What's Wrong?

[Legione Sumus]

Mae Kawata (Mist)

Mae got a text from Elyse in the middle of her rehersal and she didn't have time to check it right away. And when she did it was much later, but that couldn't be helped. She fired off a text of her own.

Just got done with rehersal, not all of us have the day off What's wrong? Let's grab some food and we can talk. Mae sent a location with the text where they'd meet.

It wasn't far from Kallisti. It was about halfway between her home and work. And it was a favorite of everyone at the clubs. Served all sorts of comfort foods and they were open late, or early depending on how you looked at it. Mae would bring the rest of the crew back their lunch orders. The diner was used to large orders from the club.

Mae sat down and waited for Elyse to arrive.

[Elyse]

Elyse had just gotten in the cab and was headed home when Mae’s message came through. She immediately asked the driver could go to the restaurant instead. He gave her an affirmation and she thanked him. She responded to Mae that she was on her way. Elyse was glad to have the response, but had wished she had a little more time to calm down. Mae would feel her emotions deeply and right now they were in turmoil.

Elyse spent the ride doing meditative breaths, and she could feel the emotions simmer down to a manageable level. Mar would still feel them - fear, sadness, and uncertainty chief among them. The restaurant was close to the club. They had eaten there before. It was a Kallisti favorite.

Elyse arrived and a waitress pointed out Mae to her. They had eaten here regularly enough for that. Elyse went right to the table. Mae stood up as she approached and the two embraced and kissed before sitting back down.

”Hi,” Elyse said, not trying to fake anything. Mae would see right through it. ”Thanks for seeing me so soon, something happened and I need to all to you about it.” The waitress came over and Elyse ordered some pasta and a water, allowing her time to gather her thoughts.

[Legione Sumus]

Mae Kawata (Mist)

Elyse felt sedate, but her feelings were all over. Something was very wrong. "First we will eat. And then you can tell me what's wrong." Mae started telling Elyse about her rehearsal. Specially the new kid's voice. "Ashton's voice is amazing. He evokes so much emotion everyone feels it. Carmen has to hire him, if he ever tries out I'm sure he'll get it no problem. But he's just singing on stage with us."

[Elyse]

Perhaps Mae could tell that Elyse needed to compose herself a little more before talking. Of course she would know here emotions were all over the place. Eating first sounded good. She smiled at hearing about Ashton. She had heard him sing before. He was really good.

”He has a great voice. It would be great to see him on stage. Hopefully Carmen offers him a position.”

That reminded Elyse she also needed to speak to Carmen. She was going to stay home tomorrow and take a personal day to get some things taken care of. Elyse took a sip of her water. ”Anything else happen at rehearsal?” as she talked, she could feel herself calming down. This was another reason Elyse liked being with Mae. Her understanding of emotions helped her calm others down too.

[Legione Sumus]

Mae Kawata (Mist)

Mae continued to tell Elyse the things that happened at rehearsal. "Nox's new crew was there, and Ilesha showed up with a new friend, apparently she's a rock star, Sterling was full of glee and giddiness. More so than usual. But she contained it well. Nox would be proud." Most everyone there knew the rules Nox imposed upon the children he kept an eye on. He wasn't strict like this is how you must act, but he made you feel extremely guilty when you broke them. Probably a lot to do with how his father had treated him. Something Mae never pried or asked about, Nox rarely wanted to talk to anyone about his feelings.

"I hope that your day wasn't all bad." Mae said as their food arrived.

[Elyse]

Elyse smiled, the first genuine one since she had given in awhile. ”That had to be exciting for Sterling. That girl has met so many celebrities.” Nox had rules for them and she was sure the girl was absolutely respectful.

Elyse took a bite of her pasta. It was chicken Alfredo and it was as good as ever. ”it was actually a mostly good day. I went to the market to just look around and ran into Anna. Don’t know how much time you’ve spent with her, but she’s an absolute delight.” Elyse gave Mae a grin. ”Met two other people, one who might start working here and another who was actually looking for Nox. Anna needed up breaking her block today too.”

Overall, besides one thing - today was a rather remarkable day. Elyse took another drink of her water and another bite of her pasta. Talking about the good things that happened today was lowering her anxiety about her father.

[Legione Sumus]

Mae Kawata (Mist)

Their meal wound down and they chatted about innocuous things.  Mae expressed her concern for the person looking for Nox. "That could be a bad thing. He knows a lot of people and not all of them are good. And he makes just as many enemies. Be careful when someone says they are looking for the guy in the videos. Sage tries to keep us safe."

She also expressed her happiness for Anna "That's wonderful for her, she'll probably feel much better participating with Sterling and Juls.  One of Nox's strays is a crude healer, like the girl who healed Raffe after Kasun attacked him.  But Cadence, the girl that Ilshea brought she showed Liv and Juls how to do it right, and Sterling had this computer program from Nox's laptop that let them see and draw them. It was kinda beautiful and kinda scarey.  Sterling swiped away some of things Nox had left on screen, he'd labeled it 'Compulsion.  Do not try.' Not that Sterling doesn't already know how to do that, one of Nox's rules." Mae giggled. "He has a lot of rules for the kids."

"I'm glad you and Anna get on.  She needed a bit more draw to join us all properly.  Hopefully your new girl will come in and fit nicely. We are all just family and we are all here for everyone." 

Their waitress arrived and asked if they wanted anything else.  "I'll have the chocolate cake and a pot of black coffee." She didn't know how long she'd be here with Elyse and she wanted to make sure she was here for all of it, whatever was bothering her.  After Elyse ordered her own desert and t he waitress left them to their own devices she smiled "Tell me what's wrong."

[Elyse]

Elyse smiled, ”Dont worry, we gave him very little on Nox that he didn’t know already - says he’s Nox’s brother. We sent his information to Nox and Sage - and they’ll decide. And well, I didn’t sense any lying from him.” Elyse touched her nose. ”Sage also told me that he’s who he says he is. We were careful, and ultimately left all decisions to Nox.”

Elyse ordered some ice cream for dessert, and the conversation finally turned to what was wrong. Elyse waited for the waitress to bring their desserts and left to begin speaking quietly. ”So Sage sent me a message. An Atharim report.  My mom knew what I am. My father, who likely coerced that out of her, has murdered my mother, placed a contract out on me and is on his way to Moscow to murder me too.” the tears starts to fall and the fear began to build again. ”Sage is involved, which means soon enough Nox will be too. Sage was able to get him on the no fly list and freeze his accounts. He’s been slowed down a lot. I have time to prepare, but…I’m scared Mae.”

[Legione Sumus]

Mae Kawata (Mist)

That was definitely something wrong and Mae could feel the terror on Elyse. "Don't worry about anything Elyse. This is exactly why Carmen hired Nox in the first place. Not only was he one of them, he's one of us. You know this better than most of us. Sage likely wouldn't tell any of us if we were on the Atharim hit list. He'd just let Nox take care of it, but you were one of them, you know how to take care of yourself." Mae moved around to the other side and sat next to Elyse and put her arm around her. "You should stay at Nox's place. While it's full of kids, those kids are probably in the safest place in Moscow. And if Ashton can kidnap Nox, then you can damn well guarantee he won't let any one in that house to hurt those kids." Mae took out her phone and started tapping away while she poked at her chocolate cake.

The phone rang and a strong voice picked up. "Sup, Mae?"

"Elyse's got a some heat on her, and we are gonna stay at Nox's new place. Can you and some of the other boys when not on duty crash there with us, keep an extra eye out while Nox is gone. Hacker boy is on the job and doing his best to delay the hunter."

"You got it, Mae, I'll send some of the boys over to crash. They'll be disappointed Nox isn't there."

Mae laughed. "We all will be. Hopefully one of this kids knows how to cook or we'll be eating a lot of take out."

Mae hung up the phone. "So what do you need from your place? I should have everything I need at Kallisti for a few days."

[Elyse]

Elyse took her cue from Mae and when the other woman put her arm around her, Elyse turned it into a hug. It was a little awkward with the table and chairs, but Elyse didn’t care and Mae probably didn’t do either. In a few moments, Mae had taken away the majority of her fears. Fear was still there, burning amongst her emotions, but instead of a raging inferno, it was simmering quietly.

”Thanks Mae,” she kissed Mae on the cheek. ”Thanks for everything.”

Elyse let go of the hug and took Mae’s hands. She wasn’t sure what she had expected from the conversation, but it hadn’t been this. Mae taking charge was kind of sexy, Elyse would have to remember that, but for now, her mind had to be out of the gutter.

”You should know that if he finds out about our relationship, he might try to use that against me. Aubrey and Galina will be fine - they have no connection to me and he won’t go after ‘innocents’” she left good Mae’s hands to make air quotes before returning her hands to Mae’s. ”Except apparently his wife and and daughter. What a fucking monster. And I just decided to cover this up to.” she raised her right hand, still holding Mae’s hand. Mae would understand she meant the ourobors tattoo on her forearm. ”Nothing cemented that decision more than this. After this is resolved, I’m gonna be removed from the Atharim records - officially free from them. Courtesy of Sage. So if you know a good tattoo artist, please let me know. ” she laughed, feeling better than she had all day.

She stopped a moment to talks a bite of her ice cream, and offered Mae some too. ”I don’t have a whole lot - live pretty frugally. I owe Anna an explanation of what happened today - she’s been worried all day - so I could send her a message - the three of us could easily empty the place in one go. My lease ends at the end of the month and I’m all paid up - so nothing to worry about there. I should send her a message.” 

Sending a message one handed could be difficult but she wanted to keep one on Mae for now. Anna, can you meet me at my place soon. I need to get my stuff moved to Nox’s place. I’ll be staying there for the time being.

And then to Sage

Ill be at Nox’s place for the time being. Thanks again, Sage. For everything.”

Turning back to Mae she thought about Mae’s use of the pronoun we as she spoke to Bruno on the phone. ”You’re going to stay there with me?”