[?] I'd buy it full price (???)

[shibrogane]

Quote:

1. Leila
2. Lily
3. America
4. Horace
5. Wilbur
6. Alexis
7. Temperance
8. Jamie
9. Rabbit
10. Preacher
11. Jeremiah
12. Algie

 

[shibrogane]

saedusk

Re: The listserv
To: "Jamie Delacroix" (xxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx)

Hey, I pulled your email off the listserv. Hope you don't mind.

I was hoping to talk to you about your hopes for the Charter meeting on the 21st. Noticed you'd been quiet, and I'd like to avoid what happened at the last meeting if possible. Can we meet up at the diner at the corner of Knowlton and Cabot?

Thanks,
E. Fitzpatrick

 

[saedusk]

shibrogane

Re: The listserv

I've been following the listserv and I've got my opinions on everything, too, I guess I'm just not as vocal. I'm free after 3:00 if you really wanna talk, but you'll have to catch me up on what exactly happened at the meeting you're talking about. Let me know a time.

Thanks,
Jamie

Whatever it was that had happened, Jamie assumed it wasn't great. Life had been keeping both him and Shiloh busy—too busy, honestly. The email had caught him off guard, but he supposed there was no harm in humoring the request. Eve trusted Ezra and that was enough reason to go.  

[shibrogane]

saedusk

Re: The listserv

Perfect. I'll see you there at 3:30.

E.

The diner at the corner of Cabot and Knowlton was a small, cozy place. At 3:30, Ezra had obtained a cup of coffee and his canvas bag was leaned up against the booth seat beside him. He seemed preoccupied, yellow eyes staring into nothing in particular.

saedusk

 

[saedusk]

This was Jamie's first time here, but the atmosphere was nice, at least. It set his shoulders from tensed to slightly-less-so as he walked in the door and looked around. Despite hardly knowing Ezra, it didn't take much effort to decide exactly who he was.

"I, um, hope you weren't waiting too long," he said, pulling his own bag—fish shaped and colorful—in front of him protectively as he took a seat at the booth.

shibroganeeee

 

[shibrogane]

"Not too long at all," said Ezra. "Do you want something to drink?" He seemed antsy, jittery with some kind of barely-leashed energy. Maybe it was just the caffeine. Judging by the detritus of creamer packages and sugar packets, he'd been there drinking for quite a while.

saedusk

 

[saedusk]

"That's good," Jamie said quietly, conversationally, despite noticing the array of evidence to the contrary. He wouldn't mention it because he wasn't that type of person. "Oh, I'll just... order some sweet tea."

It honestly wasn't much later that he had the cool glass between both hands as he rested his elbows on the table. A silence had dragged on as he ordered and waited for his drink, but the high-key energy Ezra was putting off was palpable regardless. It made Jamie kind of nervous.

"So, um, is... everything alright?"

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Ezra was polite enough to wait. There was enough of a clientele that Ezra and Jamie's conversation would be practically inaudible beneath the burbling of the customers around them, and that appeared to be by design. "No," he said, "It's not."

He cleared his throat. "Actually, I was dishonest with you when I asked you to meet me. Have you been told about the Charter?"

saedusk

 

[saedusk]

What Jamie wanted to say was you could've just told me the truth, because if there was one thing he was tired of, it was being lied to or half-truthed around. What he said instead was, "Oh," and went quiet for a minute or two as he stared down at his tea. Then he took a sip, pursed his lips, and finally spoke again.

"I've been told about it," he admitted, fingers tapping against glass. Shiloh had told him in their headspace, he'd let Jamie see and experience. It was what helped him decide once and for all on the path he wanted to take. "Why do you ask?"

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"So you know what it is," Ezra pressed. "You understand what it was created to do?"

saedusk

 

[saedusk]

"I-" Jamie looked somewhat razzled as he pulled his fish bag closer like a security blanket. The energy over the table still felt tense and he hated not receiving an answer like he was being ignored. "I know what it did when it was created..." he muttered, squeezing his bag again. "And I know what it is. I guess. Basically. W-What are you getting at?"

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"I ask because your thumbprint is on it," said Ezra. "You consented to its creation and lent your power to its inception. I want you to revoke your consent and your connection to the Charter." He put the thick paper down on the table between them. One thumbprint marked it. "Your left thumb," said Ezra. "Here." He pointed to the juncture of spiraling squares he meant. "You know what the Spinel Lady did to Shiloh. This is your chance to make it right."

saedusk

 

[saedusk]

"Wait, what-?" Jamie looked baffled as Ezra explained, but the further it went, the more his expression twisted into something readably pained. "I consented it? But... W-When? Why would I?"

It was hard to understand, but Jamie knew Ezra had to be talking about him from a past cycle. Since meeting another Jamie in the 80s, he'd tried to distance himself from the notion that each of his lives was him exactly. They'd each made their own decisions and so was he, here and now. All he was trying to do was live his life the best he could.

His chest felt tight. Why did Ezra have to say it like that? Why did he have to lay the weight of Shiloh's torture on his shoulders? It had been hard enough dealing with the guilt of never noticing he was gone in the first place.

"But I-I..." he muttered. His hands were rubbing furiously at his eyes as he looked down at the paper and tried not to cry. He'd already agreed to help Shiloh help Melany, to try and free her from what they'd done. He supposed maybe that wasn't enough when it was apparently your fault to begin with.

Had Shiloh known this, too?

"W-What happens i-if I do this...?" he asked, trying to sound like he had it together enough to have a legitimate conversation on the topic. It was hard. "H-How do I know I'm not... d-doing something bad again?"

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Ezra shrugged, fire-eyes glittering oddly. "I don't know," he said, "my name isn't on this list. I didn't sign the original charter, it'd seem. Your motivations in another life are yours to puzzle out."

Tracing a thumbnail down one of the walnut-brown lines, he said, "I intend to break the charter and free Melany from its confines. I am thousands of years older than you, and that much more experienced in what I'm doing. And--"

He leaned in. "You can do this now, relatively painlessly, or I will make you do it. You will not enjoy it if I have to do that." But then he smiled. "But why don't we make this mutually beneficial? I know you have Renard's schema. Put it on the Charter sigil. Renard can show you how to read what it knows.

"But you have to rescind your permission now."

saedusk

 

[saedusk]

A threat, a smile... both of them were equally upsetting. Jamie hated being backed into a corner. It reminded him a lot of being forced to give up his lunch money or shoved into a locker and left until a teacher finally found him. He thought he'd grown past the way bullies made him curl in on himself, but maybe he was wrong.

"Y-You d-don't have to threaten me..." he tried, but it was obvious his heart wasn't in his own defense. "I-I was just... asking..."

How long had it been since he'd stuttered so much?

Jamie held his left thumb out, put it on the paper where Ezra said. He didn't thank him for the information about the schema, he just continued to look sullen.

shibrogane