[hr][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/hS06bsh.png[/img]	[img]https://i.imgur.com/rCd1NjG.png[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/Aj0PAHt.png[/img]	[img]https://i.imgur.com/pBVhYT8.png?1[/img][/center][right][b][code]The Vanburen Estate[/code][/b][/right][hr]

[color=springgreen]“Georgie, wai—”[/color] Tansy motioned for Georgie to stop as she hideaway the skull and stepped towards the sliding door, but barely managed to take one step towards her before the door was already slid shut. Tansy covered her mouth with her fist and bit down on a knuckle, a frustrated sigh streaming out past her hand that sounded like a locomotive coming to rest at a station. She regretted what she said but knew there would be no point in apologizing. When it came to talking with Georgie it felt like any move Tansy made was the wrong move.  

She wrapped her arms around herself as the family divided themselves into two groups. Her abstraction could allow her to snatch some information about the Wiccans that any townies knew, but being present at the construction site would solve a number of headaches for the rest of them going. [color=springgreen]“I’ll go to the construction site in case any overzealous beat cop tries to bust anyone for trespassing. In the meantime, I think I’m going to go warm up,”[/color] said Tansy as she headed towards the door, stopping next to Ezra to whisper, [color=springgreen]“Perhaps you should convince Georgie that it’d be safer for her to sulk in the foreman’s office than in her own room? Your house, your rules, right?”[/color]

Ezra's forehead wrinkled at the suggestion. Georgie would do whatever she wanted, regardless of what he said. Besides, he wasn’t the woman’s guardian. Ezra suppressed a chuckle that hopefully sounded like a cough when Oscar suggested he was the easiest to talk to in the family. It wasn’t a high bar. After Oscar, LeBeau was maybe the only one in the family who having a conversation didn't feel like navigating a minefield and that included the days where the ocelot was feeling particularly bitey. Ezra would even admit he was difficult to speak with sometimes, preferring the few moments of silence he ever got these days over any other sound in the world. Although not necessarily the case for him, Ezra realized there was one other Vanburen who could qualify as actually being easy to talk to: Sabrina. He sidled over to Sabrina as Tansy disappeared after Shane to pass along the request.

[color=darkgray]“I’d appreciate it if you could check on Georgie in a moment. Convince her that holding the football in a room by herself when we’re going up against a cult who can track ram skulls, open portals, and shapeshift might qualify as a [i]fucking[/i] awful idea,”[/color] hissed Ezra quietly, letting a rare moment of emotion slip by unfiltered. He didn’t need more destruction done to his house and a dead sibling would raise a lot of questions he couldn’t possibly answer. He ran his fingers through his hair and closed his eyes, continuing, [color=darkgray]“She’s clever and probably has some kind of contingency plan, but she’d be safer with family. Take her with whichever group you’re joining. Wrap her up in blankets and drag her if you have to.”[/color]

Ezra turned towards Justin and raised his voice so the others could hear, [color=darkgray]“I’ll help find the healer. I don’t know if anyone here has anything that makes them stealthy,”[/color] said Ezra, rubbing his chin. He knew by now the basic abstractions most of his siblings had thanks to the attack or from previous conversations. Blu was a mystery, he could be Blind for all Ezra knew. Tansy had been vague, something about being in touch with a celestial being. From what he knew about Arabelle’s abstraction she was probably the only one who could do any sort of espionage, but he wasn’t about to volunteer an injured person. [color=darkgray]“My ability is extremely versatile but can be finicky. I could potentially find a way to make myself stealthy with the right item. At the very least, I know that I can get us quietly through just about any locked door.”[/color]

[hr][right][b][code]The Vanburen Estate - Foyer[/code][/b][/right][hr]

Warming up turned out to be an impossibility thanks in part to the decorating, but it was the sight of the open front door that sent a chill through Tansy’s spine. She’d hurried inside to catch a moment alone with Shane to see if she could melt some of the glacier that’d slid between them. Growing up she’d always felt close to Shane and she’d been truly hurt when he began to bail on their hangout nights in New York, so hurt in fact when she’d caught Shane attempting to sneak out last Christmas she’d drowned him in a tidal wave of honest concern polluted with harsh insults and unfiltered thoughts. Seeing each other since then was a rare occasion, while speaking was even rarer. Now he’d run out again. Tansy was turning red in the face when Shane walked back in.

[color=springgreen]“And for a moment there I thought you’d run off on us again. Not like there’s a precedent,”[/color] said Tansy with a sweet smile, as if she wasn’t twisting the knife. She swigged the rest of her tea, flinching at the burn of the alcohol. Her drink hadn’t been so much weaker than his. She looked around the room. [color=springgreen]“Our house is ruined. All of this is just so terrible, I mean, thank god nobody important got hurt but this? This won’t be fixed in time for Christmas. And this curse! Ugh! I just hope this is all figured out by New Year’s Eve, I mean, over a hundred people have already RSVPed and it’d just be awful to cancel on them. ”[/color] 

Tansy fidgeted with her teacup. Shane would know her well enough to realize this was the typical Tansy smalltalk salvo, the nervous flood of words she spilled when she needed to buy herself time to work up the courage needed to ask someone about something they wouldn’t want to talk about or make a demand she knew wouldn’t be liked. 

[color=springgreen]“But it’s not all bad, I suppose. It’d be kind of fun to have us all under one roof again. Give us all plenty of time to catch up. You know what I was thinking about the other day?”[/color] A rhetorical question. From her smile slipping down to just one raised corner and the way she squinted one of her eyes it was clear she was going to spring it on Shane. The melody went out of her voice. [color=springgreen]“I was thinking about how you never told me why you quit the NYPD. We need to—I deserve to know, Shane.”[/color] Her voice became hushed. [color=springgreen]“There are rumors. I don’t believe any of them and even if you did something awful I wouldn't care. We just need to take care of it before word spreads further. I need—I can protect you, and we can protect the family, but I need you to talk to me. Otherwise…”[/color]

Otherwise? She closed her eyes and exhaled. The thought of using her abstraction on Shane should’ve made her feel more sick. She opened her eyes, seemingly having conjured up tears. [color=springgreen]“Otherwise I don’t know. Please, Shane, I know you already used your monthly quota of words but  just talk to me.”[/color]