2019-10-31 - Masquerade: Dearly Beloved

Eleanor and August are among the wedding guests. Eleanor can't wear too much red, because of her hair. So, she is wearing an exquisite gown which is primarily silver with red accents. The top portion is opaque, and hugs her body, down to her mid thigh, before sweeping away from it in translucent layers of decorated tulle, falling to the ground. The neckline is a sternum-deep V, edged in the transparent tulle, making it especially daring. The decorations consist of embroidered leaves and red fabric flowers dotting it here and there, along with tiny rhinestones and prismatic pale green embroidered flower stems. Covering her upper face is a silver filigree mask dotted with rhinestones with a crown-like center at the top. Her shoes are glittery red heels.

Her hair has been pulled back and up into a sleek, high ponytail, smoothed and off of her face. She is on August's arm, and seems more than happy to be here.

This but the flowers are red: [https://i.imgur.com/qStzkw4.jpg]

For the wedding August's outfit has red scattered throughout. He's in a gray, glen check three-piece with red highlights, which pairs nicely with Eleanor's dress. He's swapped out the usual vest for a silk, red and silver brocade piece with a botanical pattern, and a black and silver, paisley tie. He's also wearing a harvest crown of bittersweet and hops vines, the bright, red berries and green hops complimenting the oak, aspen, and maple leaves and dove and grouse feathers woven between them. No proper mask for him at the moment, though he's prepared to be accosted and told to wear one at any second. Fortunately, it should match. It takes a little work to not stare at Eleanor the entire time, but he manages.

He's known James a while, and even has a few pieces of Carmichael furniture in his cabin (the bookcases, the futon), so supplying the flowers for the wedding was a natural yes. He eyes the handiwork, makes a face at the mist. No matter how magical it made the boat tour, it'd be nice if it pissed off for the wedding.

Alexander has not been invited, and is not wearing red. Or a properly celebratory expression. In fact, he's not even wearing a costume, at the moment, unless 'Freddie Kruger before the burns' counts, because that's how ugly his sweater is. He's walking with Byron up from somewhere on the road, although he hesitates when he sees the revelers and squints to make out the sign through the fog. "Well. I." A pause. "I didn't expect people to be here. Like this." A sidelong look to Byron, then back at the church. "This'll be interesting."

That Elias Weber is in fact Noah Silas, the author is only a fairly recent revelation, but Elias has known Maria since she started coming into his shop, and his family has purchased numerous pieces of furniture from the Charmichaels over the years. And so it's not entirely surprising to find him here at the wedding. He cleans up nice, in a suit with black pants and polished crimson shoes, a black jacket and a deep crimson brocade vest over his white shirt, per the invitation requesting that the guests wear red. His dark hair is swept back, save for a few stray strands, and tied with a red velvet ribbon at the back of his head. He is alone this evening, but seems perfectly comfortable to mingle with the other guests. His mask is a simple red and black harlequin pattern that covers only his eyes.

Unlike some of the others already in attendance, Byron Thorne wasn't here for the Cartajena-Carmichael wedding, though he is dressed up in an expensive deep emerald green tuxedo complete with with a black bow tie. He had a festival to represent, so while he may be sans mask for the moment, having left it in the car to investigate... something, he still cuts an impressive figure. Alexander Clayton just happens to be in his company.

On realizing just what was going on in the church, Byron gives Alexander this droll look, "I know that you both haven't known each other for very long, so this better not be Isabella's way of hinting about," He won't complete the statement, but he gestures to the sign announcing the wedding. His tone is wry, so he's a little amused. Yet, he still shakes his head slowly, "I don't like the idea of crashing someone's special day, you know."

With a personal invitation, Erin had invited Ruiz as well, it was a marriage of love! Exciting news around here when people could beat the odds and find something lasting. Dressed in something spectacular (to her at least) Her dress is all red and fitted to her and may show a bit too much skin. Her silver and crystal mask conceals a lot of her identity, but her dark eyes and chocolate waves with honeyed highlights may in fact give away the Addington. Her shows are also silver and crystal and name brand. She's holding the arm of Ruiz among the wedding guests as well, the brunette absolutely enchanted with her date for the evening.

The man accompanying Erin tonight is dressed mostly in black, with a splash of red in accordance with the occasion: a tailored black three piece suit that fits his sturdy frame impeccably well. Black ankle-length boots with silver studs up the side, a black peacoat; and buttoned up over the black silk shirt, a crushed red velvet and satin waistcoat. He's combed and styled his normally unruly hair into some semblance of neatness, and wears a black mask studded with red and orange and burnished copper stones. With his arm looped through Erin's, he keeps close to the tall brunette, letting her take the lead in where they move. This? Is so not his bag.

Eleanor looks around the church, her church, with wide eyes. "August? You know I go to church here, right?" she whispers, glancing at her escort. "This isn't St. Mary's. Not even remotely. And the wedding party and guests? They don't seem to realize that."

August spies Erin and Ruiz, gives the later a wry smile of 'boy you look like you're having a grand ol' time'. He's peering at Alexander and Byron on the approach in short order, not because he can't imagine they know James, but due to their attire.

His attention doesn't stay on the two wedding crashers, though. He frowns and starts to move towards one of the flower arrangements, eyeing some golden, lily-like plants in particular. "Don't think I know these," he says, tone absent. He doesn't go so far as to touch it, but he does lean in to get a better look, eyeing the sturcture and shape. With a glance around him, he pulls out his phone to take a picture. He can hit up the plant databases later.

As he moves back to Eleanor, he blinks at her, then at their surroundings. He clearly doesn't think anything's amiss, even looks a bit relaxed. Her question gives him pause, though. He hesitates, spies Alexander and Byron again. "Alexander," he says. "Maybe we should ask why he and Byron are here."

Thank god that Isabella isn't in sight right now, because Alexander's expression at Byron's joke is unreserved horror. Wide eyes, a twitch down his spine, the whole thing. He clears his throat, uncertainly, and checks the sign again. Just. In. Case. "I don't. I don't think that's. I'm pretty sure she wouldn't do that." He takes a moment to shakes off that thought. "Um. No, I don't like interrupting someone's wedding." His expression creeps towards smiling, almost tender as the bright smiles of the celebrants touch him. "Even if it's beautiful. Look at these people. They're so happy. I bet that's nice..." He stops, shakes his head as he tries to clear it. "But I have to find her. And if she's...using all of her power, on something, then it may endanger people. Maybe we can take a look around without getting in the way. Where did you guys look for whatever, as kids?" He's only been to St. Mary's a few times, and in the fog, sees nothing noticeably different, so he glances to the man beside him for directions.

Byron knows that he's crashing this wedding, so when he's approached by masked attendees, most likely friend and family of the pair to be wed, he offers up a polite enough smile, even shaking some hands along the way when he receives a friendly pat on the shoulder for being mistaken for someone legitimately invited to this event. If Thorne is pleased at himself for freaking Alexander out a bit, well, he has that smile on his face, but he's responding to those greeting them i the politest of manners.

The wide plastic smiles has him unnerved, allowing his own cordial smile to fade some. In fact, there's a point where he gives up the ghost, his lips pursed in that look of someone totally displeased by what's going on. "Looks like it's already started." He assumes that they are in a dream or a similar state when he voices his wariness. He bristles a bit, but this makes him take in the masked faces, the fancy clothing and then the cathedral itself. "I can feel her, Clayton."

Whatever it is, Erin is having the best time. She's not been out like this in awhile and she was feeling on top of her game! Just looking around excites her and behind the mask her smile is delighted. She reaches for Ruiz's hand and lifts it, sliding her hand down his arm and twirls. Suddenly his date is dancing with him, twirl, step, step, down the carpeted aisle she goes with him. This is some wedding!

It's been a weird ass week, and this? Is not helping. Ruiz looks distinctly uncomfortable as a bit of a prickle races up his spine, and he becomes aware that they likely aren't where they think they are. Not that he's a churchgoer, but he knows this isn't right. "Erin-" he starts to murmur, but she's taking his hand and trying to dance with him, which just ups the wtf factor by a little. His hand slides up her arm, takes a firm grip on it, and he gives her a hard shake. "Erin. Look at me. Something's fucking off here. And what's Clayton doing over there?" He spots Roen, too, and gives the man a long look over Erin's shoulder.

Perhaps he's become desensitized. Perhaps it's just that Elias has grown up with this sort of thing his whole life, but when he looks around St. Mary's and realizes that it doesn't look at all like the familiar church that he's visited before, there's a slight pause and then he simply continues on in, more with curiosity than trepidation. There's a glance in Byron's direction, noticing the man who is not in red first, and then the others, Alexander by proximity, then Erin and Ruiz, and august and Eleanor, the last two being those he most expected to see at the event, and one eyebrow arches just a little bit. He remains quiet for now, however, simply gravitating in their direction withou disturbing the proceedings.

Eleanor peers at August carefully, using straightening his jacket lapels as an excuse for checking his eyes. "Seriously? This doesn't freak you out at all?" She grimaces, because she's pretty sure that's a bad sign. Well maybe a bad sign. The Veil-happenings on the boat last night were mercifully non-hostile; maybe this will be as well. But she checks herself carefully. Clear-headed? Check. Dress hasn't changed? Check. Nothing about her person seems altered? Check. Sense of Glimmer being used in here? SHIT. Yep, but she can't tell where.

It feels like it's everywhere, like the entire church is swimming in it. "Someone is shining, August. This is being manipulated," she whispers. At least she's ok, but will need to keep careful watch of her boyfriend (manfriend? Not-a-boy-but-a-man-friend? Dating after 35 needs some new terms).

Eleanor gets the willies when the guests' eyes turn their way and puts a hand to August's cheek. "Hey, can you, you know, talk in my head? So we don't disturb the ceremony?" and so he doesn't blurt out anything crazy in his out-loud voice if something is making him high. He just got over Dryad Ichor, now it's a new mind-altering something. #FML. She heads to their spot to sit.

Well, that's, intriguing. Elias watches as the procession begins and people move to take their seats in the pews. There's definitely something off. He can feel it, and he can taste something on the air, but what it is, he can't be sure, and his expression turns puzzled as he realizes that he hasn't moved, and that there is a space for him over on the bride's side. He begins to make his way over toward that side, not quite interested in drawing attention just yet. And so he makes his way over to his spot and remains there with the other guests, for the moment.

August permits Eleanor to check him, like this is a routine thing, checking one another for weird shit. Well, Erin is over there living her best life while Ruiz stares at her like she's going off the rails, so many that's reasonable. He gives his head a small shake. "Yeah. It's Isabella. I feel her using the Gift but I don't...see her." He watches Erin in her joyous dance, then his eyes meet Ruiz's. He raises his brows in a silent question as to Erin's condition, less an expression of accusation and more one of concern.

Seeing Elias moving their way, August catches his eye and nods at Alexander in a suggestion they converge on him and Byron.

But then...that clapping, and the procession into the pews. August feels the weight of expectation hanging in the air. "Ah--yeah. Good idea. And we should probably just sit." He glances at Alexander, taps at his temple, then leads Eleanor to a seat on the groom's side. He reaches out to Eleanor's mind as they walk, hoping Alexander will get the message and do likewise.

"Low blow, Byron," Alexander tells his companion as he catches sight of that smile, in between letting the man do the gladhanding. Alexander does not glad and he does not hand. That's why he has a Thorne to lurk behind, his eyes watchfully scanning the group. And some of the figures do look familiar. Erin is seen first; she's dancing, it stands out. His eyebrows go up as he sees her date, and then - oh hey, there's August, and Eleanor, and he even vaguely recognizes Elias. He gestures to catch Byron's attention, and gestures towards them. "I feel her. And look over there." Now he plunges ahead, closing the distance. The staring of the people is hardly noticed, and he doesn't immediately sit. Alexander is used to causing scenes, but he does catch August's gesture, nods, and closes his eyes for just a moment to throw out a mental 'line' in August's direction, and then to Ruiz, if he's open to it.

Erin just gives Ruiz a confused look but she doesn't make any moves for the moment. She does look at Ruiz, even asks, "Why are you shaking me?" Suddenly stopping her dancing at the clapping. Like the others, she turns and moves with synchronized movements towards the places where the names are, dragging Ruiz if she has to.. or at least attempting it, he's got her on weight, determination and strength. She does try and take him with her to their places where the name tags are for them, to be seated correctly on the grooms side. "It's just so dreamy!" Nothing feels off to her, even if she had gone to this church every week of her life.

As both he and Alexander are being shuffled along by over eager guests, something does catch Byron's attention. It's a good thing that they are now being ushered in that direction, because it gives him a better view of the area. While he's seeking out faces or people familiar to him, he's also scoping out locations as well. It's been a while since he's been here, but he thinks fondly of some of those memories. He notices how happy Erin looked and if this were any other place but here, he would have smiled at her antics. She was wit someone-- Kitt, Captain de la Vega? Huh. Well he is sort of her bodyguard.

Near them are August and Eleanor. He's a coffee drinker, he knows Eleanor. "We used to look under these pews. The ones right here." He mentions to where they are being escorted to the bride's side of the seating arrangements. Yes, it's awkward to remain standing, though he immediately looks towards where the missals are placed. So as he pretends to settle himself in, he looks through a few of them. Perhaps remembering something. He'll try to do it as politely as possible, giving Elias this Nothing's wrong kind of look.

Ruiz does not, in fact, cause a scene. Much as he dearly may want to, what with the amount of fuckery going on right now. He grinds his teeth slightly at the tug on his arm, and allows himself to be drawn along. At some point, his arm in Erin's turns to his fingers woven with hers, and drawn atop his lap as he settles in at the prescribed seat.

A moment later, the sensation of a very familiar mind knocking at his mental door. His dark eyes remain forward rather than seeking out Alexander. Lips pressed together, he allows him in.

Eleanor looks over towards Alexander, Elias, and Byron. To those in the link she sends out, <<This is not normal. Definitely something mind affecting going on here.>> Her mind is like threads, many threads of different colors, weaving into shapes, some into tapestries, some into words, and then unraveling to weave into something new. The threads stretch and pull taught, connecting one strand, one idea, to another, like those on a murderboard. She puts on a strained smile for the enchanted guests, but her inner expression is one of flailing.

As the organist starts playing, Eleanor's eyes flit that way and narrow. <<Is that... Baron Samedi?>> she queries. Then the bride enters and she looks that way.

Alexander is definitely not okay with anything going on. He does, eventually, get the memo to sit the hell down, but his mental voice radiates sharp distress - it's all cutting edges and erratic bursts of searing light. <<Isabella is missing. She's somewhere here. And something's wrong. Has anyone seen her?>> Each word flung out into the link with more force than he intends. He glances to Elias. "You're Mr. Weber," he says, shortly. "Have you happened to see Isabella around?" Baron Samedi? Is glared at. The bride is likewise studied like she might be an enemy. He hunches a little in his seat.

<<Baron Samedi?>> August's voice is a river running between all of them, swift and deep. He clearly has no idea who that is. <<Haven't seen Isabella, but I can feel her here. Somewhere. Alexander, can you interrupt this? If it's an illusion built by the Gift, like there was at the Thorn house, maybe you can break it. That could let us find her.>> He winces at the smell of the flowers, trying to keep himself focused. He grips Eleanor's hand as he watches the bride come down the aisle.

The look from Byron that nothing is wrong earns the slightest of arched eyebrows from Elias, but a minute nod as well. Certainly. Nothing appears to be wrong, and he can play along with that. The Baron at the organ gets a more scrutinizing gaze, but he hears Alexander and while he doesn't look at him directly, he responds to his question. "No," he says in a voice pitched low and quiet for the men next to him, "I haven't seen her. Was she supposed to be here?" His eyes then do scan the crowd in search of his cousin many times removed.

"It's much more fun when you sit down with the group. When you're supposed to." Erin tells Ruiz after she had seated herself with the others, simultaneously. Her hand is taken by him and she smiles at him, but the hush that falls as the organ plays directs her gaze to the rear of the church at the same time as the others in the church do the same. She gasps softly. The bride was so beautiful and she looked so happy! "Just look at her," she tells Ruize dreamily. "So perfect."

As they sit, and Erin starts moving in unison with the other guests like she's nothing more than a puppet dancing on strings, the captain reaches for her jaw and tries to turn her face toward him. Hard, if need be, to ensure he can look her in the eyes. And whatever he sees there.. "Fuck." And then, "Fuck." His own voice is a crackle of fear laced with agitation over the mental link; Alexander would recognise that burning wolf, teeth and claws and predatory instinct forced to sit still and behave in his fancy ass clothes. <<I haven't seen Isabella, but Erin is not herself. Something is very wrong here. I believe she's been drugged, though I have no idea by whom or how->> That thought cuts off abruptly as he sees the bride come down the aisle. And is replaced by a single name: <<Karin..>>

This rummaging through the shelf of missals keeps him distracted from most everything else around him, though Byron's an attentive sort, so will peek over towards the front of the church where the proceeding will be held, while he looks. The beautiful melody being played only garners a hint of his attention, but he's crouched down here, pulling out several books and opening them one at a time. When the door to the church swings open to admit the blushing bride in, he takes pause to carefully observe. That's when he feels something, something which pulls his attention from Maria, to stare down at what could be an old key.

Why was he looking for this though? He tries to remember. Settling himself down proper into his pew, he studies the key in his hand, perhaps trying to read it. Perhaps trying to remember.

Eleanor looks around, narrowing her eyes. The flowers. The flowers August couldn't place. <<It's the flowers! They're from the Veil. They're hallucinogenic when you breathe them in and they're everywhere in here. We need to stop breathing in this air!>> She grasps one of the layers of tulle in her dress and rips it off at the seam as quickly and as carefully as she can. She then folds it over several times, effectively making a filter, and uses the sharp edge of her mask to cut it in two, handing one to August.

<<This makes people see things that mean something to them though, it's not mind control, so something else is going on.>> Ellie grimaces and holds the bit of tulle to her nose and mouth to try and strain out the pollen.

"No, she really wasn't," Alexander tells Elias, quietly. And then tosses a mental line out to him - hopefully he'll have the ability to grab it. And the desire. To Byron, he whispers, "None of the others has seen her, but they feel her." And then the whisper of the name from Ruiz comes down the link. Alexander hasn't heard the name before, but...he looks back at the bride. It's not hard to guess the significance. Between that, and August's request, he nods, frowns, and there's a flash of his power, bright and cutting, reaching out to as far as he can and trying to shred any illusions that might be imposed on them. Sweat beads on his forehead. <<Javier. Help, please. This is...heavy.>>

<<She's right>> Elias confirms to the others when he is pulled into their mental conversation, blinking for a moment as he realizes that he can hear them, something that happens every so often, but not with enough frequency that it doesn't still startle him when it happens. He's not much of a Mentalist, himself. He lifts his pocket square from his pocket and holds it up in front of his nose and mouth, attempting to breathe through it at Eleanor's warning. He glances to the bride, and then toward Ruiz, but he has no idea what the significance of the name is.

Usually when Byron did readings on objects, it was in a quiet place where he was more often than not, alone. It gave him time to relax and compose himself. He's not given much of a choice here, unless he kept the key with him to read later. However, that would not be ideal and this may be necessary in finding out what happened to Isabella. So despite the music, the revelry and what bits and pieces of telepathy that he may pick up or sense going on around him, he takes a deep breath and focuses. Sometimes these readings come with strong negative emotions attached to them, so he braces himself.

Off to the side, he can hear Clayton speaking to him and he slowly nods to it whether he heard everything the man said or not.

Ruiz drags his eyes off of the bride with some effort. He knows it isn't his wife. He knows. And yet. Swallowing, he releases Erin's face and tugs a perfect red pocket square out of the front of his suit jacket, shakes it out, and lifts it to Erin's face. If she fights him, he'll try to grab her wrist, or put his arm around her shoulders in a half bear hug so he can keep her breathing filtered with the square of fabric. Then the plea for help trickles over the mental link, and his mind's only answer is a snarl as the flame-wreathed wolf begins tearing into the illusive tapestry with knife-like teeth and claws.

Ruiz turns her to look at him and she smiles but she mostly looks past him, that same big smile in place. It looks much like the brides does, mostly? She watches the wedding when she can, doing things in synch with the others and likely at the wedding planners direction. Her hand lifts to touch Ruiz's on her cheek when he turns her head hard towards his, and still, she smiles. The wedding is holding her attention raptly. It takes her by complete surprise when Ruiz slips the pocket square over her face, it doesn't occur to her to fight it. It's Ruiz, she trusts him. Then she just remains there in his embrace, realizing one thing, her movements were not her own even if her thoughts were. She will not fight what August does either, she can perhaps recognize the healing for what it is, but she holds Ruiz a little tighter than she would otherwise, a little confused, but trusting them.

August accepts the make-shift mask material without hesitation, though rather than put it on his face he considers the flowers, even reaches out with his Spirit Gift to examine them, taking the shape of them. <<I can kill these.>> He reaches out, finds every one of the golden Veil lilies that he can, and yanks the life energy right out of them. The water drains from the blooms, the carbon-fixing and energy-producing mechanisms in them grind to a halt, and they shrivel and wilt. He doesn't wait to see if that works, though--he moves on to shoving the effects out of Erin's bloodstream, with a spoken, "Sorry, Erin," as he does it.

Alexander is staring at the priest as the ceremony begins. A wave of -- terror is probably the best name for it, terror and longing all mixed up into a toxic cocktail even as the illusions shatter and the flowers wither. His body goes rigid in the seat beside Byron, breath coming in short, sharp gasps. When the illusions fade, and the scent of the flowers disperses, both emotions are swept out of his mind, locked away with ruthless insistence. But he still needs a moment, and doesn't even try to do anything about the murderous matrimony. He's shaking in his seat instead.

Eleanor gasps into her makeshift filter as the knives flash, and she stands up suddenly, throwing a hand out in the direction of the groom and making a closing, then YANKING motion with it, jerking the blade out of his hand with telekinesis. It zips right on to her hand. Take that, bad mojo!

Right at this moment, it didn't matter what was going on around him. Byron was attuned to this key. His posture is straight, both hands resting on his thighs with the key gripped tightly in his right fist. His features soften, whatever he's picked up from the old object seems to have a positive effect on him. He twitches every so often, hearing the loud commotion coming coming in from all around him, but especially where the happy couple are to be married.

When he gets what he needs, he finally blinks, hand tightening around the key now that he's 'awake'. If he took notice of anything before, maybe from out of the corner of his eyes, he's seeing everything with a clearer mind now. "What the hell is going on here?" He sees that the church was no longer beautiful and light. He also sees what looks to be something deadly about to happen.

Even with the cloth against her face, Erin says it with the others. "Till death do you part." As if controlled by ropes, she rises to her feet and joins the others in the cries of dismay that are filling the church. She's protesting it but she's not really doing much else about it, caught still as if by invisible strings pulling and directing her.

Elias stands almost in sync with Eleanor, as though they'd planned it. They hadn't, but fortunately their efforts are coordinated, even if by accident. The bride's knife suddenly flies out of her hand and lands in Elias', as he grips it tightly, watching as the illusion comes down, and Baron Samedi plays his jaunty tune, and things go quite a bit more chaotic all around them. "Thanks for the weed killer," he says in August's direction. His focus for the moment is on the crowd. "Okay, the whole til death do you part thing? That's not supposed to be for a while, folks. Natural death, not stabbing death on the altar."

Ruiz sits tight while knives go flying and illusions are shattered into dust and vapour. His arm is kept around Erin, his eyes remaining on hers as August works those threads of glimmer and pulls the drug out of her system. He's unclear, though, if it's working, when she pulls to her feet and starts repeating after the rest of the congregation in that robotic fashion. <<Are you sure that worked?>> The thought blooms in his mind as he pulls to his feet as well, in order to remain close to Erin.

August sighs to see the illusion scatter, but his relief is shortlived as those knives come out. Fortunately, Eleanor and Elias have it in hand. Unfortunately, Erin isn't getting better. <<Might need time. Or...>> He looks around, overhead, at the windows. <<Fresh air. Duck. Everyone.>> He needs the glass to fall out, not in, which is going to be tricky. He's never tried to directionalize something like this before. But they need air, now, lots of it, so...he'll just consider helping pay to fix them. The glass in the window frames starts to rattle, softly at first, rising quickly to a cacophony accompanied by clinking and cracking. And it's a really good thing his eyes are closed, because if he saw these guys attacking Eleanor well something else would be getting shattered. But no, it's the windows that explode, sending glass flying.

<<Samedi! The music! Stop it!>> Eleanor sends out in a panicked knotting of threads, connecting the organ and the man playing it, to everyone now coming at her and Elias. She turns the knife backwards so as not to hurt the innocents, and tries to block the incoming attacks, willing her skin to armor itself with Glimmer.

Alexander shakes himself out of his little mini-breakdown to the sound of shattering glass and the feel of creeping darkness. Byron's voice penetrates, and he says, "I think we crashed the wedding." A pause as he hears something in his head. "The music. We have to stop the music." He rises to his feet, and looks at the Baron. He extends a hand to the man and lightning flashes in his eyes. He does his best to send a short, sharp arc of lightning over the heads of the fighting guests to strike at the musician.

Something is forcing Erin to do things she does not want to do! With his arms around her, her body is moving even with abject horror on her face, in her eyes. She spins, lifting a hand as if she's going to punch him, arms and legs flailing, trying to get a hit or a punch in and with those heels she's likely to do damage if she connected with one of the pointy stabby things. There's apology in her features, it hurts her to be trying to hurt him but she just cannot stop!

The place had erupted into a madhouse when Byron had checked out. Holding on tightly to the key, he finally rises from where he was seated. It looks like everyone else was taking action or being overwhelmed by bridesmaids and groomsmen. Through that chaos, he's looking for something in particular. He's almost of a mind to ignore what's going on and proceed to the mark. Alexander mentions the need to stop the music. That's good and all, but he has places to go.

The key is slipped into his pants pocket so as not to lose it. If anyone tries to get in his way, he'll attempt to calm them with a soothing thought. Otherwise, if they get too close, he's already starting to draw the electricity in the air to him.

When the army of bridesmaids come for him, Elias dodges and steps up onto and over the pew to land on the other side and make a break for it. "Gotta catch me, first," he tells them, encouraging them to chase him, because as long as they don't catch him, perhaps that will buy him some time for the others to break whatever spell is being held over them. The knife, he keeps carefully away from pointing at himself or them as best he can.

<<Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow.>> That would be Eleanor under a pile of kicking groomsmen.

The sight of a horde of guys in tuxes attacking Eleanor has August teetering on the edge of realizing he's very comfortable with hurting people using his Gift if the circumstances are correct. But he hears her say something about the organ and the music, and Alexander echoing that. Teeth set, he drags his attention off Eleanor and turns it to the organ. He smashes it, unable to find it in himself to gently break the thing when Eleanor's being attacked.

Erin, fortunately, picked the right man to try taking a swing at. He sees it coming a mile off, and instead of pushing her away or deflecting the attack, he pulls her in tight to his body, arms wrapping around her in a bearhug from behind. Which is helpful when the windows in the church start to shatter, as it allows him to hunker down over her and hopefully prevent any fragments of glass from hitting her. With the anarchy breaking out amongst the bridesmaids and groomsmen, and the attempts to shut down the organ playing meeting with middling success to none, the cop draws his firearm from under his suit jacket, and drops a round into the chamber with a soft clack. Then the muzzle comes up, and in the chaos it's possible nobody notices him squeezing the trigger with a sharp BANG that echoes with a crack through the church. He is not aiming to kill the man; merely to bring him to ground.

That's never happened before. Alexander's eyes widen as lightning meets lightning, and his is broken. It's all he has time for before the return volley grounds itself in his skin and he drops to the floor, convulsing with the force of it. He can't even scream; his jaw is locked shut as his muscles spasm.

Eleanor is curled in a defensive ball, the knife tucked beneath her to keep anyone from getting to it while they were attacking her. She HURTS. Everywhere. And her dress is ruined. At least for now. One sparkly red shoe is halfway down the aisle, the other still on her foot. Her hair is a mess. But she hears the music stop and that makes her feel a moment of (Ouchie) relief.

It's not completely odd for a man to be confronted by some raging bridesmaids, one of them even reaches for Byron's arm in a way to keep him leaving this wedding day brawl. He'll try to shake her off at first, giving his arm a hard jerk which only swings her around. With her persistence comes a big payoff. There's just this brief moment where her eyes meets Thorne's and then she's screaming, holding her hand to her head while releasing these ear piercing shrieks. Whatever he projected into her mind, if she was mad earlier, she's falling deeper into madness now.

Pushing forward as she drops down to her knees, he walks over any other fallen guest, watching as some of them even seem to part before him once their strings are cut. Once he gets closer to the private rooms of the cathedral, he reaches into his pocket to retrieve that key again. He remembers what the door looks like-- the priest's chambers. Slipping the key in, he goes to unlock it.

Erin is being held down and though she fights it physically, she's relieved she can't hurt him. Not that she could actually hurt him, he overpowered her tremendously. She wasn't a fighter at all. He protects her when the glass shatters, and she screams as the gunshot goes off so close. Even if it's not close, it feels like it is, and finally the fight leaves her body and she tips her head up to see what damage had been done to those she knew and recognized. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Javier."

"Ellie." It's a good thing the groomsmen stop attacking Eleanor the second August's taken out his fury on the organ, because he was ready to turn around and make them do it, and none of his methods would have been gentle. He shoves between the bewildered wedding party to get to her, and the sight of her is just about enough to make him do it anyways. He doesn't, though; he crouches down next to her. "Hey, hon. Come here." He gathers her up, doesn't worry in the least about healing her in front of God and everyone. They'll just be relieved they didn't hurt her, maybe not say anything to set him off.

Eleanor goes from feeling like she was trampled by a herd of Buffalo, to like she just got out of a month long spa vacation. All the aches flee her body, her skin veritably glows, her hair shines like a Pantene commercial. She opens her green eyes and blinks at August. "Sheesh...did you just knock me up with that?" she asks.

"Thorne!" The bark goes up from de la Vega when he sees Thorne moving off with that key, seemingly impervious to his attempts to latch onto his mind. "It's fine, I'm fine. Nothing to apologise for." That's to Erin, whose shoulders he squeezes gently before releasing her, and prowling off after Byron.

Alexander groans as the electricity works its way out of his body. He goes, trembling, to his hands and knees and tries not to throw up. "So that's what that feels like," he mutters, hoarsely, to himself. Then staggers up to his feet like a drunkard. His eyes fix blearily on Ruiz, then follow him to the hint of Thorne heading into the back room. He staggers after, expression grim.

Once the bridesmaids stop following him, Elias comes to a halt, staggering and leaning up against a wall for a moment before he looks around, taking stock of everything else going on around them, from Pantene Glow Eleanor, to Byron purposefully heading off toward that doorway. He furrows his brow when he notices that Baron Samedi seems to have given them all the slip, but there's not much point in worrying about that now. Instead, he follows after Byron to see what's going on in that room.

"Pretty sure it doesn't work that way," August says with a weak smile. There's a tremor in his movements as he helps her up, from the furious adrenaline high, or maybe just all that Glimmering. He sees Ruiz heading off, frowns. "Come on," he says, moves to follow Alexander and Ruiz with one hand clasped in hers. "Looks like this might not be over."

Eleanor nods and follows where August leads, the knife in her other hand, reclaiming her missing shoe on the way.

With everyone speaking in telepathy, it was easy to ignore the chatter and instructions given. Most would have a difficult time cracking into his mind. However, Byron hears Ruiz's voice calling out for him and that, at least, makes him take pause. He was annoyed by the army of party goers that tried to apprehend him, so that same gaze can be seen within his eyes when his eyes finally meets with Ruiz. "This way." It's not called out, it's stated flatly.

The door is opened slightly at first, getting a glimpse of what's inside, before he swings it wide open. He'd move in immediately, if not for the piano wires before him. A cautious hand reaches out to touche one of them, testing to see how difficult they would be to break. "Izzy!" He finally raises his voice. If nothing dangerous happens on touch, he'll carefully pull and tug at one of them, waiting to see if it causes Reede any pain, "We're coming in to get you."

Left there with the people she didn't know, Erin follows after when she realizes those she does know are following after Byron and Ruiz. Her movements are finally her own but she feels weird now. Everything is all Erin now, but the damage to the church was all done. Uncertain where Byron and the others were going, she hurries a little faster.

Eleanor stops stock still at the door. "August, can you snap individual wires while," she looks to Elias, "the two of us hold her up? They're from the Veil, they aren't from here. The wires."

Ruiz prowls in close on Thorne's heels, though hangs back a pace while he throws open the door to the little room. What he sees on the other side makes him scowl mightily. He hovers his hand above one like he's about to touch it, then seems to think better of that and pulls his fingers back. A glance to Alexander, then August, when Eleanor speaks to him. "Isabella," he attempts to address the woman bound up in the wire. "Miss Reede. Do you hear my voice?" How could she not? The man is accustomed to speaking with authority, and though he lacks August's deeper baritone, his Spanish inflected, husky-warm tenor is easily recognisable.

And just behind Ruiz is Alexander, still a little unsteady on his feet from being lit up. His eyes follow the shining wires. "Isabella?" His voice is hoarse. His eyes widen. And then there are no more words, or even thought. Alexander flings himself at the wires, his face a sudden rictus of fury and fear, as if he can claw his way through the wires to reach her.

Elias stares at the situation in front of them and says, "We can try and suspend her by her clothes while you destroy the wires around her, and see if we can lower her to the ground. Or we can try and destroy the wires nearest us slowly until we get to her and then hold her up, but I'm not sure the ones around her won't tighten while we're doing that..." He frowns, not wanting to try anything that's going to hurt her farther, that much is apparent. "Best bet is to try and get the ones off of her and see if we can lower her to the ground then get to her.. maybe." He looks over at Eleanor and then the others. He's certainly willing to try whatever the group thinks is best. Then Alexander is flinging himself at the wires and he says "Whoah, whoah.. Clayton.. we're going to get her out. Don't chop yourself up."

Erin finally manages to catch up with the others and as soon as she can see what is going on, she protests. "NO! Alexander, no!" It looked like a web! "Where a web is, there's usually a spider." She looks around just in case, you know, because wires weren't frightening enough and it was Halloween after all. "The wires need to be cut from around her, but all at once, if possible. Someone will need to catch her and someone else will need to heal her at the same time. Calm down! Do it right or she could get sliced in half!" Or other pieces cut off or something. Any scenario is likely.

August's steps slow the closer they get to the room. He has a distracted expression, like he's trying to hear something. He stops entirely by the time they've reached the room, blinks, and shudders. "Fuck," he mutters under his breath, then steps inside.

He flinches at the sight of the web and the shadows feeding, coughing and looking away for a second. His eyes are watering; he wipes them clear with an annoyed gesture. "I've...been used like that. Before." He flicks a surreptitious glance at Ruiz, then Alexander. Reluctantly, he looks at Isabella again. He nods at Eleanor, then Erin. "Yeah. We should do it at once." He reaches out to Erin with a mental line, a soft query, so they can synchronize.

The slice into his fingers only slightly deters Byron, it's when he notices what those wires do to Isabella, the way that it tightens around her that keeps him from tearing those things down completely with his bare hands. Oh, that taunting from those dark tendrils don't go unnoticed, but he's not quite sure what they are on about, despite the ominous statement. He'll try to ignore them, shut the voices out of his mind.

He's listening to the other speak around him, trying to figure out what to do next when he notices Alexander's approach. It wasn't a rational, cautious approach. No, the man wanted to tear those wires down. Thorne's arms spread out, blocking full entrance to the door now and when Alexander gets too close, he'll shove the man back, putting his full weight into it. "You'll hurt her if you touch the wires." He warns sternly, this look of annoyance on his face. "They're wrapped all around her, if you apply too much pressure, they could rip her to shreds."

Erin allows the connection, she's not really practiced on mental things so she doesn't put up any blocks or guards from it. It does briefly alarm her but then she visibly relaxes. Also, of special note, she doesn't close her eyes this time. It was too delicate a matter and her friends life hung in the balance. Literally. Seeking Ruiz' hand, she turns for it in almost a panic. The whole focusing thing. If he gives it to her she will take it and she will concentrate better for it. "Ready on your go," she tells August softly.

Byron pushes Alexander back out the door, and the investigator snarls a protest. It's not that he doesn't know that the sensible people in the room are right, because they are, but it's hard for him to think. Every time he looks past Byron into the room and sees Isabella's terrifyingly empty eyes, he makes another lunge at the door. About the only thing he doesn't do is try and punch the businessman. He tries to shoulder him aside, but bounces off with a frustrated sound.

Eleanor reaches out to get a feel for Isabella's clothing, what is still intact enough to support her if used as a sling with telekinesis. She nods. "Ready."

Elias likewise allows the connection, giving no resistance to it, and nodding as well to indicate that he is ready to execute his portion of the plan whenever the signal is given to do so. He takes in a deep breath and lets it out slowly, steadying himself, and trying not to pay attention to Alexander attempting to push past Byron, focusing his energy and his attention on the task at hand.

The captain's good for little else at the moment, and permits Erin to take his hand without complaint. He gives it a firm squeeze to let her know he's there; and perhaps she can feel the raw power in him coursing through her, too. Half an eye is kept on Byron and Alexander, in case he needs to wade in there and separate them physically. But for the most part, he's simply an observer at the moment.

<<Okay.>> August's voice in the link, the kythe, is a river in a forest, roaring through rapids and over falls. There's a sense this is only a small bit of him Erin's seeing, probably on purpose. He reaches out to Eeleanor and Elias as well, so they can be ready. He shows all of them what he's seeing of the wires, their strange Veilness evident in the molecular energy of them. Its frequency is all different to his Spirit Gift. They can also see how he perceives Isabella's injuries, which to August are rather uglier than to common eyesight. <<I can heal her, Erin, if you think you can cut all those at the same time.>> He lets out a breath, waits, waits. <<Now.>> He starts healing immediately; she's already injured, after all, and only going go get worse.

Ellie helps to keep Isabella suspended, though her efforts are much more meager than Elias'. She's still learning to stretch those glimmer muscles and the earlier knife pull took a lot out of her.

As soon as the signal is given, Elias pours his focus in keeping Isabella up, suspended by her clothing, carefully bringing her down only when there are enough wires loosened and away from her that she can be lowered to the ground and healed. His entire focus is on keeping those threads and fibers of her clothing together and holding steady, suspending her weight, and keeping her from shifting. His lips move just a little bit, as though he were murmuring some sort of words of not quite prayer as he does so, but they are barely whispers.

His voice is the link but Erin holding Ruiz' hand is her strength. She feels the power from him, and she squeezes tighter, watching Isabella knowing there was likely a single chance for them to do what it was they had to do. Failure wasn't an option and all that. "I will do it." The voice doesn't lack any confidence. As soon as he says now in her mind, it's done in that instant. Every wire frees her and she holds her breath, watching to see if all of the other steps fall into immediate place.

All that Byron can do now is put trust that the healers can take care of this. It's hard for him not to turn around and watch, observe Isabella's expression, in the case that it shifted from blank to something else, something more human. Alive. But Alexander keeps wanting in and until Bella is free, he can't let the other guy come anywhere near the wires. "I don't want to rush anyone." He murmurs in a low tone, not wanting to startle the healers and have them accidentally shift a wire rather than slice cleanly into it. "But Clayton here isn't thinking clearly." All in all, he looks ready to continue to block Alexander out. "You don't want to do this."

Alexander's eyes are black and furious, and he is bitterly bitterly resenting the fact that Byron somehow managed to get so tall. "I want to see her," he says, his voice low and raw. "Get out of my way, Thorne." He shifts from one side to the other, trying to catch the younger man off guard so he can slip by and see what's going on. Or fling himself into the wires in a doomed attempt to reach her. At this point, odds may be fifty fifty. His hands are clenched into fists, but there's no crackle of electricity, nor attempt to simply punch Byron down.

As soon as she's down, he'll make another, more concerted effort, to push past and get to her.

August sags once Isabella's down and healed, and steps away from the door to half crouch and cough a couple of times. He releases the kythe as well, because no one needs to be party to him trying desperately not to throw up.

Eleanor moves to kneel and put her arms around August, while she holds out the knife to Ruiz. "Captain, this was what the groom tried to filet his bride with. The only other fingerprints should be mine and his, and maybe whoever gave it to him to begin with."

Ruiz gives Erin's hand one final squeeze as the coordinated effort pays off, and Isabella is brought down safely. The Addington's cheek is cupped in his inelegant hand, and something whispered to her forehead, along with a kiss, before his hand disentangles from hers. He crouches beside Isabella and looks her over briefly without touching. Enough to make sure she's alive and has no obvious injuries that require immediate medical attention. A glance up as Eleanor hands him a knife, dark eyes flicking from the redhead to the weapon before he accepts it with a nod. "Gracias."

Once Isabella is safely on the ground, Elias deposits the knife from the bride near Ruiz and says "This was the bride's. Same story as the other, except this one will have my prints on it." He then crouches there off to one side, not wanting to crowd her, but waiting to see how she is. "Is she coming to?" There's definite concern on his features. They may be only distantly related, and it may be a new discovery, but he's fond of Isabella Reede and seeing her like this is decidedly disturbing.

Erin doesn't release Ruiz' hand, she just turns towards him and expels a sigh of relief. Her eyes meet his and she leans into that cupping of her cheek, in no hurry to let her go. When he releases her she allows her hands to fall to her side and takes a step back so he can start working on the more mental parts of Isabella. After a few moments, she turns for the door to take a look at the congregational area, the shattered glass and stunned people. No one headed their way to try and kill them. That was a relief. "We should get her out of here and someplace safe."

The only thing that Byron can sense now is this wash of relief all around him indicating that they've done it. He won't budge from out of the doorway until then, but once he catches for first hint of it, he straightens from the defensive stance that he'd taken, to look over his shoulder at the doll-like figure of his childhood friend. Only then will he let Alexander pass through and he'll follow in turn.

Was it really over? More like, was Isabella alive? She wore that blank look on her face, something that he never takes his eyes off of as he moves in close. He won't get in Alexander's way this time. To the others gathered, he gives a single nod at first, followed by a, "Good job, everyone."

When allowed into the room, Alexander's fury seems to falter. His rages never last long once the stimulus is removed, and in this case, once Alexander can go to one knee near Ruiz, and reach out to touch Isabella's face, assure himself that she's still alive, the darkness clears from his features and they soften. "I don't know what's wrong with her," he admits, voice still rough, "but we should get her back to her home. Familiar surroundings might help." He looks around at the others. "Sorry. For...just sorry."

August leans into Eleanor's embrace, shuddering. "Okay. So. No more Halloween weddings." He pulls off his crown, wipes at his eyes. Hunkered down like this, he notices that Eleanor's dress is wrecked. "Damn," he murmurs, and reaches to take a bit of it in hand. Well, whatever--they're coming for him one way or another. He runs a red flower through his fingers, mending the dress, knitting the tears and pulls, revitalizing it to brand new. "There," he says, sounding sad. He destroyed a lot today, and the church will struggle to pay to fix it all. He'll have to sort something out. Sneak in and fix the piano. Do a window at a time. Something.

He stands, takes Eleanor's hand in his, moves back to the door to look in at Isabella. He frowns at Alexander's initial assessment. "She's okay. I mean--her body is." He sighs, rubs at his forehead. "Yeah. I guess maybe your place, Erin? Since that boat of hers probably isn't safe either."

Eleanor blinks down at her repaired dress and she sighs at August. "You do realize that was just plain poking the bear, right?" she muses. "Maybe you need to stay at my place for a while, or vice versa. Pretty sure they're going to be looking for you after all this, handsome." She gives him a faint smile and squeezes his hand.

Elias runs a hand through his hair and nods when it's suggested that Isabella should be moved someplace safe. He straightens up to his feet then and says, "Can someone keep me up to date on how she's doing? Let me know if there's anything that I can do?" He doesn't seem inclined to invite himself along, but he does want to know if she's going to be okay.

The second knife is accepted as well, Javier's suit jacket shrugged out of so he can wrap them both up in it and set the bundle off to the side. "Roen, how are you feeling?" Maybe he caught the slightly green-about-the-gills look from the man. "I can carry her. We should get her out of here, and I agree with taking her to Erin's house rather than her home." A glance to Alexander, as if to see what he thinks of this plan.

Byron has this temptation to probe into Isabella's mind, learn what she's witnessed and maybe see if he could put her back together in any way. But this was Alexander's to deal with, so instead, he reaches into his pocket to retrieve his phone and check his messages. The words of those dark tendrils play in his mind. Something about a treasure chest. And that she was looking for him. Frustratingly, there are no messages. Or not a message that he's waiting for.

He knows that he can't just leave Bella here in this state, but there would be so many people to tend to her. "Clayton's right, let's get her out of here." He's not sure to whose house, but if any one them need help with the transportation, he'll offer assistance. He does know, however, that unlike the others who came here freely for the wedding, his car was parked a bit away.

Alexander shakes his head, slightly. "Her houseboat. I'll be there. It will be safe." There's a thread of steel and eagerness in his voice as his gaze drifts down to those fast healing bruise marks - like he's really hoping something that can be classified as an enemy will show up. "If her body is fine, then it's her mind that's wounded. Sometimes a mind...retreats, under stress and trauma. She'll need familiar surroundings and objects so that we can try to...find her and lead her back from wherever she's gone inside her head. I'd even suggest her family home, but I think she'd prefer the houseboat." He looks like he might object to Ruiz carrying her, for a moment, but then goes quiet and lets that pass, at least. A glance towards Elias. "Give me your number? I'll keep you informed."

"Thank you," Elias says to Alexander, and does give him his number, looking grateful for that. He then retreats a bit as plans are made, lingering long enough to see everyone off before he turns to head back to his own car.

August's mouth flattens at Ruiz's question. He glances at him for half a second, expression guarded, back down at Isabella. "I'll be fine," he says, watching Alexander with her. He arches an eyebrow at the insistance of the houseboat, makes no objections. He doesn't know this sort of thing the way Alexander does, and anyways, in Alexander's position he wouldn't be taking literally anyone's advice about Eleanor. (Well, maybe one person's. No one else's.)

He sighs at Eleanor, dredges up a smile. "The bear can meet me in the pit. But, okay." His tone has far more casual levity than he actually feels. But he returns the squeeze to his hand just the same, and nods back at the church proper. "Let's go check on James and Maria. Then get the hell out of here."

"Of course my house is available whether I am home or not. Ruiz has a key and he can let anyone in at any time. I trust him and all of you." Erin is more concerned for Isabella. "She has been over enough and I have great security. So if you find the need, Alexander, you can bring her no matter the time, day or night."