It'd been a text that went out to the few people America knew that had connections to Ezra, with the request that they forward it to anybody else they knew, who might...have the caring, necessary, to look at his request and want to actually try.
Quote:
come by the campground ive keep sweetpea at tonight invite anybody who might be worried about or connected to e.f. please no one dangerous though therell be a campfire with weenies and marshmallows ok
When they arrived, the campfire was already going, and cook out goods and sticks to roast thing with were gathered and at hand along with sodas and beer. From the outside, it just looked like a friendly summer get to together, same as any of a dozen going around that night in Ashdown.
America's grim expression as she held up the small slip of paper bearing the words Help Me in Ezra's writing, framed by a thumb that no longer bore the whorls of a finger print, did not quite fit the picture of normality. Well, maybe it was a little normal for those gathered.
azuredreams
please quote anybody jeremiah would invite
cibarium
please quote anybody eva & leila would invite
melancholies
please quote anybody shiloh would invite (she doesn't know if shiloh has a connection to ezra but she she Trusts Shiloh A Lot and likes him In The Loop
Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2017 11:39 pm
Jeremiah was dressed, as always, warmer than the weather required. A cane was hung on the back of his seat, and the bruising from the attack still obvious on his face.
The feeling was still fresh on his mind when America's message had come. The empty abyss that existed within Ezra. It gnawed at him, made him think again about what he had already thought: that something else was afoot.
Not just the fact that Ezra was hitting them up for thumbprints. Despite the setting, it felt like a somber atmosphere. One that got more so when he realized what America was holding up. A hand was held out towards her, wanting to take the message in hand and look it over. He'd pass it back (or onto someone else; likely Leila or Eve) in a moment. The handwriting was familiar.
Too familiar.
"He gave this to you?" A pause because he was not asking when, that would be foolish. Still a look was given to Leila then, their conversation coming to mind. "There's been concerns." That somewhere, within, Ezra Fitzpatrick was trapped and the Burning Man had taken over.
For the moment, he was without Algie but only because his husband had to go back to the vehicle to grab something. It was likely a gathering of people who were simultaneously angry with Ezra but here to try and help.
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Shiloh gets the message twice, since Jeremiah did not know that it was sent to him and forwarded it.
Smerd1e
Rabbit gets a forwarded message, a note from Jeremiah attached that says 'you need to be here with me. if there is something going on with ezra, then it falls to us to do something.'
Leila didn't want to think about Ezra. She didn't want to talk about him. The only way to keep herself moving was to keep him pushed far in the back of her mind, and stay occupied with something, anything else. But here she was with Eve, clutching her hand in a vicegrip (with gloves on, of course), eyes widening in genuine horror when she got a close look at the note.
"I know which one wrote this," she said. In the dim light it looked sort of like someone had shoved rubies into her eye sockets. She'd brought a hastily made copy of Ezra's birth certificate and passed it to America, and as she did so she looked across the forming group, wondering if she'd see anything.
shibrogne
papers please! checking america / jeremiah / rabbit
For the moment Eve was quiet. But her emotions were a little more simple: she was pissed and had been for some time. At the version of Ezra they'd known; at everything else.
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Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2017 8:50 am
Honestly, Shiloh had enough s**t going on. He hadn't heard from Ezra since the last meeting and he hadn't cared to check in since. Still, America was a good friend, and if she had reasonable cause to be concerned about him then he was going to make time to stop by.
Besides, he'd been worried as ******** since her disappearance.
"She said she has weiners and marshmallows, but I dunno if she had chocolate and graham crackers too." He told Jamie. Why the ******** wouldn't be bring Jamie? They were partners in crime, "That's why I wanted to stop at the store. I dunno who else is gonna be there." But I wanna support her yknow? Thanks for supporting me too.
Jamie hadn't seemed too keen about the Ezra bit anyway.
"Oh thank ********." Was his initial reaction to seeing America, "I mean, I know you said you were back, but Christ. I was worried yknow??"
Everyone else was offered a "Sorry we're kinda late guys." At least, Jeremiah and Eve and Leila had already gathered. He held up the bag of goodies, "Brought some offerings." The air was decidedly tense. He didn't know if he liked it.
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Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2017 9:17 am
Rabbit was present and had been for a while, nursing a beer and positively staring into the fire as if he expected Ezra to rise out of it and smite them all. He had left his kids with his fetch in the hope that she could keep them hidden if anything went wrong, but the half of his brain that wasn't concerned about Father was focused on them anyway.
America Jones crossed his mind too, in fits and starts. She certainly didn't look like a killer.
At the sound of Shiloh's voice, Rabbit seemed to come out of his trance a bit, sitting up straight and stretching so hard that he jittered. He took his time joining the others, nodding at the newcomers but remaining silent.
Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2017 9:59 am
Algie had just been fetching their own six-pack (which he'd brought, then forgotten, then had to walk back for). Not that he didn't trust America's taste in beer but it was always good to bring your own alcohol.
Everyone was given a silent wave as Alg came up beside his husband, touching his elbow lightly and hoping he'd sit but knowing it was pointless if Jeremiah was restless (especially after the hospital). He set down the beer and idly rubbed his own smooth thumb. It was strange to think how something so small could throw someone off kilter, but something as simple as a missing fingerprint was just weird.
If Shiloh hadn't been here, Jamie probably wouldn't have talked much. Hell, he wouldn't even be here if it weren't for Shiloh. Not because he hadn't been invited initially, but because the last thing on his mind was helping Ezra Fitzpatrick. Jamie could be petty like that.
I'll always support you, Shiloh. In their headspace his thoughts were warm. "You and smores," he added jokingly, but it was true. He was gonna make so many smores between all this serious business.
Bean was too, apparently, or at least he'd finally poked his snoot out of his nest in Jamie's hair with a small squeak. It was the warmth of the fire that roused him, but the fluffy, white nighttime clouds were what really had his attention. He was going to smush his face into at least one marshmallow tonight, so help him...
"Hi everyone," Jamie greeted quietly, sticking close to Shiloh. Even so, he peered curiously at the note between America and Jer. "I hope you're all doing okay."
Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2017 2:55 pm
cibarium
jeremiah: corpsey, vaguely flamey america: vaguely flamey eve: normal rabbit: vaguely flamey shiloh: normal jamie: vaguely flamey algie: vaguely flamey
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Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2017 3:45 pm
"He did, kinda," she handed the paper over and waited for the rest to come over. Glancing down at the birth certificate, she gave Eve and Leila a sympathetic look.
"He wasn't look at his hands," America continued after greeting the rest. "While he was writing it...and when he handed it over. Thinking back, I don't think he was meant to notice the note."
She gave Shiloh a wry smile, "I had a...brain worm, I guess, inside me, changing how I thought and what I did, for a certain purpose. I don't think that's what's happening with him, but I don't think they're on opposite sides of the road, either. But I don't...I don't know him, like some of you do."
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Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2017 3:56 pm
Jeremiah took one of the beers from Algie with a small smile, fingers curled around the paper and then nodding towards Shiloh. It was good to see both him and Jamie, along with the other pair. The paper was passed back.
Not that he was not frowning a bit later, the mention of the brain worm that had been in America. It was not as if he did not know but he still, of course, was not happy with the fact it had happened in the first place.
"Well ... Ezra was, before this world, kept going by his will and power alone essentially as the Burning Man." His fingers rubbed against his blank thumb. "I have had concerns that perhaps something was going on with him."
In a slow but punctuated motion, Leila pointed at America, then Algernon and Jeremiah, and finally Rabbit. She still looked horrified, but forced herself to speak.
"You... and you two, and you..." she was saying. "You all look to me like you're on fire, sort of. I'm guessing that means you're all missing a thumbprint and can't talk about why."
Eve arched a brow. "The geas," she said.
Leila slowly nodded. "I saw something similar with Ezra after the conference. The body he's in... I believe it belongs to the Ezra from this reality. Like Melany and the Spinel Lady, only..."
Different? She didn't know.
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Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2017 4:22 pm
"So this is something that's going on with him since the new sigil? 'Cause he might not have been the nicest person before then, but he did seem like one guy with one set of goals. Now he's drunk at parties and playing the guitar and writing 'help me' on little pieces of paper and hnnnggh—"
Rabbit hadn't yet tried to tell anyone about blooding Ezra's charter, and while his first attempt hadn't exactly hurt, it was a tingly warning he was quite familiar with. Stop. Don't keep doing that or you'll regret it. He didn't need to be told twice.
He did shift his beer from his left hand to his right and hold out his thumb for Leila.
"I guess so." And here he'd thought Ezra was being nice.
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Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2017 7:53 pm
"Yeah, I read in the listserv." Still, Shiloh had been anxious about it. Last thing he needed was all the principals vanishing on him, especially since he was still unaware about the third. "It's ********." And there was a little flash of anger; Jamie would undoubtedly feel it, "It's all ********." He took a seat.
He was content to unpack his sweet contraband when Leila started pointing everyone out, specifically America, and then the Mercers, and then Rabbit. He blinked rapidly.
"Wait—" He huffed, "Wait, what? What about thumbprints?" He looked around at all of them, "The geas? What are—" And then Rabbit started talking only to stop. Shiloh's mind immediately flashed to Ollie when he tried to tell him, only to grip his hand and grit his teeth and tell him 'I can't' over and over before storming off. Something heavy like guilt was starting to settle in his stomach.
He'd been the one to give Ezra the list of the people who blooded the charter.
"What about you?" He whispered sharply to Jamie, who's name had also been on the charter, which Shiloh had never told him about out of fear, "She didn't point at you. Did he? Are you—?"
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Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2017 8:15 pm
No one else seemed all that interested in the food, and for good reason really, but Jamie wasn't going to let that stop him. Like a leech on his wrist, Bean was egging him on. By the time Leila began pointing out everyone who looked to be on fire, he had a marshmallow in hand and was prepared to skewer it right through its smooshy middle. He didn't get a chance.
Before he could even wonder too long about why he hadn't been called out—his thumb was certainly smoother than it ever should've been—Shiloh had turned on him and his voice sounded like worry.
"I..." Wasn't he just as much at fault for neglecting to bring it up? Guilt made it hard to do. "I, um.... m-me too," he whispered, slipping his hand onto Shiloh's leg because the thought of mentioning it out loud made his hand tingle regardless.
"What... what about me, Leila?" He looked between everyone else and sighed. "I-I... don't really know Ezra, either. I don't know why he'd be doing any of this. Him or whoever it really is..." All Jamie knew was how shitty he'd made him feel about something a past life had done. He looked down at the ground, down at the marshmallow he'd dropped. Bean was happy, at least, with his face pressed right in the center of it.
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Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2017 8:22 pm
"Oh. Hi, Jamie. Didn't see you behind my wife's hair," Leila replied, sitting up more straight. "Look in page 92, green book. And... yes you also look on fire."
