[OTA] Paint the Town

[uncutclarity]

When her close girlfriends were around, they'd had a routine. End of the relationship rituals. But it seemed strange to do them on her own, so Avery didn't dig out a short dress or high heels, and she didn't leave the Castle with Wren and Tegan to go first to the Four Suits and then to the Wild Card. Instead, once shed cleared her inbox, she changed into jeans and boots and headed out to the quieter, grittier bar Ben Mackinnon had opened near the Spade section.

She got herded a bottled beer and a set of balls from the bartender and proprietor, and it wasn't until shed set up the game that she was reminded that it was Davin's game. Maybe she should have gone with darts instead.

Well, she thought, it would just be weird to turn around and change her mind now.

Comments

[theacethatmatters]

Julien was hardly a friend of Ben Mackinnon, or particularly interested in his pub. But it had just opened and it was a long walk back to Spade Castle from the Clubs, so he's stopping in anyway.

He'll get a whiskey and Coke from the bar and meander over to Avery when he sees her by the pool table.

"You appear to need a player."

If she'd been anyone else in the Deck, he might have passed by. But she's another Ace, now. So that's enough to get something like approachability out of him.

[uncutclarity]

The Ace club was really the most exclusive, when it came down to it - though Avery had some fondness for the weird quartet of Jacks shed served with last year.

She lined up her shot, neatly potting a ball before she straightened. "Are you offering then, Julien?"

[theacethatmatters]

Jacks seemed to have the most rotation and Aces rarely seemed to serve much longer after the Royals they had served changed. It is perhaps a testament to Julien's devotion to the Suit that he's still Ace despite it being under new management. Though it's also perhaps an interesting conundrum that Argine is no longer the Queen of the Clubs and yet her daughter remains Ace at a time when it might be best for them to have a full contingent of Faces.

And also, apparently, a time when the Clubs King had a Heart sitting behind his desk but perhaps even Julien wouldn't, quite, fault Hadyn for that. Then again, Hadyn was his student.

"Might as well. I expect it will be educational."

He'll just be moving to get his own pool stick, then. "Am I spotting you that ball, then?" Or shall they re-break them.

[uncutclarity]

Maybe it was a testament to Clive not wanting to deal with the repercussions of Julien not being Ace while still being around. Of course the obvious solution - killing him - wasn't exactly a simplistic matter. She was curious to see, though, how fast Jordan would rise in the Spades. The timing of his switch was interesting to say the least.

Right now she just raised her eyebrows, a dry smile lifting the corners of her mouth. "Oh, I wouldn't want to take advantage," she said as she retrieved the ball. "You can rebreak. "

[theacethatmatters]

Jordan entering the Spades. Ethan returning. All sorts of interesting timing.

And still Julien is here.

But he'll rack the balls just so as they're retrieved and set into place. "How kind the lady is," he comments, just before he makes his break shot, dropping one of the stripes in a pocket.

"I suppose that makes you solids."

[uncutclarity]

Something like Stonehenge? Or maybe Avery either needs more or less beer.

"Oh, definitely. The absolute soul of kindness." She supposes it does make her solid, though she doesn't move. It's still his turn, after all.

"I am a solid sort of girl, I suppose." Säde would argue that, but the Queen of Diamonds probably thinks her Ace is best described by the song 'What Do You Do With A Problem Like Maria' from The Sound of Music. Somehow she doubts Julien is familiar.

I RNGd it.

[theacethatmatters]

He'll choose his next shot with care, dropping the number 9 ball in a pocket but when he goes for the number 13, it just bounces off the edge of the pocket and out toward the middle of the table. He'll shrug and step away.

"How solid do you suppose that is, then?"

An odd conversation, but he'll go with it. And have more of his drink as he goes.

Always a good way to go about things

[uncutclarity]

Avery takes a long drink of her beer - her third, but it only shows in a slight flush on her cheeks - before she bends over the table. The five ball goes in, and she straightens before she answers.

"Solid enough to handle the bulk of 'inquiries' about the Deck's latest quirks," she says. "Of which there are many. I'm sure you're finding it the same?"

[theacethatmatters]

"Mmm. Even had a nice conference with your Queen regarding it." And his own Royals. And the Clubs. Well. Hadyn. He hadn't been down to see the new King of Hearts, though. Or their Ace.

That should probably happen, just for completeness. "I don't suppose you've got any theories."

[uncutclarity]

"I bet that was delightful experience for everyone. " She sinks her second ball, a nine, and then screws up the twelve.

"It seems likely that the Arcana caused it," she adds. "But the houses don't seem to be from Arcana. At least from what the said about it when the were here. " They were supposedly more isolated after all.

[theacethatmatters]

"They seemed to enjoy it as much as would be expected." Which is extremely, don't you know that, Avery?

"What do you mean?" He means the second part, the first part is obvious.

And he'll let her explain while he sets up his next shot, going for the number 14 and landing it in a corner pocket.

[uncutclarity]

"Just what one would expect," she murmurs, and leans on her cue.

"Säde and I explored one before the started disappearing. There were books strewn everywhere. From Outside," she adds. The classic children's books she'd grown up with - Anne of Green Gables, The Secret Garden, Alice. "They claimed to be isolationist. Of course, that could be complete bullshit. "

[theacethatmatters]

"Only way to know for sure would be for someone to go there."

And, last he checked, the damn door they'd left behind still didn't work. He expected it never would. Just something to taunt them with.

"I suppose we could set people up in a few of them with...locator devices and cell phones and see where they end up if they disappear."

You know, people they'd just as soon get rid of.

It might be a joke.

[uncutclarity]

"Or just put trackers in or on the buildings that are left. " On would be safer, and make it easier to get volunteers. People were understandably spooked. " The Spades lost two, I hear?"

Logan was a flake. He didn't really count.

[theacethatmatters]

No, Julien certainly wasn't including him in the number of those missing. People left the Deck often enough anyway. This was different.

"Mmm, but they can't call back and tell us what they're seeing, can they?"

Then again, they could always end up somewhere there's no phone infrastructure and a phone would do shit all for them. So there's that.

[uncutclarity]

"I feel relatively sure that among the Diamonds, at least, someone would have called if the could. " One of their missing had even been on the phone when he disappeared and the call had just...cut off. Like he'd hung up.

Mid sentence.

"So I dare say that's a safe assumption. "

[theacethatmatters]

He leans against the pool table, game more or less forgotten, as he finishes his drink.

"There's nothing that says they have to go back Outside, either. Or that they came from there."

Of course, that was the most frustrating thing. They didn't have enough intel to make any good assumptions about what to do with this. Except wait for the other shoe to drop.

[uncutclarity]

"It reminds me of what happens when a machine gets out of sync," Avery says as she takes another drink of her beer. "The problems aren't insurmountable at first , but..." It gets worse and worse, until the machine breaks down.

"Maybe we need to go back to the beginning. The Arcana seems like they're the likeliest culprit, but since returning the artifacts to their position didn't help, we need to consider what else it might be."

[theacethatmatters]

"Isn't that what the researchers are working on?"

Not that they've found much of anything.

"Or did you have something else in mind?"

Did you stumble across a cache of this is how you do Deck magic manuals, Avery?

[uncutclarity]

Oh, yeah, she's been using them to shore up the furniture that's been breaking in the mini earthquakes. Except not so much.

"Earthquakes usually have epicenters, don't they? Maybe we should try mapping them." As much as they could map anything.

[theacethatmatters]

"I suppose I shall add looking for geologists to the list of people I need to co-opt into doing things."

Like the engineer-types for making sure the Castles actually weren't in danger of falling down.

[uncutclarity]

She gives him a highly amused look, and nods in the direction of the center of Town- where the school was.

"I hear the teach it in the high school science classes." So the science teacher was probably a good place to start.

[theacethatmatters]

"Lovely," he remarks, draining the rest of his glass and setting the pool cue down on the table. "We can set students to the work, then."

Not that he had anything against child labor. Considering.