[PRP] Checking Out (Temperance/Eve/Leila)

[The Semblance of Unity]

Temperance stood on the Fitzgeralds - no, wait, Fitzpatrick's -' porch, hand poised to knock. She'd managed to score a bit of free time between court things and work things and their work things to drop by. Well, she at least hoped they would be free of work right now. She needed to talk to them both and the trial loomed over her head like a sword on a string.

She knocked briskly. "Leila, Eve? It's Temperance."

cibarilm

 

[cibarium]

Leila opened the door slowly, trying to not look as tense as she felt upon seeing Temperance again. Their last meeting had sort of ended on a bad note, and she didn't know why the nurse was coming to visit them at their house Nonetheless, it was still good to see her.

"Hi there," she said. "What brings you out here?"

the semblance of unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Temperance smiled. "Hi, I know this is weird and sudden, but I have something I wanted to discuss with you. And with Eve, if she's in." She smoothed down her skirt, resisting the urge to fiddle with the lace on it.

"It's in regards to the weird court stuff. Can I come in?"

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

Court stuff? "Yeah, okay," Leila nodded, curious. "Come on in." She led Temperance to the sitting area with its pair of sofas and another pair of armchairs. There was a rerun of something paused on the TV, and Eve was occupying half of a sofa.

"Here for Court business, I heard?" she greeted with a wave.

the semblance of unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Thank you. Hi, Eve." She waved a little in return. "I dunno if you heard, but there's going to be a trial for the Burning Man. And I know it's probably not easy, but I needed to ask some questions."

Temperance squared her shoulders. "I'm, um, the prosecution."

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

Oh.

Eve and Leila exchanged a small look, bracing themselves. This was not going to be a fun conversation. They weren't going to hold it against Temperance, though.

"What do you need to know?" Leila asked.

the semblance of unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"I need to know if anything seemed odd about his behavior as the 'deadline' drew near. Presumably, Ezra was within the Burning Man and continued to fight against it." Temperance laced her fingers together. "Also, I need to know more specifics about when he took your fingerprint, Leila."

She exhaled slowly, looking at the both of him. "Have you visited him since?"

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

"I have," Eve answered. "Less than a week after. He had no memory of what happened at the time, and he thought..." She paused and broke eye contact. "I had to tell him his parents and other people in his life had been replaced."

"The Burning Man was always a little..." Leila frowned and squinted into her lap, struggling somewhat to find the right words. But eventually, she admitted, "There were some red flags we should've paid more attention to. My thumbprint was taken right after that Conference."

As she continued her thumb protested a bit, like a cigarette burn. It made her wince some, but it wasn't enough to prevent her from speaking. The geas had been wearing off over time. Leila was beyond grateful that she would no longer have to see Temperance or anyone else with the phantom flames around them.

"Before we were trying to understand what our relation in a past cycle could mean in this one... that was the end of that," she said. "He threatened to kill me."

Eve was looking especially bitter as she reached over to take her wife's hand.

the semblance of unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"So, then... you knew. All along you knew he was the Burning Man and not the Ezra of this world." She took a deep breath. "Did you also know that this Ezra inside of him was trying to fight or did you ignore it?"

Then, abruptly, she switched back to the topic of fingerprints. "Did he threaten to kill you if you did not consent specifically or was it for another reason?"

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

"We believed this world's Ezra had been replaced," Eve filled in bitterly. "It was a terrible mistake." Unforgivable, even. It was clear she and Leila both regretted it, but hindsight had no use here. Hopefully it would at least explain why both of them were keeping their distance from the young Ezra now that he was free.

Leila's posture slumped downward as she once again recalled the events after the Conference. "This was right when we all decided to redo the Charter, so it was clear he was working alone. I pointed this out," she said, "and he said he didn't owe me an explanation. I-I didn't want to do it, and I didn't know his plans, besides wanting to keep the Court disbanded... but he said..."

Her thumb kept tingling, jolts of heat shooting up to her elbow, but the memory of the conversation was far worse than the pain. It would still be difficult to recollect even without the fading geas -- so instead of speaking the next part, she offered a memory of the conversation. It was faded, oddly detached, but the Burning Man's threat was clear.

"I didn't want to leave Eve behind like that," she finished. "Right after that is when I saw this world's Ezra for the first time. I got the ability to see mental influences, like the geas."

"So we know Ezra had been aware of what was happening," Eve added. "And he was trying to fight back. I know he wrote a note to America asking for help a few weeks later or so."

the semblance of unty

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Temperance hmmd thoughtfully. "I don't know if his threat will count as admissible in court, but if so, will you be willing to testify?" Even after the shared memory ended, she continued to mull it over.

"When did you become aware Ezra was fighting back - how?"

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

Leila nodded, agreeing to testify.

"Leila's sight was a clue, but the note America got made it obvious," Eve answered. "He broke through the Burning Man's control to write it, and the surveillance some of us did afterward revealed more signs..." Now she was scrolling through the text message archives on her phone in search of other people's observations. "For example, when did a scrying spell to observe him, he had no burns until he became aware of us... then they returned before the spell was broken. We think Ezra was at the forefront in that moment, but then the Burning Man took over."

the semblance of unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Leila, have you gone to Sonny about this scrying? It's not a scrying done in the court, but... I think she needs to have that as evidence. It might not be much, but if we build up a lot of little things..." She rubbed her nose absently.

"I'd already panned to talk to America about the note. Did you manage to find anything else while the, uh, group of you were trying to find out information?"

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

Eve squinted and frowned at a section of the chat log. "America saw him cutting at the burns," she answered. It wasn't pleasant to be reminded of that. "I can send you this log if that would help."

Now that it had come to a trial, she would offer anything that would see the Burning Man face some consequences for his actions.

"I can go tell Sonny," Leila added. "Must've missed the memo..."

the_semblance_of_unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"It was during the first hearing for the trial - Sonny is sorting out what scrying can be admitted. I think it would be very helpful if you went to them." She tapped her pen. "Once you knew that there were two within him, potentially warring, did you confront him? Ask him any questions about it?"

cibarium