By and by we'll defy a little bit of gravity

[the_death_card]

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."

Comments

[the_death_card]

Jack drifts to the other side of the racks as they start into the store, turning to look back at her across the tops of them. "So lots of sequins?" he asks with a grin.

[the_highpriestess]

"Only on stage, Jack, and you know it," she answers, shooting him a dirty look. The mental image of a neon yellow speedo follows. If he's going to threaten the worst possible swimsuit for her, well, two can play at that game, and knowing this place, they might just have something like that.

[the_death_card]

Jack starts to snicker a little - though it trails off into an indignant sputter. "Fuck, pass," he returns, horror washing away the image she passed over. "Alright, alright," he continues, literally waving her off before he turns his attention back to the racks, looking more seriously, now.

[the_highpriestess]

Henley laughs, delighted both by the fact that the image translated and by Jack's reaction and the fact that she can feel that horror.

"You asked for that," she tells him when she settles, relenting. She's done, if he is, and never mind the fact that he probably actually has the body to pull off a speedo, a little more built than Danny and, no offense to him, a little more fit than Merritt. And -- and she's shelving that thought now, really, she promises, and that in mind, she turns to the racks, looking for anything that catches her attention, too.

It's not long before she has a modest selection of things for both her and Jack, draped over one arm, and satisfied for the time being, she carries them over to him, pushing up on her toes as she approaches, to see what he ended up with. "Anything?"

[the_death_card]

Jack appreciates the fact that she thinks he could pull it off, but he also doesn't need to be thinking about Daniel or Merritt in Speedos, and he waves it off through the connection this time before he turns away to start looking through the racks.

When she catches up with him again, he has a collection of his own. He has a few trunks for himself - mostly dark, solid colors, though a couple of them do at least have some colors or patterns down the sides. The ones he has for her have more variety of colors and styles - and none of them have any sequins.

"I think so," he returns, returning one to the rack before he turns to face her. "You?"

[the_highpriestess]

"I got a few things," she confirms, holding up her choices for him and herself, both. When she lowers them again, she continues, "Wanna see if we can't find a couple of dressing rooms and have an impromptu fashion show?"

She's going to want opinions on anything she tries on.

[the_death_card]

Jack looks over the items she's carrying briefly before he nods. "Sounds good. Uh... looks like they're back there?" he guesses after a moment of looking around the shop.

[the_highpriestess]

"Yep," she answers, looking around for an employee she can flag down. She knows where the dressing rooms are -- it's getting into them that's the not-quite-problem. Thankfully, it doesn't take her long to find someone, and once they've got a couple of rooms open for them, she ducks into her briefly, to hang up her half of her finds, before she returns with Jack to trade for his.

"Okay," she starts again, once that's taken care of, "try on everything, even if you think it'll look stupid -- it might look better on you than it does on the hanger -- and when you've got something on, come back out here and let me see it. I'll do the same with mine." That way, they can both have an outside opinion.

[the_death_card]

Jack passes off what he picked up for her and takes the rest from her, glancing at them again as she speaks. "'Kay," he agrees. "Unless you snuck a Speedo in here, and then no deal," he adds after a moment with a grin. He doesn't actually think she did, considering what he got through the connection, but he has to add that anyway.

Just in case.

[the_highpriestess]

She shrugs innocently, trying to keep her thoughts to herself in the process as to leave Jack wondering, and turns ducking into her dressing room. After a handful of swimsuits between the two of them and, despite her teasing, no Speedo, she returns wearing a teal and white floral print bikini.

"I think I might be sold on this one," she declares, looking herself over in the mirror before she glances back to Jack. She's not sure who's choice this one was, but like she said, she think she might be decided -- assuming, of course, Jack agrees.

[the_death_card]

Jack looks over at her - and then looks again, nodding. "I like that one. It's a good color for you."

Not that he knows fashion and so on as well as she does, but that doesn't mean he's completely blind to it, either, and it does look good on her.

"I think I like these," he returns, turning his attention back to the mirror he was considering them in.

He's found a couple he'll probably go with, just to have some options and since he literally doesn't own a swimsuit otherwise. There was a pair of black and blue board shorts with feathers and flowers, and he's wearing now another pair with a sunset-esque gradient from blue to peach.

"What do you think?" he asks, facing her again. He'd had a hard time not just gravitating toward ones that were more solid colors, since that's what he tends to favor, but he's trying to branch out.

[the_highpriestess]

"I don't know," she starts, something in her tone suggesting she's gearing up for a joke at his expense, albeit lovingly so. She likes the trunks Jack has settled on, likes his back up, too, but, "I mean ... are you feeling alright? I was kind of expecting black on black on black."

She, too, has noticed Jack's leaning towards solid colors, and she can't help but tease him about it.

[the_death_card]

Jack picks that up and narrows his eyes at her - and then rolls his eyes at her. "I mean, I've got some in there that are just black and gray, I can always go back to one of them...." He gestures back over his shoulder, half-turning like he's actually going to go back to the dressing room.

[the_highpriestess]

"Ugh," Henley declares, amusement dropping into not entirely feigned disgust. "You're going to the beach, Jack, not a funeral." Please don't go back and get the black ones, Jack.

[the_death_card]

Jack stops, turning back around to face her fully. "I don't think I've ever heard of a funeral where a swimming suit was considered appropriate or whatever." He pauses a beat and then adds, more teasingly. "Though that may actually be a thing here in California. I know how you guys feel about the beach."

[the_highpriestess]

"I'm pretty sure the cops wouldn't like that too much," Henley answers, Jack teasing or not. After a beat, she amends, "Though, I guess if it was, like, ashes or something, and not a whole body, it'd be okay." She seems to remember California allowing for ashes to be scattered in the ocean. There's some kind of caveat to it all, like you have to be a certain distance from the shore or use a biodegradable urn or something, but hell if she remembers the specifics.

"Either way," she continues after another moment of pause, the idea of her waving off the argument mentally passing through the connection. Either way, did she mention not the black ones?

[the_death_card]

Jack meant more like... wearing bathing suits to a funeral home, and he passes over that mental image in answer before he nods, looking down at the trunks he has on again.

"Yeah, I think I'm gonna go with these and those other ones." He looks back at her. "You sticking with that one?"

[the_highpriestess]

Henley hums, amused by the mental image. When that amusement fades, she looks down at herself, fingers skating over the sides of her top idly. When she looks back to Jack, she nods, smiling. "I think so, yeah." A beat. "So, let's get changed and then we can check out."

Turning, she starts back towards her dressing room, that said.

[the_death_card]

Jack turns back to head into his own room, changing back into his normal clothing. It doesn't take him long considering he just has to change shorts and put his shoes back on, and he finds some wall to lean against while he waits on her, trunks draped over his arm. "Where else did you wanna look for stuff?"

[the_highpriestess]

It takes Henley a little longer, but not by much, used to having to do quick changes on stage. When she returns, she has her own new swimsuit in hand, the rest left behind in the dressing room, as instructed, and at the question, she glances around the room again, briefly, before, "I think I'm good on swimsuits -- "

She's got an extra at home she'll pack, too, just in case.

" -- but I wanna find a hat." A beat. "And a cover up." And maybe an umbrella, if he thinks the resort wouldn't have something like that on property. Long story short, here, though, much as she loves the beach, the sun is not her friend. "There's plenty of places around here that do both, though."

[the_death_card]

Jack doesn't catch the thought about an umbrella, but he nods to the rest of it. "I might try and find some sandals or something since these are the most casual things I have-" he holds up one foot, shaking it a little to indicate his sneakers - "but otherwise, me and my bag carrying skills are at your disposal."

[the_highpriestess]

"You're gonna regret that," she tells him as they make for the register. Seriously, if Jack wants to get anything else done today, he's going to need to cut her off, at some point. Otherwise, yes, she will use him to carry her bags as she shops until she drops.

[the_death_card]

Jack did pick that up, and he snorts. "Okay, we still have to go to Dad's and actually pack and everything, too, so we probably shouldn't stay over here all day."

He will start hinting about going home if she gets too distracted, though he also doesn't want her to have to rush considering they do technically have plenty of time. He does mean that he'll be glad to carry what she picks up, though.

They check out their purchases and head out of the store, and he gestures for her to lead the way. "Next?" he asks, looking on down the row of shops.

[the_highpriestess]

"Next time," Henley threatens. One of these days, she will drag Jack off on some wild, day-long shopping spree. For now, though, she's willing to try and keep it to the necessities, and as they exit the store, she turns, heading down the street with purpose.

"There's a place down here that does shoes and bags and stuff," she explains, when he falls into step with her. Between that store and a couple of others along the way, it's not long before Henley has everything she needs, including a new pair of sandals of her own, and never mind the fact that, unlike Jack, she owns several already.

[the_death_card]

Jack finds himself a pair of sandals and an only slightly ridiculous luau shirt just to keep going their "argument" about the lack of color in his wardrobe.

He holds the door for her on their way out of their last stop, squinting up at the sky for a moment for a general idea of what time it might be. "So, uh... go drop this stuff off at home and then go to Dad's?"

He doesn't really want to have to juggle a dozen shopping bags and whatever luggage they throw together for Dylan.