Not the internet," Algie huffed, "That's just agenda pushing. Like everything online.." After the pre-meeting charter discussions he'd lost a taste for the 'news' on the listserv. He'd already begun to distrust most people and where their loyalties lay. It wasn't surprising to find that when there was threat of the world ending as they knew it, that people only wanted to protect themselves.

"I mean that no one has discussed it.." In the way that people around here did. Alg straightened in realization, hands now splaying on the wood, "Which means you're ensuring that too."

The Alg frown was deep.

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"Does it," asked Ezra. He was unimpressed, if his expression was any indication. His eyebrows were raised. The burns on his face pulled and warped. "I ask them not to tell anyone it's me doing it, sure. People are working against this. If this document gets into the wrong hands, then it could be catastrophic. At the same time, it can't be done all at once. The power won't be properly released if it isn't done ahead of time.

"And of course, you've told everyone what you're doing on the listserv. I've heard so much about Oliver Beaumont and his method of charter destruction. You knew someone had to be doing what I'm doing. If I'm keeping secrets, everyone else is keeping the same."

iloveyouDIE

 

[iloveyouDIE]

"I haven't told anyone what I'm doing on the listserv.." Alg snorted. "You're arguments on the communal 'you' feels less than relevant to me," And Oliver Beaumont wasn't his husband's abuser either.

"You'll get your bloody finger print," Alg very nearly sneered, "But I don't trust you. And I don't trust your manipulations. I also very much doubt I have the option to say no." Very green eyes stared over the top of his glasses.

"The others, lying and secrets aside, are trying to do the right thing. Even if they are wrong it's the best they can manage with poor instruction," This entire journey, this unfolding of events, had been a test in poor instruction, "I also very much doubt they would torch me for disagreeing."

Alg adjusted his glasses and straightened, "I can't say the same for you. None of this has me fooled into thinking you're a person." Even put on a platform for discussion and assistance, there with all of them at the meeting, he'd been nothing more than a defensive, squabbling drunk.

Whatever Ezra had been once upon a time was gone. He was nothing more than a self-serving monster.

"Let's get it over with," He said finally with no pause or care for rebuttal or discussion. It didn't matter in the end did it? Him even speaking was venting more than anything else. Alg knew that here in his office, in his bookshop, in some version of the world that that was tenuous at best, that safety was only an illusion. No one was safe if Ezra was present and he knew a fraction of what the other was capable of, but this was honestly as polite as he could be.

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"A lot of words that mean nothing at all," said Ezra. "Of course you could refuse. Then Melany would die. And Pax, and Pride, and Noeh. It would only ripple out from there. Ascencion, this version, who never laid a hand on your husband. Renard, Liam, your fetches, your husband. All of you would die as the Charter collapsed on itself and dragged anyone with differentiated powers with them."

He pointed out where the thumbprint was to go. As he pressed his thumb to the paper, Algernon would feel a burning sensation, like he'd touched the pad of his thumb to a hot kettle. But then it was gone, and Algie's thumbprint was utterly erased from his skin. The print on the paper shone and then didn't. Ezra smiled down at the reversed Charter, and vanished it away. "Leaving only me."

But he was just as much a part of the Court as any of them.

wasn't he?

iloveyouDIE

EZRA'S DECEPTION
Algernon cannot reveal just what passed between him and Ezra in this thread, or that Ezra intends to approach others. Should he try, his right hand will begin to burn again; the pain will be such that he will be unable to speak for the duration. He can share anything that happened after he put his fingerprint on the paper, but nothing at all before that. However, in return for this, Algernon has gained a boon. Choose one of these three below:
1. Equalizer - Algie can smother the use of passive powers within his line of sight. Aleksy's Sight, Jeremiah's hardened skin, any magical talent that requires no action on the part of its user will be quashed for as long as he focuses on it. However, when he uses this power, it's everyone in his line of sight, including himself. As long as he can see you when this power is active, all passive powers are off.
2. Replicator - Algie can replicate magical traits from another's physiology through touch. So, for instance, he could replicate Zac's galaxy eyes or Jeremiah's scent. He could also replicate a were's current form. Abilities such as Aleksy's sight or Jeremiah's magic-detecting eyes that are not caused by a physical difference in the structure of the body cannot be copied.
3. Emotipath - Algie can not only read the emotions of others, he can cause others to feel them too. Within a 25ft radius of himself, he can select the emotions of one particular person and spread them to everyone in that area. The feelings are stronger nearest to Algie and his target, and weaker near the edges of his circle. This power can be maintained as long as Algie focuses on it. He cannot use his own emotions as the base of this power; it must be someone else's.

 

[iloveyouDIE]

Alg huffed a wry laugh, "Maybe it's time. Thousand of years its gone on? Maybe it's time for us all to die. I'm not a man who cares about winning or losing."

Though here was, still pressing his thumb down as it burned, seared, and with a hiss and a yank he was pulling his hand back. There it was on the paper and his finger, still tingling with the sensation, was rubbed and noticeably smooth.

"Wouldn't you love to be alone.. with no false or forced family to fill the holes in your empty life?" He shook his head and was breathy from the momentary pain but it faded as fast as it came. He still had the urge to run it under cool water.

Alg's expression curled and he gestured, "There's your agreement. I believe our business is done."

shibrogane

Equalizer - Algie can smother the use of passive powers within his line of sight. Aleksy's Sight, Jeremiah's hardened skin, any magical talent that requires no action on the part of its user will be quashed for as long as he focuses on it. However, when he uses this power, it's everyone in his line of sight, including himself. As long as he can see you when this power is active, all passive powers are off.

 

[shibrogane]

Ezra didn't say thank you. He just disappeared.

iloveyouDIE