Getting out of the estate with Nova had been difficult.  Nox imagined it would have been that hard to walk away from Aurora or even his father, but he had to do it.  Dorian was no better than the Atharim.  Using him for the the things he could bring to the table and not actually caring what happened to him.   They'd been happy when his gift saved the world, as long as they didn't know how he'd survived things sometimes.  But Nox didn't really care.  Fuck them!  Fuck all of them.

He could still hunt monsters.  But Nox wasn't going to step foot into the tunnels until he figured out what was going on with the phantom memories, and reliving the pain from the ijiraq every time he seized the power to wield.  Nox had lain awake on the bed in the hostel he'd found after he'd stopped walking thinking about his next move.  Nova was welcome and that was a big thing for him.  The dog had curled up at the foot of his bed until Nox had invited him to lay next to him.  It was warm and comforting.

Nox had flipped through his texts and always landed back on the image Jay had sent him.  It reminded him that his life might not be great, but he had friends.  Selfies had never been his thing but life was shit.  Nox snapped a picture curled up around Nova whose head was resting on his chest sleeping.

Along with the picture Nox sent Jay a text.  EVEN WHEN HELL RISES UP I STILL HAVE A CUTE BED MATE.  NOT NEARLY AS FUN THO. [[ @"Jay Carpenter" ]]

Morning had come but not without the nightmares. Nox was grateful he was meeting Thalia for coffee (and cake - maybe). The coffee in the hostel was crap. But at least it was hot and caffeine filled. His first stop had been a park where Nova could run around and he could get a short workout in. He had a few gawkers pass by several times before he had finished. An alarm rang on his wallet and Nox called, "Nova, come on let's go." The dog trotted over and Nox clipped the leash on before he headed to the Old Arabat. He didn't like being that close to the Kremlin.

But that was such a price to pay for coffee and food. That was another thing he'd noticed when he checked his balance - there was more money than he'd expected. And when he asked Sage about it in a text the hacker just smiled. Nox didn't like that Sage was giving him money. But there was a long explanation in a new file in an email that Sage explained where the money came from. And it was a long convoluted story and Nox was not 100% that Sage hadn't made it up. But that was for later.

Thankfully the Artskaf had outdoor seating and it wasn't overly cold out anymore. Moscow had warmed up nicely. Nox sat down and waited for her to show up, he ordered a coffee while he waited, Nova sat on the sidewalk side of the chair and watched the people. The pup stood guard. Nox wasn't exactly sure where he'd learned the behavior, but as long as he didn't bite anyone he was welcome to sit there and act menacing. People walked wide and that was a good thing at the moment.

[[ @"Thalia" ]]

Ivan slapped the alarm blaring in his ear. Well, not blaring. It started all nice and soft. How a gentle wake up song became some super annoying obnoxious ear worm he didn't know.

He dragged his ass into the shower. The shampoo, some tea treatment, was refreshing- and stung his eyes something fierce at the same time. So, you know, that woke him up.

He dressed in sweats and a tshirt and pondered the day. Days, really. Had next four off. Somehow. He wasn't gonna ask. He already knew. He needed to train. Nox had given him the basics. Now it was time.

Still....he felt an ache. He called Ma and Pops. Was glad they were ok. And the little ones. He checked on his brother and sister too and their families. And shot Sara a message so she knew he remembered....and had been serious.

Bah. The hole was still there. And it was still early. But he was afraid.

Terrified really. Still...he messaged.

"Can I come by this morning?

He put the wallet down and did some chores. Every ding made him check his phone anxiously.

@"Danya Khorasani"

The helicopter swept into the airfield without hesitation. Evelyn climbed from the cabin and was met by a thousand eyes watching her every step. Not literally, of course, but she felt them none the less. Swift cadence carried her from helipad to terminal to jet bridge without a single interruption. It was as if the outline of the Ascendancy walked at her side. Security waved her around gates. Nobody scanned her for weapons or searched for illicit materials smuggled in her briefcase. An armed policeman with the armband of the Central Dominance wrapped tight stared at her so intensely, Evelyn wanted to shiver. Then he put a hand to his ear and turned his attention elsewhere like some gesture of deference.

Somehow, everyone knew who she was. 
Ascendancy’s ring laid heavy beneath her blouse.

The Secretary of State greeted her just as coldly. The other members of their retinue brushed her aside. It grated, but Evelyn flashed smiles in return. They thought she was some kind of traitor, but their judgement was ill-placed. She vowed to serve the people of her state when she took the oath of office. Who did they serve but their own interests? None of them were as selfless and altruistic, but she could forgive their ignorance. They didn't know any better.

She and Nikolai spoke long and with great detail as to the best progress forward. His awareness of her own party politics was astounding, but not surprising. He was a genius of strategy, his advice wise yet final decisions were left to her intuition in the coming months.  

She knew exactly what to do first.

Ilesha  had enjoyed talking with Liv and hopefully she'd be moving to Moscow and hopefully she could see a little more of her, she seemed like a good person and the first person other than Oriena and Claire she'd met and she was normal.

She was up early, her nerves were a mess.  Her stomach felt like it was all tied up and even the thought of food made her anxious.  This wasn't like a normal interview, no - this was with the most powerful government in the world and they wanted to talk about things that were only theory.  And a theory she didn't know well enough.

Dressed in a navy blue business dress suit and a white blouse, Ilesha showed up outside the Kremlin and remembered looking up on the spectacle of the arches made.  The sheer power it had taken to make.  And now she was going inside to meet with people who knew and spoke to the man himself.  She wasn't big into the whole political thing, but even the thought of seeing him struck a cord withe Ilesha.  She wondered if she would feel any power radiating off of him.  Surely a man so powerful had to emanate it.

It was nerve wracking walking into the Kremlin with her leather portfolio and her paper, and a few other things she'd picked up along the way that she hadn't shared in the paper.  They weren't much but proof was so much easier to show than to talk about.  Those little broken o-rings in her pocked would be a perfect demonstration.

It was a huge place, Ilesha stood inside wondering which way to go.

Laurie’s eyes were glued to the light of her screens. Xander’s head was propped on her shoulder, mouth slightly agape, breathing the slow and steady rhythm of sleep. The cabin lights were long ago darkened and only a few halos of light were scattered among the seats. Laurie detested sleeping on planes. She found them utterly uncomfortable despite the snuggly shoulder of her intern. Really should give him a real title someday. The passage of night mid-atlantic was torturous for her. Therefore, she stared at her screen, reading and consuming with aimless abandon all she could about the pharmaceutical company Natalie tipped her to.

They changed planes in New York. Laurie was never so pleased to see the run down halls of JFK as then. It’d been a good year since walking on State soil (excluding the US Embassy in Sierra Leone). First thing she did was go to McDonalds for a crappy hamburger and coke.

She dozed on the flight to Dallas, but eventually, they landed and the long, torturous taxi across bridges and endless tarmacs finally brought the plane to their terminal. More freshly rested than she was, Xander figured out their transportation to a cheap hotel situated just outside Ft. Worth. The neighborhood wasn’t the best, but you couldn’t go wrong with a Holiday Inn in her opinion. MondayMargin.net drew enough revenue to pay for their needs (technically including their salaries), but she wasn’t made of money.

Finally, she collapsed on the bed and slept off the jet lag.