Jack Wilder (
the_death_card) wrote in
second_act2017-09-17 05:02 pm
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By and by we'll defy a little bit of gravity
While Jack knows it's good for him, doing a lot to stretch how far his magic will go before he's exhausted, playing with the door trick is also fun. He's been picking locks for so long now that it's almost boring, especially when his actual magic has progressed to the point that, increasingly frequently, doors will unlock themselves before he even knows they were locked to begin with.
Using the Eye's network is something different. It's a constantly moving lock that, if he hits a slightly different pin in a slightly different way, will open a door to somewhere completely different. He's already found a dozen different places across the United States and a half-dozen more outside of it that have all led to some fascinating afternoons. Every time he finds somewhere new, he thinks to ask Jacob or Max or Andrew for a list of connected places, but so far, he's forgotten to actually do it. Finding them randomly is more fun anyway.
Things have mostly calmed down around the suite, now. He knows most of them have returned to their normal sleeping habits, helped along by their brand new connection. That's still new and something he's getting used to, but like someone said, it feels like a natural next step after the year they spent living on top of each other and how close they've all become since then. It is still something they're all figuring out, though, which means that they're still taking it easy on rehearsals. Normally, that's not something he would mind, but today, it's lead to some restlessness that he knows no jog or trip downstairs to the gym will do anything to help.
When he catches himself rereading the same paragraph in his book for the third time in a row, he groans and levers himself into a sit, setting his book to the side and leaning down to grab his boots where he kicked them off earlier. There's an inquisitive ping at the back of his mind that he brushes off as he stands and grabs his jacket, heading out of his room and toward the stairs.
"I'm going out for a while," he calls to the suite at large on his way downstairs. "I've got my phone."
Merritt doesn't look up from behind his book but he does wave a hand at Jack in acknowledgement, and there's an accepting nudge from someone through the connection. Jack flips a wave back at Merritt as he slips out of the suite, closing the door behind him and heading for the elevator. He pauses once he gets there to run his thumb over his middle and index fingers, calling up a spark and touching it to the keyhole set between the standard call buttons. He can immediately feel the pins that make up the Eye's network, and he drifts over a few of them before settling on one. He nudges it into place with his magic and then pulls his hand away and hits the down button to call the elevator. It comes almost immediately, and Jack steps inside, hitting a button at random and leaning back against the wall to watch the numbers drop - and then stands straight again when it slows to a stop with the usual quiet ding.
For everywhere he's been so far, what he finds is entirely unexpected. If he didn't know better, if he hadn't already seen the Peninsula's lobby dozens of times, he would think something had gone wrong with the magic and he had just been taken downstairs. Ahead of him is another hotel lobby, and he stops just outside the elevator, trying to figure out where he is. Just ahead of him is a small desk bearing a stylized sun - and when he looks at it for more than a moment, the paint seems to shimmer, revealing an equally stylized eye set into the paint. The desk is attended by a dark-haired woman in a blue shirt with a name badge pinned to it, and she looks up at him after a moment, smiling immediately. "Good afternoon, Mister Wilder. Checking in?"
"Uh..." Jack begins intelligently, and her smile turns a little less polished and a little more truly amused as she stands up, smoothing her shirt out automatically.
"Or did you just happen by?"
"That one," Jack returns, a little relieved, and she laughs.
"You aren't the first," she assures him, "but welcome to the Sun Veil Resort. We're located on the Yucatan Peninsula with access to the amenities of Cancun with our own specific brand of privacy for our members and their guests." It's clearly a standard speech, but Jack gets well enough what she's saying - or, rather, very carefully not saying.
"You mean this is for the Eye."
"Of course," she returns before her smile fades into something more solicitous. "Would you like a tour? We do have open rooms at the moment, and I'm sure you and the other Horsemen would enjoy a visit."
Even if this isn't where Jack intended to end up, Jack doesn't even need to think about it before he nods. "Yeah, that'd be great." Saying they would all use a vacation and change of scenery after everything that's been going on is puttting it really mildly.
"Give me just a moment, then," she returns with another smile. She turns her attention back to her desk, hits a few keys on her ocmputer, sets a small bell on the desk, and then rounds it, gesturing for him to accompany her. "Right this way."
Using the Eye's network is something different. It's a constantly moving lock that, if he hits a slightly different pin in a slightly different way, will open a door to somewhere completely different. He's already found a dozen different places across the United States and a half-dozen more outside of it that have all led to some fascinating afternoons. Every time he finds somewhere new, he thinks to ask Jacob or Max or Andrew for a list of connected places, but so far, he's forgotten to actually do it. Finding them randomly is more fun anyway.
Things have mostly calmed down around the suite, now. He knows most of them have returned to their normal sleeping habits, helped along by their brand new connection. That's still new and something he's getting used to, but like someone said, it feels like a natural next step after the year they spent living on top of each other and how close they've all become since then. It is still something they're all figuring out, though, which means that they're still taking it easy on rehearsals. Normally, that's not something he would mind, but today, it's lead to some restlessness that he knows no jog or trip downstairs to the gym will do anything to help.
When he catches himself rereading the same paragraph in his book for the third time in a row, he groans and levers himself into a sit, setting his book to the side and leaning down to grab his boots where he kicked them off earlier. There's an inquisitive ping at the back of his mind that he brushes off as he stands and grabs his jacket, heading out of his room and toward the stairs.
"I'm going out for a while," he calls to the suite at large on his way downstairs. "I've got my phone."
Merritt doesn't look up from behind his book but he does wave a hand at Jack in acknowledgement, and there's an accepting nudge from someone through the connection. Jack flips a wave back at Merritt as he slips out of the suite, closing the door behind him and heading for the elevator. He pauses once he gets there to run his thumb over his middle and index fingers, calling up a spark and touching it to the keyhole set between the standard call buttons. He can immediately feel the pins that make up the Eye's network, and he drifts over a few of them before settling on one. He nudges it into place with his magic and then pulls his hand away and hits the down button to call the elevator. It comes almost immediately, and Jack steps inside, hitting a button at random and leaning back against the wall to watch the numbers drop - and then stands straight again when it slows to a stop with the usual quiet ding.
For everywhere he's been so far, what he finds is entirely unexpected. If he didn't know better, if he hadn't already seen the Peninsula's lobby dozens of times, he would think something had gone wrong with the magic and he had just been taken downstairs. Ahead of him is another hotel lobby, and he stops just outside the elevator, trying to figure out where he is. Just ahead of him is a small desk bearing a stylized sun - and when he looks at it for more than a moment, the paint seems to shimmer, revealing an equally stylized eye set into the paint. The desk is attended by a dark-haired woman in a blue shirt with a name badge pinned to it, and she looks up at him after a moment, smiling immediately. "Good afternoon, Mister Wilder. Checking in?"
"Uh..." Jack begins intelligently, and her smile turns a little less polished and a little more truly amused as she stands up, smoothing her shirt out automatically.
"Or did you just happen by?"
"That one," Jack returns, a little relieved, and she laughs.
"You aren't the first," she assures him, "but welcome to the Sun Veil Resort. We're located on the Yucatan Peninsula with access to the amenities of Cancun with our own specific brand of privacy for our members and their guests." It's clearly a standard speech, but Jack gets well enough what she's saying - or, rather, very carefully not saying.
"You mean this is for the Eye."
"Of course," she returns before her smile fades into something more solicitous. "Would you like a tour? We do have open rooms at the moment, and I'm sure you and the other Horsemen would enjoy a visit."
Even if this isn't where Jack intended to end up, Jack doesn't even need to think about it before he nods. "Yeah, that'd be great." Saying they would all use a vacation and change of scenery after everything that's been going on is puttting it really mildly.
"Give me just a moment, then," she returns with another smile. She turns her attention back to her desk, hits a few keys on her ocmputer, sets a small bell on the desk, and then rounds it, gesturing for him to accompany her. "Right this way."
For Henley
"So?" she prompts. "Should I set up a reservation?"
"That would be awesome," he agrees, leaning on the front of the podium and crossing his ankles and setting the bottle of water she had picked up for him to the side. "They're gonna love this." Lillie chuckles again and turns to her computer. "Though I should, uh. Maybe go actually tell them about it and pack and everything, so maybe make it for tomorrow?"
She nods, hitting backspace and then beginning to type again. "The cabanas, right? Four of them?"
Jack nods. "Yeah, that'll work." Considering how infrequently Henley sleeps in her own room anymore, it feels a safe bet. "And thanks again for showing me around."
Lillie hits a few buttons and then sits back. "It was my pleasure. It's nice to meet you."
"Same," Jack says before he straightens, picking up his water. "So, uh. We'll be back?"
"We'll be here," Lillie returns, and Jack pushes away from the desk, heading back toward the door he stepped through.
It barely takes a moment for him to find the pin for the suite, and he doesn't bother with the elevator this time, just steps through onto the hallway leading into the suite. Immediately, he feels the connection click back into place at the back of his head, and he lets out a breath as he pushes open the door to the suite and steps inside, tossing his jacket over the nearest piece of furniture.
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Her sense of the connection didn't really break, she could still feel Jack there, however faintly, like the faintest snatches of a song through the static, but -- yeah, it's still weird, even if they're all getting used to it from Dylan. He's back at work; their connection is constantly strained by the distance. This was more, less, she's not sure. She wonders where Jack ended up and that might be a prompt to answer that question without actually asking it outright. She can sense his -- excitement, she thinks, too, and now she's curious, if she wasn't before.
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He wasn't surprised that she was here, thanks to the connection, but he's less sure if she's been waiting or if she felt him get back and came out then.
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"But a little of both?" she admits, when she forces that thought away. She definitely felt him get back and came out, then, but she was also kind of waiting on him. She did mention being curious as to where he ran off to, didn't she? To the point where she's just going to ask outright, now. "Which, speaking of, where'd you go?"
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What girl could say no to the idea of a spa on the beach?
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Rocking back on her heels, she looks up at the building and waits. It's all she really can do until someone answers -- or doesn't. She also has Alma's number on hand, too, just in case.
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She knows she's expecting one of the Horsemen, but she's also not entirely sure it is one of them.
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Seems she knew more French than she let on. Never mind the fact that Danny probably knew that from their time in Paris, before.
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There's a pause - and then a buzz as the door into the building unlocks. Come on up, Henley.
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The narration won't describe the apartment again, since it's mostly the same since the last time they did.
Alma closes the door behind Henley. "I'm almost ready. I just need a few more things."
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"It's not like we're in any hurry," she continues, absently. "We're on vacation."
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For Daniel
It's been a long time since he could actually relax, could actually stop thinking about his next play, when his head wasn't running a mile a minute trying to think of how he would survive in this reality Wade had left him in. Things had been better since the Horsemen, now that he had a team, how that he had people who he was
almostpositive weren't going to turn around and stab him in the back. Still, it's rare that he actually relaxes - but this is close, and he takes a breath of salty air as he looks to his book.no subject
He probably feels him before he sees him, Daniel's mind a quietly simmering pot. He's doing well to keep actual worded thoughts from projecting -- and, probably, from letting the others feel his anxiety, though the distance also probably helps with that -- but he is anxious. It's written near-plainly on his face, too, when he rounds the corner and finds Merritt sitting in a lounge chair. It also twists with something like relief when he sees him, though it's quick to snap back into place. It feels almost like stage fright, and Daniel carries it with him as he beelines for him.
"Merritt, hey." A beat. "You got a second?"
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Even in Mexico."
He's mostly teasing with his words; the slight concern he's projecting through their connection is far more real.
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Never mind the fact that there is no 'upstairs' here. Still, his meaning is clear. He wants Merritt to follow him to his and Henley's room.
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"Where's the fire?"
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Merritt follows him back toward the cabana. "Fine, what's putting the curl back into that chemically straightened head of yours?"
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Today, however, he throws a glance over his shoulder as he answers, "Well, you know. When your dad caught me in bed with your mom, last night ... " A beat and then, "Seriously, though. It's kind of a visual. Do you have, like, no sense of anticipation?"
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