xp_logs | Dixie Dead Shake

A strange fellowship discusses their next steps.

There was a curious crowd around Tante's table. Garrison sat in his undershirt and boxers, as his uniform hung to dry by the fire from the mud of his de facto grave. Jean was beside him, her clothes still showing the splatters of his blood. Across was Amanda and MA, both rumpled, muddy and in Colbert's case, bloody as well. Adam sat at the far end in a pair of coveralls dug up by Tante, eyes wide as they darted between the others. Tante sat at the head, serene as always, like she was hosting an afternoon tea. The only one that looked totally at ease was the wolf - Gord - who had accepted being hosed off and was stretched out next to the fire asleep.

Kane's phone sat in the middle of the table, with Selene's message finished repeating for the fifth time. She wanted Amanda, Marie-Ange and Jean by the following sundown, or she would kill all the Guild hostages and then cull the community for the power of their souls. Finally, Kane rubbed his eyes.

"OK, can we try this one more time? So, this is Selene, but not the Selene that you guys killed although it is the body of the Selene you killed. That body was inhabited by Candra, who Uncle Pete killed, who possessed Selene's dead body. And when Gord killed her, the Selene from the fake world that Jean and MA and Amanda got sucked into is now in the old Selene's body. Which is also why we now have Adam Destine, who was dead and not. That about... right?" he said, puzzled.

"Welcome to New Orleans?" Amanda tried for light but her joke fell flat as she caught first Tante's and then Adam's gazes. She squeezed Marie-Ange's hand - she'd been holding onto it since they'd sat down, as if to reassure them both they were real in the midst of the insanity that was this night - and tried again. "That's basically it, yeah. I don't know why any of it happened, but I s'pose that doesn't matter right now. Right now, we try to work out what to do next."

"I still have a headache." Marie-Ange was still picking dried blood from her hair, eyepatch long discarded, and made occasional bold eye contact with Adam, as though daring him to look into the eye that was no longer there. "The universe has gifted us one last chaotic burst, as some sort of apology, or punishment. I am not sure it matters which, but yes, essentially. The ghost of Selene is possessing the body of a Selene that should not even exist anymore."

Tante gut laughed; a warm sound like coffee brewing. "None of jah should be existing. Jah a parade of dead men and women dat somehow alive." She shook her head. "Dis is de world dat we live in now. Since de scars were erased - and don't think dat Tante don't know who responsible for dat." Her eyes caught Jean.

Meeting Tante's gaze, Jean suddenly felt like she was under a microscope. She bristled, folding her arms and narrowing her eyes slightly. "What would you rather have me do..." she said.

"Keep things fractured?"

"Tante praise you. Like she assume others did. Jah saved a world. Dat I have some interest in." Tante said, her face serene. "Tante considers jah and de Phoenix a lifeline."

Rubbing the back of her head, Jean glanced away. "I...kind of figured that with the Phoenix since I'm staring at its handiwork," she said, attention flickering toward Garrison before looking down.

Truth be told she felt like death warmed over, but would do it all over again if she had to in a heartbeat. Except...perhaps with a little more warning next time.

"But what does that have to do with stopping Selene?"

"Dis Selene is not de Selene dat 'manda and Marie-Ange have faced before. Dis is a different Selene - a broken mirror of de woman dat you used to know." Tante said. "But de important thing is dat she doesn't know dat, really. She reacting to de people dat she thinks jah are and can do, not who jah are here."

"That's... a point. She kept calling Jean 'the cheerleader'? So that means she thinks she knows who she is facing and... she doesn't?" Kane said, a thought occurred to him. "And she can't know we have the non-Evil version of Destine. Sorry."

Adam winced but shook his head. "'s okay, mate. Just... yeah."

Amanda shifted uncomfortably. The vague weight of "her" Adam's memories that Amanda had lived with since his death was gone from her mind, which meant he'd gone somewhere else... Another thing to unpack later; Tante vouched for him here and now and they had enough evil magic users to deal with already. "So we use those assumptions against her. She's going to think she has her hooks in me, so let's use that to get close, yeah?"

"The same is here, if this is that Selene, she thinks she has a Guild contract for me, no?" Marie-Ange busied her hands absently braiding a lock of still dirtied hair. "So we run a con on her. Immortal witch or no, we know more than she does about this world, Garrison and Tante are right."

"So what do we have? Me not being dead." Kane said and ducked his head. "Sorry Jean. We have Adam. She doesn't know about... Tante." He wasn't sure what to call the terrifying woman all his instincts said don't call the voodoo queen at. "And- oh fuck. Fuck. We have a spy on the inside." Kane suddenly grinned ear to ear, quoting 'Hamilton' which Jean had turned him on to. "The biggest Hercules Mulligan. The Guilds and you guys are trapped by the hostages she has. What if we had... I don't know, four women with mutant powers that happened to be a couple of thieves, a detective, and an unstoppable force of nature that they have no clue existed to find those hostages?"

Amanda's expression brightened and her grin matched Garrison. "Oh, they are so fucked."