The Immortal War

@ sun spirit

Florence returned Nature's smile as she stepped further into the kitchen, humming excitedly as she spotted the blueberry muffins. "Mm, those aren my favorite." She noted, about to reach for one when Skylar suggested she wait as to not burn herself, pouting for a moment before reluctantly agreeing, instead busying herself with helping to set the little dining room table that Fate had. She figured it would be nice for everyone to sit down and discuss everything while they are, and it would be certainly easier than trying to stand in her livingroom and eat.

Jonathan was still waking up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes when Nature came and set his mug of hot chocolate down. "Grazie.." he mumbled, taking a sip on the hopes it would help wake him before standing with a little groan and heading to the kitchen, leaning in the doorway tiredly. His hair was a mess, and he still looked exhausted, but he was awake enough to know that whatever was cooking was going to be good. "Cos'è che ha un profumo così buono?" He asked as he finally wandered into the kitchen to take stock of what was available.

"Inglese per favore, Jonathan. Parla inglese." Florence called from where she was finishing setting the table, a little teasing smile on her face as she looked over at her friend.

"Che cosa? Sto parlando ingle-" He stopped himself mid sentence, a frown on his lips as he thought for a moment before groaning, rubbing a hand over his face. "Fuck. Sorry. Too early." He mumbled in excuse, feeling rather embarrassed.

@ katahdin

As Florence set the table and Skylar took care of the hot chocolate, Cat attended to her pancakes, enjoying the harmony of the quiet bustle of people around her kitchen. She'd just plated the last of the pancakes and was turning to hunt down the maple syrup when she heard the unfamiliar words of a different language. She turned to see Jonathan slouched against the door jamb, a mug of hot chocolate in his hands and sleep still in his eyes. Even his hair was messed up, flipped up like a bird's plumage. Cat's insides did something weird as she looked at him, and she forced herself to turn back to the maple syrup, face hot as she poured it into its container and popped it into the microwave to warm.

Skylar glanced between Death and Time, oblivious to the inner struggle taking place in Cat behind him. "You both speak Spanish?" At least, that's what it sounded like to him. "Wait, your native language is Spanish?" This directed at Jonathan, the one who'd arrived mumbling in a foreign language.

"Italian," Cat corrected, adding without looking up, "Parlo un po."

"Wait, everyone can speak Italian except me?" Skylar looked around as if this were a personal betrayal. "That's so not fair."

"I only know bits and pieces. The same's true for other languages. I'm only fluent in two," Cat assured him, and hoping her face wasn't still flushed, turned around to face everyone. "Breakfast's ready. Everyone to the table. Skylar, take this." She passed him the plate of pancakes and container of warm syrup, then turned to pile the muffins on a plate and passed that to Florence along with the cinnamon bread. She poured three more mugs of hot chocolate, topped off Jonathan, and brought the mugs to the table, setting them at their respective seats. All of the food barely fit on the table along with their plates and mugs, but Cat thought she could get used to a sight like this. "Everyone enjoy."

@ sun spirit

If Jonathan had been fully awake, he might have noticed the blush that appeared on Cat's face when their eyes met. But he was still very sleepy, and so he missed it, instead turning his attention to Skylar as he ran a hand through his hair, attempting to tame it a bit. He scrunched up his nose a bit when Skylar asked if Spanish was his native language, glad that Cat and Florence had taken over and explaining everything to him while he went and sat down at the table.

"Jonathan here might as well have been a Medici." Florence teased, smiling over at Skylar. "A real Renaissance man."

Jonathan simply rolled his eyes and sipped his hot chocolate, watching as as the food was brought to the table. Everything looked so good, and his stomach grumbled at the sight of the pancakes. "Thanks for breakfast, Cat.. You didn't have to." He said as everyone began to help themselves to breakfast, Jonathan grabbing a few pancakes from the stack while Florence went for the blueberry muffins.

@ katahdin

"Renaissance? Like, he was actually alive then?" Skylar asked Florence, noticing Jonathan didn't seem too talkative and hadn't seemed to like his last line of questioning. "That was like... 400 years ago. You and Cat aren't that old, right? She told me you two were basically the babies before I came along." He was distracted from his line of questioning though as food was brought to the table and it was finally time to eat. Thank God. He was starving. He started piling pancakes on his plate and smothered them in syrup.

As everyone else began getting food, Cat took a couple of slices of her cinnamon bread and a blueberry muffin, looking up as Jonathan thanked her--and Skylar echoed it around a mouthful of pancake. "Oh, it's no problem! I love baking anyway, and besides, I promised you breakfast. And that was before all the stuff you did for me last night."

At Cat's words, Skylar choked on his pancakes, interrupting anything else she might've said.

@ sun spirit

"Yes, the actual Renaissance. And Florence likes to tease because my godfather was the pope, but she always seems to quiet down when I bring up that she was a Bolshevik." Jonathan said, smirking a little at Time as her face grew red. It was fun to rile her up, and he was pretty good at it at this point.

"I had no idea that things would get so out of hand.." Florence mumbled before taking a bite out of her muffin to hopefully end the conversation. She looked at Skylar when he said that she and Cat were the babies before him, stifling a little laugh. "I don't know when Cat was born, but I was born in 1894, so I don't know if I'd call myself am infant.. but I suppose if I'm a baby, then Jonathan ought to be mummified at this point."

Jonathan rolled his eyes at her teasing and dug into his food to hide his growing smile. He looked over at Cat when she said breakfast wasn't a problem after how he'd helped her last night, ignoring Florence who was giving him a look that meant they'd have to talk later while she kicked his leg under the table. Nature's reaction sure didn't help either. "It was nothing, really. Just happy to help."

@ katahdin

Skylar was... was... Fuck, he didn't know what he was. Logically, he'd known they were all Immortals and age differences made sense, but he'd never really let himself consider what that might mean, where and when everyone else might be from. Everyone spoke English around him and had pretty normal names, and they all seemed to just kind of fit in with his idea of people in the current time. Well, Cat did anyway. He hadn't talked to anyone else a whole lot. He glanced at Cat, who'd been more or less quiet through this whole exchange and was eating her breakfast, not looking disinterested, but quiet. "What about you, Cat?"

Cat had guessed that was coming. Skylar knew enough of her past that he didn't pry, but this was a bit of another matter. He had no idea how little of her past she'd tried to keep with her. "I lived a little before the French Revolution, in a small town in France," she admitted, standing before anymore questions could be put to her. "Anyone else need more hot chocolate?" She went to fetch the dwindling pot and made sure everyone's mug was full before she returned to her seat. Things might've been peaceful then if Skylar hadn't choked after she'd thanked Jonathan, and she frowned at her friend. "I've been telling you that you need to eat those pancakes slower. You'd think you'd learn that you'll eventually get more by now," she fussed, pausing to give Jonathan a little smile at his response.

Skylar got past the pancake block that'd been created when he choked, helping wash it down with hot chocolate, and looked between Cat and Jonathan, who were practically just... smiling at each other. "Risking crossing a boundary here, but look... I don't care of you guys are sleeping together or whatever, but I really don't want to hear about it, especially while I'm eating."

ignore

@ sun spirit

Time perked up when Skylar asked Cat about her past, having always been interested. She knew at least part of the backgrounds of all the other Immortals but her, and was very curious to hear when and where she was from, especially since she seemed to be hiding those facts. She was going to say something about France when Cat suddenly stood and changed the subject, a frown appearing on her lips as she realized that it was probably a sensitive subject. She thanked Cat when she gave her more hot chocolate, sipping it quietly, giggling a bit when Cat reprimanded Skylar for eating too fast, but when Nature brought up Jonathan and Cat sleeping together she nearly choked as well, eyes going wide as she stared at her friend.

Jonathan glared at Skylar at his comment about him and Fate, crossing his arms over his chest. "I don't like what you're implying, Nature." He murmured, giving Florence a warning look to silence her questions before she could ask them. "I was helping Fate look through the journals here for any useful information. Two sets of eyes and hands are better than one. We made some progress, and I helped her clean up before we each went to bed separately , and that was all." Jonathan explained smoothly, knowing that Cat didn't want the two of them to be worrying over her and her powers.

@ katahdin

Cat was sure her expression mirrored Time's shocked disbelief when Nature spoke, unable to immediately process words to respond to the accusation. Skylar, meanwhile, seemed to shrivel under Death's glare, not even daring to look and see how Cat was looking at him. "I just--you were--the couch and the looks and the blushes and the comments, I just thought--" Realizing he was just digging himself a deeper hole, he made himself shut up, as he shrank back in his seat and was told what really happened.

Jonathan spoke up before Cat could, but thankfully, he only said that he'd helped her look through the journals. Thankfully, her symptoms had--at least temporarily--subsided enough that she'd so far been able to hide any shaking behind her usual energy, and even the itching had lessened, making it easier to avoid scratching. She could still feel it sitting inside her though, already wanting to ask Skylar for her key back. To help move the subject firmly away from her and Jonathan (and things they definitely did not do together), she put in, "We actually found something... you probably aren't going to like it though, Florence. Jonathan didn't." She hadn't been able to warn him what she'd figured out last night, with everything else, but for the sake of their story--well, this was as much warning as she could give him. "There's a magical dagger. I actually found it and have it in my living room now. It can strip an Immortal of their powers--basically, if used on me for example, make it so that I wasn't Fate anymore. It would store those powers temporarily, only for a short time, and you'd be able to transfer them to another person, a mortal. But I imagine the process would kill the Immortal in the process. So, since April is the one wanting to start the apocalypse, we could take her powers, but that would likely kill her as well. And I'm not saying we should, because I don't want anyone to die, so we might have to start over again from square one."

@ sun spirit

Time had stood to bring her plate to the kitchen as Cat began to speak, although once she heard her mention a magical dagger that could strip an Immortal of their powers she froze, dropping her plate and mug, causing them to shatter. After the initial shock wore off her cursed, muttering out apologies as golden sand fell from her fingertips, using her powers to reverse the plate and mug breaking. Like watching a movie in reverse, the ceramic pieces came back together before floating back up into Florence's trembling hands, the girl quick to place them on the counter before she broke them again, turning to look at Jonathan worriedly. "Jonathan.."

"I know." He snapped as he stood, rubbing his temples as he paced back and forth. This was bad. This was very, very bad. If April got her hands on that dagger... He sighed, turning back to look at Cat. "That dagger is what made April Immortal. She's hated it and wanted it for years. If she realizes that you still have it... It's not safe here. If she gets her hands on it, there's no telling what she would do." Jonathan warned. He didn't feel comfortable going into what had happened to April, but knew that he'd probably have to to explain it to the two unfamiliar with her story. Worse case scenario he'd have Florence just show them.

@ katahdin

Cat had guessed that Florence and Jonathan wouldn’t like what she had to say, but the last thing she expected was the reaction she’d actually garnered, and the sound of dishes shattering just behind her elicited a physical response. She flinched, practically jumping from her chair, but managed to control herself enough to just walk to the other end of the room, even as Time fixed the broken dishes. Somehow, she’d moved between Skylar and Jonathan, and as the latter stood, the former offered her hand that she held onto gratefully as she forced herself to breathe deeply, squeezing his hand to let him know that she was fine.

Skylar, one hand out to help calm Cat—who was actually handling the dishes breaking better than he would’ve expected—glanced between Florence and Jonathan. “What’s wrong? Fate just said the plan isn’t to kill April.” Since they were her friends, he figured that would be the biggest problem, but with that sort of pushed aside, he couldn’t imagine what they seemed so scared of. “Wait, you guys knew about this dagger before now?”

Cat made a concerted effort to push past her memories and focus on the present, taking a deep breath as she took in what Jonathan was saying. “You’re saying someone used to dagger to make her War.” Before she could say more on whoever made her Immortal being dead, however, something clicked. “It was Fate; that’s the only one who would’ve known about the dagger. He’s dead though. What could she want with it now?” She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. She doesn’t know it’s here, and no one here is going to tell her, judging by your reactions. If we have to, Skylar can go find the key to the room I locked all the art supplies in the house in, and we’ll throw it in there and have him hide the key again.”

“We could do it now,” Skylar offered, pulling the key out of his pocket and giving Cat a sheepish look. “I wasn’t really sure where to put it, so I just… kept it on me.”

@ sun spirit

If Jonathan hadn't been panicking over how April would react when she found out they had the dagger, he would have been more worried about Cat's reaction, although he tucked that information into the back of his head to ask her about later. Seeing her hold Skylar's hand worried him, reaching out a hand to rest on her shoulder reassuringly as he tried to figure out what to do about the situation they were in.

"We'd heard of the dagger, but thought it was lost." Time explained, swallowing nervously as she looked at Skylar. "We'd heard the story from April.. She said that if she ever got her hands on it, she'd..." Florence frowned, glancing from Jonathan to Cat nervously. "I-I don't really want to repeat what she said, but it wasn't anything good.."

Jonathan sighed, trying to think things over. He frowned when Skylar produced the key Cat had given him, snatching it from his hand before Cat could grab it. "We are absolutely not opening that door with Cat around." He said, not going to argue about it. The last thing she needed was temptation. "We can hide it at Time's, or my home. Somewhere April won't expect it to be."

@ katahdin

Though she wouldn't have expected it, Cat somehow felt a little more steadied with Skylar and Jonathan both supporting her, and as she let go of Skylar's hand, she offered Jonathan a little smile, hoping to convey that there was nothing to worry about. As Time began to speak, however, she turned her attention back to that.

Skylar frowned a bit. "So, she never thought to look here? She just thought the other Fate got rid of it or something?" he asked, glancing between everyone, including Cat--partially making sure that she was okay now. "Well, she can't have plans that are that bad, since the person she hated is dead now. Maybe she's stopped looking for it," he offered hopefully.

Cat could only stare in shock as Skylar produced the key, grateful when Jonathan took it. It wasn't so much that she thought she would try to take it from Skylar as it was that the thought was tempting. If nothing else, maybe she could just see her art supplies, because she missed them in the sense that there was a sort of ache from not being around them or able to draw or paint in any capacity. "She's friends with you though. There's a chance she might find it. She's basically decided you're a traitor for siding with us anyway. You can put it in the room. I'll sit here while you do it if that makes you feel more comfortable about it," she said reasonably, though unconsciously scratching the side of her thigh.

@ sun spirit

"The previous Fate told her that he hid it somewhere she'd never find it. And he.. He wasn't very kind to her, none of the old Immortals were... It's not surprising that she was never able to come here to look for it." Florence explained, wringing her hands nervously as she paced a bit, shaking her head when Skylar said that April wouldn't do anything bad since the previous Fate was dead now. "No, you don't understand. She doesn't just hate the old Fate, she hates Fate. As in if she gets the chance, she'll kill Cat, because she believes Fate is inherently a bad person. The only reason she tolerates Jonathan and me is because Jonathan didn't buy in to what the old Fate told him, and when I became Time she decided to use it as a chance to get another ally.."

Jonathan's grip on Cat's arm tightened a little as Florence talked about April wanting to kill Cat, his stomach doing flips at the thought. He couldn't let April kill her.. Not just because she was Fate, but because... Pushing those thoughts aside he sighed, nodding when she suggested he be the one to put the dagger away. "Alright.. But you stay here, understand?"

@ katahdin

Skylar frowned as he listened to Florence explain things, putting his hand up as she started talking about April wanting to kill Cat. "Wait, wait, wait. She can't just... get rid of Fate. Cat just said that you have to transfer the powers, so she'd just be making another Fate. So why would she even bother killing Cat? It's not like she ever does anything to anyone."

Cat felt Jonathan squeeze her shoulder and automatically lifted a hand to cover his, to let him know that she was okay and not going to freak out because of this most recent bit of news. But she thought she had an answer to Skylar's question all the same. "Because she thinks her friends betrayed her for me. She tried to convince Jonathan to help her, saying that they would protect Florence together, and I was tricking them. He refused and said she could trust me, so she has to get rid of me." It was hard to believe the person who'd run from the sound of a plate shattering and needed comfort was calm now, talking about the possibility of her own death and why someone would want her dead, but that was exactly what happened. Thankfully, the subject was changed somewhat when Jonathan agreed to her suggestion regarding the dagger. "I've got it, mom," she teased, quickly giving him directions to the room.

@ sun spirit

Florence frowned as Cat spoke, but nodded, sitting back down at the table. "She'd use the dagger to make a new Fate. One that she could control." She explained softly, glancing around the room at the other Immortals. Stopping the apocalypse was one task, but preventing April from becoming a murderer? All of this was too much for the girl, and she suddenly felt like she couldn't keep her breakfast down.

Jonathan rolled his eyes at Cat's teasing, giving her hand a brief squeeze before excusing himself to take the dagger and hide it away in the closet with Fate's art supplies. He made sure it was safe and hidden, on the off chance April broke in and went searching for it, in it's hiding spot it would at least give them time to stop her before she could get her hands on it. After locking the room he took a few minutes to enchant the lock, making it impossible for someone to teleport into the room, both to keep April out and Fate, before he returned to the kitchen, passing Skylar the key before giving him a warning look. "You have to hide that key, Skylar. Not just keep it on you."

@ katahdin

Skylar paled a bit when everything fell into place, but his attention focused on Florence when he saw her finally sit down, looking almost sick to her stomach. "Hey, you okay?" he asked, and after looking around the table, quickly got up and made a glass of cold water, which he brought back and passed over. "Look, it'll be okay. Death's hiding the dagger now, and without that, she can't kill Cat. She doesn't even know where it is or that anyone else knows either, so it's fine."

As Jonathan took care of the dagger and Skylar took care of Florence, Cat finally began to move again, cleaning up the remnants of breakfast and putting into containers the leftovers, of which there were more than she'd thought there would be. She was in the process of washing dishes when Jonathan reappeared, passing the key over to Skylar.

Skylar sighed at the look he was given as the key was put back into his hands. "That was a hiding spot, until we needed it," he defended.

@ sun spirit

Florence frowned at the glass of water as he placed it into her hands, taking a small sip before shaking her head. "You don't understand.. I.. I saw.." she glanced around the room, making sure Cat wasn't nearby to hear before looking at Skylar worriedly. "When I looked into the future, April had the dagger. I hadn't realized what it was at the time, I just assumed that it was one of her weapons, I-I didn't know it was this.." she looked down at her lap again, eyes welling with tears. "She gets it. I don't know how, but she gets it..."

Florence fell silent as Jonathan entered, not wanting him to know about what she'd seen, as he'd just worry more, instead turning her attention fully to her glass while he reprimanded Skylar.

"If you have the key on you, someone can take it without you knowing, if they know what they're looking for. If April suspected you have the key, and knew what was in that closet, she'd kill you without thinking twice about it." Jonathan warned, moving to help Cat finish washing the dishes.

@ katahdin

Skylar's eyes widened as Florence revealed what was bothering her, but he didn't get a chance to say anything before Jonathan had given him the key back, wincing as he brought up April killing him. It wasn't as if the dagger had been in the room before now, and even if it had... he was scared enough of War that he didn't want the key. He put it back in his pocket to hide later though, as Death walked away, and turned back to Florence, reaching out a hand towards her. "Hey, maybe it'll be fine. I mean, Cat's stopped recording her visions, so maybe that means everything that's going to happen is pretty much unknown. Besides, we all pretty much know she's going to try, so we know to look out for her, so that gives us an advantage, right? And you didn't see her stabbing anyone, from what you just said, so that doesn't mean anything bad is going to happen, even if she does get it." He kept his voice low, but tried to be soothing, having seen the tears in her eyes.

As someone entered the kitchen, Cat looked up, smiling a bit as she saw Jonathan. "Told you I'd stay put," she said, bumping him away when he tried to stand beside her and help. "Nope. You go sit somewhere and let me handle cleaning. Make sure Florence is alright--she didn't look like she was handling everything too well when I saw her." Washing the dishes was soothing, and it meant she was on her own until questions she'd rather not answer were forgotten.

@ sun spirit

Florence looked up in surprise when Skylar took her hand, giving it a little squeeze as she listened to him reassure her. "I suppose you're right.. I'm sorry if I freaked out.." she apologized, taking another sip of her water as she pulled her hand away, letting out a sigh. "I just.. I don't want to fail everyone."

Jonathan chuckled a little as she bumped her hip against his to get him away from the sink, taking half a step to the side so he could lean back against the counter as he watched her. "I just want to help clean up the mess I made." He smiled, although it faltered when she mentioned Florence, Death looking out into the dining room where Skylar and Florence were seated. She seemed a bit upset, but at least Skylar was comforting her.. Ok, that upset him, but he could ignore that for now, instead turning back to Cat.

"Skylar is with her, she'll be alright." He said, watching her for a moment before reaching out to rest a hand lightly on her back, gently rubbing his hand down her back soothingly. "I'm sorry Time scared you... Do.. Do you want to talk about it?" He asked softly. He wasn't pushing, if she said no, he'd back off, but seeing her so upset had hurt him deeply, and he wanted to do whatever he could to help.