Hotel, Moscow, Very Late Tuesday, 1902

[bitten_notshy]

The interviews in Dyachenko's office had been slow, uphill work at first, even with Starkad helping as he could. They'd ruled out almost everyone in Starkad's old court for one reason or another before moving on to look at the people the wampyr had known but rejected.

It was the same story: This one had left town. That one had a perfect alibi. And so on.

After a few fruitless hours, Jack started in his seat at a sudden mental leap. "It's not about the vampires," he realized as he massaged his temples. "It's about Irina. Her lovers, her patrons, her friends. And the second murder only happened when we came back to Moscow and started asking about her. Someone must have thought she would be slipping away."

Emma nodded, easily picking up the train of thought as she turned to the girl. "Who wants you and cannot have you, Irina? And has for the last five years?"

Irina's eyes scrunched shut as she shook her head, obviously thinking hard about the question.

"If it helps," Dyachenko added, "we know it was someone left-handed. And someone who could make a good pass at forging Lesya's hand -- her employees got a message 'from' her after she died."

Something seemed to click into place at that. "Well," Irina said hesitantly, "I know a forger."

****

Jack and Emma almost did not follow along with the police as they went after Dmitri Sergeyevich, a professional forger. He wanted to be a painter, and failed at anything beyond copying; he'd also wanted to join Starkad's court and Irina's bed, and had been denied at those turns as well. And now he could add murderer to his list of failures.

They went, in the end, because Irina asked for the support, and Jack could not say no.

It was worth it. If they hadn't, Jack wouldn't have seen Starkad lift Dmitri by his throat to coolly inform him that he was nothing before stepping away, as if the slight effort to kill him would be wasted.

The scene replayed in Jack's head as they got back to the hotel. Soon, as soon as Sebastien was here, he'd go back in the 21st century with Emma. Tomorrow was for those goodbyes. Tonight he just wanted to rest.

[OOC: Loosely based on The White City. NFB. For SP with icecoldfrost and possibly one other. And this is the very end of Jack's canon for now yay!]

Comments

[bitten_notshy]

She could make it easier on herself, Jack thought. (If he knew anything, it was how to blend. He believed Emma would have no problems anywhere if she put effort into it. But then, wanting to -- which she didn't -- was as essential a piece of it as anything about customs and manners, if not more.)

"First -- anytime you want to stay with me, you're welcome," he said instead, and started assembling a sandwich.

"But I understand what you mean about not wanting to give up something you've invested time in. Hell, if I wasn't sure I'd end up getting killed if I stayed I wouldn't be leaving Moscow now."

[icecoldfrost]

"In my world, I at least have a chance for equal rights and protections, eventually," Emma said, popping some of the meat right into her mouth. << Here? I'd be constantly at risk, for the rest of my life. Tell me, what would your armies do, now, in 1902, if they found out there was a girl who could kill someone with her brain, and leave no traces?>>

"Glacia?" she continued after swallowing. "I could live there, but I would forever be lesser, even if everyone is kind enough not to say so. And I don't do 'lesser.'"

[bitten_notshy]

Jack made a face. "I'd get into an argument every single day in Glacia," he said. "And I don't think I'm the right kind of man for that world even if you set the question of powers aside."

He had new strength, yes, but he wasn't meant to be a physical fighter. Nor was he terribly good at the kind of protecting men in Kaeleer did from the cradle.

He shrugged. "If you were exposed in 1902, you'd be a curiosity at best. But there's no reason anyone would know, and I'm not staying in 1902 no matter what Sebastien does."

[icecoldfrost]

"A few weeks of a Court and Protocol would drive us both batty," Emma agreed, reaching for her vodka. "But not everything is as remote as the Keep or villages, I don't think. We'd probably do fine in an actual city."

Civilization, they needs.

"So you're thinking you'll go back to 2012? Do you think you'll re-apply to college?"

[bitten_notshy]

"A landen city without protocol might not be too horrible," Jack acknowledged, and then took rather too large a bite of meat and bread.

He nodded as he chewed and swallowed.

Once his mouth was empty again, he added, "Eventually. The theory about supernatural law has taken on a bit of personal urgency -- if I can get through the next few months."

Without going mad, or killing himself, or killing anyone else, he meant.

[icecoldfrost]

"Don't be morbid, Jack," Emma scolded, getting half out of her chair to lean over the table and catch his cheek with the palm of one hand. "You are not going to go mad. You'd never let yourself hurt anyone."

"We aren't going to leave you alone, darling, we'll do whatever needs to be done. Have some faith in your friends."

[wantstoforget.livejournal.com]

"You won't be alone," a voice from the doorway said, as Sebastien again thanked the forces above that he didn't need to be invited in to hotel rooms.

The truth was, he liked dramatic entrances.

"And have some faith in yourself, while you're at it," he added, stripping off coat and gloves and going to stand by the fire. "You will do well."

[bitten_notshy]

"Thank you for stopping by," Jack said, half irritated and half amused at the sudden reappearance. "I don't suppose there's any point in asking how long you were listening."

He wondered how Sebastien had managed to surprise them before it hit him -- he'd been smelling Starkad on their wraps, and those lingering traces had been strong enough to wipe out Sebastien. Though Starkad wasn't only on their wraps, was he?

[icecoldfrost]

"If you don't stop doing that, Don Sebastien, I shall be forced to start eavesdropping on you constantly," Emma informed him, drawing back from Jack and taking her seat primly. "I would rather not do that, since your head is already rather full."

Ego or memories. Or both. Take your pick.

"He was listening long enough."

[wantstoforget.livejournal.com]

"Ah, if you go poking around in there I'm not responsible for what you find," Sebastien said lightly. He turned his hands before the flames, trying to get his flesh to counterfeit something closer to human warmth.

"I came in just as you were declaring plans to go back to 2012," he said, and paused. "You were going to tell me that, yes?"

[bitten_notshy]

"Sebastien," Jack said, and there was something of the boy about him again. "Of course. Did you think my opinion about leaving you would change so suddenly? I just --"

He stopped there, both because he couldn't think what he was just and because Sebastien was very distracting.

"You were with Starkad."

And not trading knitting tips, to go by the smell of things. Jack wondered how Sebastien had refrained from expressing his disgust when he had started coming home smelling like other people.

Practice, no doubt.

[wantstoforget.livejournal.com]

"I was," Sebastien agreed steadily, and glanced to Emma. "Miss Frost, I don't suppose you've conveniently remembered something you have to do in the other room?"

He knew she could hear them -- mentally, if not physically -- from there as well as from across the table. That still didn't make this a public conversation.

[icecoldfrost]

"Actually, I've remembered that Irina invited us out for celebratory drinks, and I think I have decided to join her." Emma shoved away from the table with their abandoned dinner, pulling her dressing gown around herself a little more tightly as she headed towards her room. "Give me a few moments, gentlemen, and I'll be out of your hair."

[bitten_notshy]

Jack knew that meant he was going to pay for this later.

He also knew that it would be even worse to try to have this conversation with Emma listening, or pretending not to listen. "Thank you," he said, almost meek, and reached to try to touch her hand. "I'll catch up with you in a bit, all right?"

[wantstoforget.livejournal.com]

"I don't intend to steal him away for long," Sebastien said, and cleared his throat -- out of the desire for what it signified, not out of any need.

"Doctor Garrett will be back from the police station soon enough. Enjoy your drinks."

Which she'd have in Irina's company. Now there was a combination to strike fear into the heart of an old vampire.

[icecoldfrost]

"And intrude on my girl-gossip session with Irina?" she asked archly, but took enough pity on him to brush his fingers with hers. Sebastien's ill manners were hardly Jack's fault. "No, darling, you won't."

He was still going to pay for it later, yes.

"Don't worry, I won't get lost. I have a knack for finding my way about in strange cities. Just give me two winks, and I'll be gone." She only squeezed his hand for a second more before she moved on, the door to her room closing with a distinctive 'click' a moment later.

[bitten_notshy]

Jack found the most efficient expression of his feelings at that was to go over and kick the wall a few times, hard.

"I had to fall for the most completely impossible woman on the face of the earth, didn't I?" he asked, once he was done and the wall was rather impressively scuffed. "I'm sorry. She forgets some of us expect privacy."

[wantstoforget.livejournal.com]

"Given your own experience as the most impossible courtesan on the face of the earth, it may be payback," Sebastien observed, more acerbic and fond than exasperated. "It's all right, Jack. I did interrupt."

[icecoldfrost]

"No girl likes being interrupted during dinner in her nightgown, Jack, not just the impossible ones," Emma yelled through the door, once again ignoring any illusion of privacy.

In her defense, it was a small hotel suite, and she didn't even need her powers to hear them talking.

She reappeared a moment later, dressed in a blouse and skirts - with pants under them for warmth and movement - and made a grab for Jack's boots. "I am not lacing those dratted boots of mine back up," she announced, and the way she bent over made it rather obvious she'd taken Jack's suggestion and abandoned the corset, too.

[bitten_notshy]

"Here, let me tie those for you," Jack said, properly abashed as he obediently handed over the shoes. "All right. You're only a perfectly normal amount of impossible. Are you sure you're all right, going into the city alone?"

[wantstoforget.livejournal.com]

Sebastien tried to look apologetic, though he didn't precisely feel it. This was court business, and -- while he respected Emma's mind and thought associating with her was one of Jack's better ideas -- it was not entirely for outside ears.

He squinted at her. Or, more precisely, at a bit of jewelry dangling from a ribbon at her neck inside the blouse.

"You have my ring."

Of course. Jack couldn't wear it. Still, it was a surprise the girl had taken it.

[icecoldfrost]

"Age does not entitle you to rudeness, Don Sebastien," Emma chided lightly. "Of course I have it. Someone must take care of it for Jack, and I am the only person who came to Russia with him. We might have needed it to convince Irina of our intentions."

There was only the briefest of hesitations as she quickly leaned in to - defiantly, almost - brush a tumble of curls away from Jack's face as he helped with her boots. "I shall be fantastically impossible, thank you, darling, and don't fret. I know my way to where she is, and unlike most of our classmates, I haven't the faintest desire to run about the city playing hero."

"...and if the hospitals start having a run of would-be muggers who think they're ducks, it isn't my fault."

Yes, it would be.