[MINGLE] One-Man Show

[sixthiteration]

WHERE: Inari Shrine and elsewhere
WHEN: 25 January 2019 through ?
OPEN TO: All opted in characters
WARNINGS: Please warn in the subject line of your comment as needed, and remember to move anything turning adult to a new post.
IMPORTANT NOTES: Final reminders and informational links are here. Please label all top-levels clearly so that there is no confusion who they are open to and what they are for, and DON'T FORGET TO ADD YOUR TAG!
Have fun and ask questions here!

Comments

[fishingfortrouble]

It's only luck that sees Phryne actually out and about when she's snatched away to somewhere she's sure she's never seen before. But she only barely has time to thank her lucky stars that she actually is wearing something appropriate to the weather, much less that she's not alone before a scene starts playing out. A memory, or vision, she's not entirely able to say.

It's a surprise, at first, to see Jack and herself standing in front of a jail cell, discussing the possibility of letting the occupant of said cell out in return for a favor. To anyone else, it might even sound relatively harmless - getting out word to a third party (by the name of Dubois, apparently) that they have a line on someone who can sell "that painting". To Phryne it's anything but and she can't help but pale a little at the realization. The version of herself in the vision however, simply continues on bold and brusque, laying out a time and place for the meeting; the cell's occupant grumbles a bit but faced with the treat of indefinite imprisonment otherwise (which may or may not have been genuinely meant on Jack's part) he agrees readily enough.

The vision pauses briefly there, and Phryne hopes that's the end of it. It's not, and it starts up again bare moments later, not the jail cell, but a fairly upscale sort of cafe. Their "sacrificial goat" sits at one table, looking nervous and somewhat out of place; Phryne and Jack at a table opposite. A tense moment or three follows, Phryne clearly on edge as she turns a old photo over and over in her hands. Nor is the tension in the air helped by the arrival of their food (Phryne, at least, appears to have no appetite, and Jack isn't faring much better, though this may be on account of his having been served escargot), and while Jack attempts to break the tension with a bit of banter it goes absolutely nowhere.

(His attempt to calm Phryne down when the sound of a champagne cork popping nearly startles her out her wits fares a little better, but it's still abundantly clear that she's just about ready to vibrate out of her skin from nerves alone.)

A moment later, Dubois himself shows up and this time, with the advantage afforded from an outside vantage point Phryne can see the way the ensuing chaos unfolds. Jack's desperate attempt to pull her eyes away from Dubois by pulling her into a kiss. The brief nod and raised eyebrow Jack gives to his fellow officer; the latter slowly rising to block off the exit... and then Bert and Cec are surging to their feet and crossing to Dubois. A rumble of conversation ("Long time no see. This is from Thommo and Ronnie.") and then a punch from Bert, Dubois knocked out of his chair; Phryne rising to her feet with a gasp of "Bert, no!", Jack right behind her as the patrons do likewise in a panic. Or at the sight of Dubois and Jack both drawing guns. Even from outsider's standpoint it's hard to tell for certain until Jack's bellow of "Police! Out of the way!" clears the field a bit, but by then it's too late. Dubois already has Phryne at gunpoint.

"My Phryne," he whispers, and even now the sound of his voice sends shivers down her spine. "It has been too long, no?"

Phryne can't bring herself to watch the rest, turning away as Dubois makes to pull her away, though she can still here her struggles. Hears the sound of Jack dropping his gun to the floor at Dubois' insistence, and her desperate, panicked voice as she wrests the gun away from Dubois but - as the man surmises - is completely unable to bring herself to shoot him, tears in her eyes and hands shaking as she lowers it from his head to his heart. ("I'm not afraid of you," she says, pulling back the hammer.) She pauses, though and in that pause, Dubois turns away... and rounds the corner straight into a knife held by another woman - by the gasp that escapes her, she absolutely hadn't intended to kill Dubois, staring is shock and horror as he sinks to the floor in his final moments.

And then, as suddenly as it had begun, the vision is over, leaving Phryne decidedly shaken as she blinks her way back from... whatever has just happen.