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_lovers]

Daniel glances back towards the stairs, thoughts jumping to packing as soon as Jack mentions it. Those thoughts are replaced by something far more important, however, as he returns his attentions to Jack. Namely, "Do any of us actually have a way of getting in touch with her? I mean, like, beyond just going to Paris and hanging out outside the Interpol building?"

Which probably wouldn't end well for anyone.

[the_death_card]

"I think Merritt's talked to her?" Jack returns. "But Dad'll still probably have to go get her since none of us know where she lives."

Hanging around the Interpol building is very definitely not the best of ideas.

[the_lovers]

"Right, yeah, with the ... " With Torre. Daniel makes a vague gesture, disquiet bubbling to the surface at the thought of him and what almost happened there. Dwarfed, now, by what Ben did or not, all that still bothers him. He'll probably never be able to trust another mentalist outside of Merritt ever again.

"But okay, so ... Merritt gets in touch with her, to find out if she's free, and then we go pack."

[the_hermit]

The door onto the balcony opens, Merritt stepping back inside, book in hand. "Merritt's doing what now?" he asks as he closes the door behind him. He's been getting snatches of what's going on through the connection, but it's just now really pulled him out of his reading.

[the_highpriestess]

"Getting in touch with Agent Dray and finding out if she wants to go to Cancun," Henley answers, glancing over at him as he enters. "Because we are. Jack found the most amazing place."

"Wait, hold on, is it too late to uninvite him?" Daniel asks, looking between the two of them. There's something teasing in his tone, in the cadence of his thoughts, however, even if he looks perfectly serious. "I mean, I kinda don't need to see him in a bathing suit."

[the_hermit]

"Ah," Merritt starts to respond - and then stops as Daniel interrupts. He looks just as serious when he answers, though his side of the connection is equally teasing. "We'll need those glasses they make for people to look at the sun during eclipses, all that pale-ness you've got going on."

Jack just snorts and shakes his head, watching the two of them in amusement.

[the_lovers]

"No," Daniel starts, holding up a hand. He gestures to Henley as he continues, "No, those'll be for her"

"Hey," Henley protest, pressing her lips into a thin, angry line. She's no more upset than Merritt or Daniel are serious, but that doesn't stop her from going along with it -- or the mental shove that accompanies the act.

Daniel not-quite-flinches, then pops his eyebrows in a shrug. "I'm not the one who, like, only has to think about the sun and bursts into flames."

[the_hermit]

"But she's from California, where there is actually sun and warmth, unlike in certain midwestern cities," Merritt returns easily, because he's not about to let Daniel redirect when he started it.

[the_lovers]

"Better than being able to drink the air," he shoots back, a jab at New Orleans and its humidity. If Merritt wants to keep their play-fight between the two of them, that's fine. He can absolutely turn this back on him.

[the_hermit]

"It helps the bars keep from running out of booze," Merritt tosses back - and now Jack rolls his eyes.

"Okay, if you two are gonna keep that up, I'm gonna go start packing," Jack puts in, reaching for his bags among the things he and Henley brought back.

[the_lovers]

Again, Daniel glances briefly towards the stairs. When he looks back to Merritt, almost reluctantly, he asks, "To be continued?"

They really should actually start taking care of things, if they're planning on leaving tomorrow.

[the_hermit]

"Anytime," Merritt returns. "So I'm calling Agent Dray?" he asks, turning his attention back to Henley.

[the_highpriestess]

"I think that's the plan, yeah," Henley confirms, her amusement over Merritt and Daniel's tiff fading into something more serious. "And me and Jack still need to run by Jacob's place to throw together some stuff for him."

Though, whether Jack wants to pack, himself, first, or get that out of the way before packing for themselves is up to him.

"Though, try not to freak her out," she continues, regardless and after a beat. The very few times Merritt has called, it's been in the middle of a crisis situation. She doesn't want Alma to think this is more bad news.

[the_death_card]

"Let me put this down and we'll run by Dad's," Jack says over his shoulder from the middle of the stairs, apparently in response to Henley's thought.

Merritt watches him go and then looks back to Henley. "What am I telling her besides that we're going on vacation? Though.. that might be enough for her considering how often stuff is crazy around us."

He doesn't mean that as a bad thing, either, considering he's including their shows and that Alma usually has to be on the job around them.

[the_highpriestess]

Henley offers Jack a nod, a sense of understanding accompanying it (that's fine, take your time). Merritt, on the other hand, gets an almost apologetic smile, if only because, "That's about the gist of it. Oh, and that we're going to the beach."

So, she should probably pack a bathing suit and sunscreen and clothing for warm weather. Other than that, though, she's not sure what else Merritt should tell her.

[the_hermit]

"Right. Don't panic, just vacationing, got it." He passes the mental equivalent of a thumbs up through the connection as he turns toward the couches, taking his phone out of his pocket to scroll through it, looking for Alma's number.

Meanwhile, Jack reappears at the top of the stairs, his hands free, now. "Okay. You ready?" he asks Henley.

[the_highpriestess]

"Yep," Henley declares, abandoning her own bags in Dylan's usual seat. She doubts anyone will mind, given that Dylan's not here and the fact that they're all going to be packing soon, anyway. She'll grab them when they get back, on her way to pack for herself.

"We'll be back in a bit," she continues, for Merritt and Daniel's edification, and that in mind.

[the_death_card]

Merritt shoots them a thumbs up with his free hand as Jack jogs down the stairs, heading toward the door.

"You think we should let him know we're about to break into his apartment?" he asks Henley with a grin as they head for the elevator again.

[the_highpriestess]

"He'll figure it out," Henley tells him, mirroring the grin. If Dylan doesn't figure out where they are through the connection, he'll probably feel one of them drawing on the knowledge of where he 'lives' in Vegas, period -- assuming, of course, Jack doesn't already know. Either way, though, she doesn't think it'll take Dylan long to catch on to where they are, even if he doesn't understand the why.

[the_death_card]

Jack snickers a little as he stops in front of the elevator and pulls on his magic. "This one might take me a minute," he warns her, because yeah, he is going to have to try and get a sense of where they need to go through the connection.

He reaches out for the connection and for the Eye's network, looking for the one that pings correctly. It's a little more complicated, but it's still really just a lock, so it shouldn't take him long.

[the_highpriestess]

A flicker of confusion echoes back across the connection, Dylan not sure what Jack is feeling for or why, followed by the ebb and flow of mild panic as he reaches back, afraid that something might be happening again, gauges that no one feels upset, at least, and lets go, relaxing. He might check back again in a few minutes, when he can get to somewhere he can call Jack, the distance too much for conversation, as new as the connection still is, but he can at least take comfort in the fact that it's not an emergency for those few minutes. It helps, too, that Henley feels that, Jack not the only person Dylan reached for, and sends something soothing back. It's okay. They're okay.

And closer, now, much to Dylan's continued bewilderment, as they step through the door Jack opens and into an alley somewhere much hotter than New York, but in a different way. Dylan's FBI apartment isn't far; they're in Vegas, now.

[the_death_card]

When Jack finishes messing with the network, he sends dismissal back through the connection. They're good; don't worry about it.

"Nice," he comments outloud when he gets a sense of where they are, grinning at Henley - and then looking a little more chagrined. "He's gonna call in a minute, isn't he."

[the_highpriestess]

"He's definitely gonna call," Henley confirms. There's a flicker of guilt there, for worrying Dylan however briefly, but it is just a flicker, then and then gone, fading back into something more playful. She's excited about this, still, all of it, and that in mind, she continues, "Think we can make it to his apartment, before he calls?"

It's a game, now, a race.

[the_death_card]

Jack's grin brightens again, turning more mischievous a beat before he turns to start jogging down the alley, heading for where he can feel Dylan's apartment is. That's going to be the hardest part of this, considering he doesn't expect to have any issues actually getting inside.

[the_highpriestess]

It's not long before the apartment complex where she assumes Dylan's apartment to be comes into view, and while he still hasn't called (she can sense his impatience to get away from whatever he's doing, so he can call), she still starts to slow as they approach.

"Hold on a second," she calls to Jack, to get him to stop, too. When he does, she continues, "Do you think we should just barge in there? I mean, like ... " Maybe they should take a minute, make themselves relatively invisible, just in case. She doesn't think they're going to be noticed, but she also doesn't want Dylan to have to explain why the neighbor saw two of the Four Horsemen breaking into his place.