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_highpriestess]

"Absolutely," Henley answers, uncapping the marker with her teeth. She proceeds to set to work enthusiastically, leaving Jack to find his own way. Thankfully, while there's not exactly an abundance of pictures, there is at least more than the one she's currently defacing. He'll be able to find one of his own fairly easily.

[the_death_card]

Jack does find another one quickly enough, bringing it with him as he returns to Henley's side to check her progress. "How's it going, Picasso?"

His turn, please.

[the_highpriestess]

"Pretty good," she drawls, putting the finishing touches on her work. She takes a moment following, shuffling marker and frame, then turns the latter around so Jack can see. "What do you think?"

[the_death_card]

Jack grins as he looks at the picture and Henley's additions. "I think Jacob's gonna kill us both, but I think it's gonna be worth it." He holds a hand out for the marker.

[the_highpriestess]

"He'll have to catch us, first," Henley tells him, passing the marker over. A pause follows, and then she asks, "How long do you think it'll take him to notice?"

By 'catch' she meant that she and Jack might be able to outrun Dylan, however briefly, but now that she thinks about it, it might take him some time to notice they did anything. Particularly if they put the pictures back where they found them when they're done -- and for as little time as Dylan actually spends here, anymore, anyway.

[the_death_card]

"Uh," Jack begins thoughtfully as he goes to work on his chosen target, "I guess it depends? I mean, he can probably tell we're up to something, but if he just comes straight to the suite, he might not for a while, especially if he's just used to these being there all the time, y'know?"

[the_highpriestess]

"If we had time, I'd say we could leave clues." She'd love to watch Dylan go through what amounts to an Easter Egg Hunt, with the end goal being him finding their defaced pictures. It'd be hilarious -- not to mention belated, good-natured payback for when they were all trying to figure out his name and she thought for a moment that she'd destroyed his father's Bible.

[the_death_card]

"I mean, if we just start laughing and hinting that we did something through the connection, it'll probably drive him crazy until he finds it without us actually doing anything specific," he returns, still grinning.

"Nevermind the fact that we did actually do something."

[the_highpriestess]

"Good point," Henley allows. Still, though, she pauses for a moment, expression turning a little thoughtful, before she asks, "Think we could play keep away, so he doesn't immediately figure it out?"

Mentally, she means. Can they keep Dylan from just pulling it out of their heads? It'll be no fun if he figures it out right away, after all, regardless of whether or not they're just stringing Dylan along.

[the_death_card]

Jack grins. "Oh, yeah, definitely. I mean, there's a ton of stuff we could have done that we can give him so he doesn't figure out what we actually did."

There are tons of small pranks they might have pulled, after all - short-sheeting his bed, plastic wrap in the toilet, switching the salt and sugar, etc.

[the_highpriestess]

"There is that," she agrees. A pause follows, a breath of a laugh, and then, "God, we're terrible people."

No, they're not.

[the_death_card]

Jack echoes her laugh, still grinning. "I mean, that's part of why he picked us though, right?" he teases.

Dylan wouldn't have picked them if they were stuck-up and straight-laced, after all, considering what he had in mind. He totally knew what he was getting into.

[the_highpriestess]

"That's what he keeps telling us," she chirps, brightly. She's pretty sure Dylan's going to start regretting that decision, before much longer, if he doesn't already, but he literally asked for it. He did this to himself.

"Anyway, let's see," she demands after a beat, gesturing towards Jack and the frame.

[the_death_card]

Jack laughs again - and then turns to hand her the frame.

He's drawn glasses and a mustache on Dylan; on Agent Fuller, he's drawn a bushy hairstyle and a wide, polka-dot tie that's reminiscent to a clown's.

[the_highpriestess]

"Nice," Henley declares, grinning as she leans back where she'd leaned in to inspect his work. She gestures to her own chest before adding, "I'm a big fan of the tie."

[the_death_card]

"Right?" Jack asks, still grinning. "I thought I'd change that up a little, let him try out a new look."

It felt obvious to give Fuller hair, and that just seemed to go along with it.

[the_highpriestess]

"It's good," she repeats. A pause follows, in which she holds up a single finger (one moment, please), and then she's reaching for her phone. Once she has it in hand, and the camera app open, she asks, "Lemme take a picture?"

[the_death_card]

Jack laughs softly and then turns his frame toward her, reaching for the one she defaced so she can get them both in one shot. If it's clear she's going to include him in the picture, he'll make a suitably obnoxious face to go along with their hijinks.

[the_highpriestess]

She does, in fact, take a step back to capture him and the frames, both. It takes her a moment, however, to steady her hands through her laughter to actually get a clear picture, but she does finally manage. That done, she lowers her phone again, though her smile remains.

"Okay, got it."

[the_death_card]

Jack's still grinning as he returns the frames to their places. "Cool." He pauses a beat, though he sobers only slightly. "Okay. Anything else we need to do here before we head back home?"

[the_highpriestess]

"I don't think so," Henley decides after a minute, some of her own amusement falling away to something more thoughtful, too. After another beat, she adds, "It's not like we can't come back, if we think of something later."

[the_death_card]

"And it's not like we're going to, like... the middle of nowhere, too."

The hotel might be remote, yeah, but it's not like they're going to be cut off from civilization. If they did forget anything Dylan needs, they can probably just order it from room service.

"So. Home?" he confirms.

[the_highpriestess]

"Yep," she confirms. A pause follows, and then, "I wonder if Merritt managed to get ahold of Agent Dray ... "

You know, without giving her a mini-heart attack, when she saw who was calling. She also wonders if Alma can take a vacation on such short notice, not sure what you have to do for leave like that in a professional setting and overseas, both. In her experience -- well, you don't really call out or ask for time off, as a stage magician. You just sort of plan things around shows and rehearsals, and if you get sick? The show must go on. She's not particularly bitter or upset about that, though. Such is the life she chose, and she's fine with it. She just has no basis for comparison.

[the_death_card]

"Dunno?" Jack returns as he picks up the duffle bag, heading for the door to the apartment, intending on jumping back to the suite from there. "If he hasn't by the time we get back, we can try again."

He pauses a beat before he says what Henley's wondering. "I hope she can get off this quick. I mean, I guess if she can't one of us can get her when she gets off during the day or whatever so she can at least come some of the time."

Hopefully she'll be able to talk her bosses into it, though.

[the_highpriestess]

"That wouldn't be as fun, though," Henley answers, making a face as she follows along behind him. "I mean, I guess it'd be better than nothing, but ... " But she'll still miss eight to ten hours of whatever they're getting up to on any given day. She'll still miss that time with Dylan.