[OTA] Musical Thrones

[cipherspeak]

He'd stolen Hadyn's cigarettes the morning before, when the messenger had run in breathlessly with the news of Carmella's disappearance, but Elisha hadn't had the time to light up. Not between organizing the futile search and then taking the slow walk over to Heart Castle to tell Jonathan Montenegro that his wife was gone. And then, of course, he'd spent far too long fielding panicked questions from Clubs - and anyone else who made their way to his office.

But finally he'd slipped off, going down back stairs and cutting through the kitchens before stepping into the cold, crisp February air. There was a bit of blue in the sky, breaking through the cloud cover, but it was still fucking cold and he hadn't bothered to grab his coat or his gloves, leaving him standing in the gardens in jeans, boots and a sweater. Elisha exhaled as he leaned against a stone wall, and he closed his eyes for a moment before he fished the cigarettes out of his pocket and lit one with the old zippo he hadn't used for anything but candles in months.

He was going to get a migraine from this. He was going to get a migraine anyway, though, so there wasn't any point in abstaining. He was going to have to find another new Queen, he thought. Maybe he should just go without.

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[cipherspeak]

It's one word for it, at least. Eventually, he imagines the ambassadors will just...stop doing that on top of their other jobs. Until then, might as well use them.

"Four," he says. "The Clubs should likely tone down their intrepid natures."

[maidenthespade]

"There will be more." Said with slavic fatalism. "Word will trickle in. I am on way to consult with Sade since she is asking so nicely. But it is time, I think, for all of us to meet together. We may not arrive at solution, but we can avoid duplication of effort and install emergency measures."

She blows another smoke ring. "Herding cats. That is what Americans say, yes? I hear your Sweet Heart caught a little mouse while visiting us."

[cipherspeak]

"Can't keep people from being damned idiots." Pragmatism born from years of being a superior officer and watching people be fatally stupid. "I have something that ought to be shared with the group," he added. "I'll see her tomorrow, I think."

Providing the migraine didn't keep him down, at least. "That's the word," he says blandly. "A Diamond mouse at that. Interesting."

[maidenthespade]

"I hear they wear crystal collars and eat cheese from dainty Wedgewood traps. Or is it they are setting them? I am never remembering." Her lips purse. "He had permission as claimed to be where he was, though it appears he put idea into fool Six's head." That one will need getting rid of. Her lips spread into her customary amused smile. Clearly Queen and King, old friends, are merely enjoying time together.

"And so I am curious. Do you know he is friendly with outer Outsiders who arrived at similar time?" She would be surprised if Ilyusha did not. Intel was more his preserve than hers.

[cipherspeak]

"Oh no, I've seen the traps at Diamond Castle. Waterford only; no one would dare use anything less." He drags on his cigarette, exhaling towards the sky.

"I've seen him out drinking with my stablehand," he says. "And your maid. She was here earlier." There were a few things that didn't add up with Diane Masters.

[maidenthespade]

"Interesting. And what brings our maid to Club Castle?" She would need to check work schedules. Woman's free time is her own, but Spades employ messengers for official communications.

Her face suffuses into satisfied smile. "How very interesting," she says again. "Such pity Deck is so backward, yes?" She does enjoy games.

[cipherspeak]

"In ways." Though there are several people that he's just as glad don't have access to firearms. " I suppose it has to keep us from getting bored somehow." In case that had actually been a danger at any point in the last year and a half.

"She claimed she was bringing a personal note from one if my Sevens. " There was no reason to doubt her but all the same...he was more pleased now than he had been that one if his old friends had looked him up through Hadyn in Paris. And now the man owed Elisha something.

It was nice when things worked out that way.

[maidenthespade]

"I do not care for Chinese meaning of interesting times, Ilyusha. It makes me testy. When is last time you painted?"

[cipherspeak]

"The last time? Oh." He takes a drag on his cigarette. "A couple of weeks. But even then I was just finishing a watercolor sketch." He'd thought the wedding gift was going to be a chore more than anything else, but he was finding it relaxing to pick through the memories of the last year and a half.

"When was the last time you painted your eggs?"

[maidenthespade]

"Same as when we last had same conversation. You were to teach me painting." She inhales deeply. "Summer? Seems like long time ago now. I, at least, have had full complement of Faces." She exhales. "More or less."

It is too bad about David.

"You will not turn point on me. I have not been painting, but I did carry guitar to Four Suits not long ago."

[cipherspeak]

"I paint when I have time," he says. "But as it happens, I have an art project with a due date, so that puts me with a brush in hand on a regular basis." Of course, you could just as easily say that was more work than anything else. Even if it was for a friend.