[1989] A Very Specific Wake

[Melancholies]

Shiloh Beaumont (25/25) // Oliver Beaumont (25/25) +1 Persuasion

Shiloh immediately wanted Eightloh's fries. Not right away of course; only when his lookalike hoarded them away like a selfish child. Sharing was caring; but he said nothing. His posture relaxed and his mind slowed down and the magic between his fingertips dulled into a gentle static. His eyes came to rest on Dana for a while, trying to find anything familiar about her. If there was anything, it wasn't coming to him.

He elbowed Oliver.

"Hey!" he hissed under his breath, rubbing his arm. The pair watched as Jamie took Dana's invitation to sit down, and in one fell swoop Shiloh followed (protectively) after him, and Oliver was left between standing there awkwardly or also joining them. He joined them. Awkwardly.

“Renard, huh..." Shiloh let the name roll off of his tongue. He didn't know the Renard from his time very well (not personally, anyway) but he remembered his face from the Ball and his name carried that weight along with it. He shook his head. “It's uh, nice to meet you guys I guess..." he was echoing Jamie, “I'm also Shiloh. And this is also Jamie. And this is—"

"Oliver." His eyes had been trained on Eightloh the entire time, or close to it. Occasionally he had looked down to his lap, or over at 80's Jamie (he was so quiet compared to their Jamie), but... "But you knew that, I guess." he mumbled, a little sullen.

Shiloh nudged him again.

“We're not from... around here," Shiloh was piggybacking off of Jamie's words again, “Actually, we're trying to get back home." he glanced away to his Jamie and his Oliver in tandem, wondering how much of the truth he should divulge. Jamie hadn't taken that initiative yet; should they wait on it? He nudged him under the table, seeking out his hand with his own. It was almost a reflex at this point. “It's really complicated."

Oliver was nodding, because even he didn't understand it all that well. "Very..." He shifted in his seat, and then unable to hold the question back anymore he asked, "Why did you look at me that way?" He could only assume Eightloh had his own 80s brand Oliver, so where was he at? He shuffled against Shiloh in the booth. Shiloh only frowned at the question, but had no words really to offer him.

shibrogane

ollie's asking eightloh a question

silverah

saedusk

 

[Silverah]

"The Shore family?" Temperance asks, looking confused. She frowns and turns slightly on her barstool to look over her shoulder at the barstool. "I don't think so... Hey, Liam," she says.

Liam looks up, his pale eyes wide, pupils huge in the dim light of the bar. "Yeah?" he asks.

"You ever hear of the Shore family when you were running in your bougie, high-society circles?"

Liam thinks for a moment.

"No," he says. "Doesn't ring a bell."

the semblance of unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Temperance Clark | 25/25
no roll modifiers

{{WAIT I DIDN'T EVEN HAVE A QUESTION TO ASK WHAT AM I DOING}}

Temperance looked over at Liam, and then looked away, certain he could sense that she was the one in the square and not this time's Temperance. "Ah, okay, thank you. I'm from Ashdown - where they're from and had heard that they migrated up here after a bit." A lie, of course, but what was one more lie to the ones she'd already told?

The Shore family, specifically one Sunny Shore, was at the heart of the problem, but what was she supposed to do if they weren't here? Or, even worse, if they didn't exist in this time? What if that was the problem? There was no fixing that one, any way she sliced it. Temperance's mind ran in circles and her mouth felt dry. She smiled wanly at the other Temperance and tried to think of what next.

silverah

 

[Silverah]

Liam's head whips up from the jar of olives he's messing with. "Ashdown? Massachusetts?" he asks. "I'm from Ashdown." If he suspects he might have spoken to this other Temperance the other day, maybe he's just hiding his shame - put next to each other, there are obvious differences. He seems to just be taking it in stride.

"May... maybe you're too young to know her - Vivien Hawken? She was a friend of mine."

Temperance gives him an oh really sort of look.

"That's an understatement," she says.

Liam is undaunted. "The Shore family," he says. "Are they, like, philanthropic types?"

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Temperance Clark | 25/25
no rolling modifier

She looked up at Liam, a little startled by his sudden movement. "Yes, Massachusetts. And, um, yes, I've spoken to Vivien a few times." Saying that was a gamble. Did seances and fairy ball talks with spirits count? Temperance wasn't entirely sure Vivien was alive in this current time, from what she'd heard, it seemed like Vivien died and died and died each time.

Temperance snorted inelegantly at other Temperance's observation: an almost-laugh poorly disguised as a cough. She tucked a strand of hair behind one ear.

"Yes, from what I recall." The Shore Estate was, right? Temperance wracked her brain. "I seem to remember a distinct appreciation for art. Have you kept in contact with any of them?"

silverah

 

[Silverah]

"Oh," says Liam.

"Awkward," says Temperance, and, apparently taking pity on her identical stranger, she leans a little closer and says, "Vivien passed away a few years ago. Brain tumor. Inoperable. I guess you didn't hear?"

She sighs and then, finally, eats the damn olive.

"All the magic in the world," sighs Liam. "Like I said, I've never heard of the shore family - maybe they showed up after I moved down here. Did you want a drink? It's on the house tonight."

Temperance indicates the steely-haired gentleman sitting alone in a booth. "Our generous benefactor," she says, and lifts her drink to her lips. "Cheers."

the semblance of unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Temperance looked at Liam, then Temperance. "I know," she said. "Every time." It was impossibly sad, even if she thought Liam was at least halfway to being a monster. It was hard to equate the two sides.

"Hmm. Maybe I'll run into Sunny yet. And while I appreciate the idea of a drink, I should probably keep my head clear, despite the generosity. Thank you." She did make a note to try and visit the silver haired man as well.

"Are you from Ashdown, too, Temperance?"

silverah

 

[Silverah]

Liam nearly drops the soda gun. "What the ******** do you mean, 'every time'?!"

The Semblance of Unity

 

[endejester]

Zac: Persuasion +2


"I will, thank you again, perhaps I can speak to you later if that's alright." He offered with a small smile before turning to make his way to a chair.

There really are a good number of people.

Things seemed, a little tense at the bar, in at least that he saw the soda gun get juggled and he wondered if he should approach or keep his distance.

shibrogane

IDK just rolling to see how charming he is I guess??/talk later-ness

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Temperance Clark | 25/25
no rolling modifier

This time, Temperance did startle. Of everything, she hadn't expected that reaction. She also hadn't thought it through before opening her mouth. "I... You... you, um, know what I mean. You, Renard, ..e-everyone. It goes and it goes and it goes and it cycles, right." That was how it worked. At least once every 22 years, wasn't it? She looked around, feeling like even talking about it in this time was a mistake. Temperance needed someone more eloquent, better suited to explanations, maybe.

"Zac!" Her eyes latched onto him, hoping he would come over and save her from her own words.

endejester

silverah

 

[Silverah]

"No," says Liam firmly. "I really don't know." He is glancing nervously between the two Temperances now, his jaw held tight. Then, he flips a switch beneath the bar back and forth and the Coors advertisement over his head flickers off and on again.

The off-duty cop rouses himself off the wall and comes over.

"What's up?" he asks, in Shun Kuroda'a familiar voice.

"I think she might be tweaking," says Liam.

Temperance sets her glass down on the bar. "Did you take anything tonight, honey? Use some downmarket magic? You're not in trouble, we just need to know."

the semblance of unity

endejester

 

[endejester]

Zac had frozen for a moment when she turned and called him by his proper name. But those questions, he had to stop another reaction completely, which wasn’t as hard is it might have been in another situation because he was more than a little anxious on how this might go.

But. ‘Use some down-market magic’ – he’d realized it was, well, common, especially in light of floating news papers but, he’d never thought of it having side effects like a drug.

“G-Griffin,” He said stammering. “Or Griff, Maybe you should have a seat? H-here… come have a seat with me.”

He hoped he was able to convey though his eyes along 'please don't kill me for rolling with this' - but he really didn't have a lot of faith in that.

Silverah

the semblance of unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Temperance Clark | 25/25
no rolling modifier

She sighed deeply, trying to control her rising panic over things. This was it, wasn't it? Liam of all people would know what she meant. Liam would have known and he didn't and this was how everything was wrong. No shores, no Sunny, no cycles. "No," she said. "I didn't take anything, didn't use any, um, down-market magic." Instinct dictated that she should feel defensive about their questions, so she deliberately squashed that feeling, and instead focused on the things between the lines. Magic could be a drug here, in New York, no less - so weird. How had everything gotten so commonplace?

Zac, no, Griff - and she'd forgotten that momentarily, caught up in things - looked at her. "Nothing here, or in Ashdown, is ever coincidence, Liam." She moved over towards Zac.

"You can stay quite over there, Shun Kuroda."

silverah

endejester

 

[Silverah]

Liam and Shun exchange a quiet look, and while Shun doesn't get any closer to Temperance and Zac, he makes no moves towards returning to his post by the stairs.

"Maybe Chrono," tuts Temperance, now frowning at both her younger double and Zac at once. "Or HappyMems. That can cause paranoia."

"No," says Liam. "Their pupils are all wrong."

He puts the soda gun down and leans across the bar.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he says, "And I say that sincerely. But we've lost a lot of friends and we don't know how many more we're gonna lose so you can tell me what the ******** it is you think you know about my dead fiancee or you can sit down and treat tonight with the respect it deserves."

He points at Zac. "You too. And if you're high, sit down and stop being so damn obvious about it or you can leave. We've got enough trouble."

endejester

the semblance of unity