wickerpark | There can be only one....

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There can be only one....

If someone had told him ten years ago that he'd be a Nine of Spades by 22, he would have laughed in their face. He was more, or less, convinced that by 20 someone was going to have put a knife through his back long before he could imagine what being a Nine of Spades felt like. But here he was, he thought as his breathing slowly calmed, his chest heaving less and less as the seconds passed. He looked down at the face of Aylmar Woodward, empty- glassy eyes staring back at him as the blood pooled around the body. Looking up, he could see Jordan given him the standard expression- caught between disapproval and mild relief. Over his brother's shoulder, Hadyn could see Katya looking back at him with even more disapproval, and possibly annoyance. Accidents happened, but he imagined that few people thought it was really an accident that Hadyn's knife had seated itself between the older man's ribs and into his liver. By the time the medics arrived there was nothing left to be done.

If you had also told him that by 22 he would have personally been the cause of four people's deaths in a challenge, he would have been very hard pressed to believe it.

Turning away from the scene on the floor, Hadyn bent down and picked up his knife before he walked slowly toward the bench that marked out his side of the arena, barely glancing at Julien as he cleaned the blade and set it down. His mentor's face was harder to read, like a blank canvas that watched the scene play out without much concern for the outcome. After a moment of silence stretched out between them, there was a slight 'hmph', before the man turned and looked Hadyn over.

"Quite the body count you've started," he said, looking back at the corpse that was being collected. Looking up, Hadyn regarded him carefully, trying to gleen whatever he could from the empty, mild look on Julien's features. Ever a difficult man to read, Hadyn thought, frowning just a little.

"It wasn't planned," Hadyn said, "but...."

"Had to make Nine, mm? With Brother dearest's promotion...." Yes, that was one way to look at it. Two ranks, that is what he'd had to jump to get there, and that had been no easy feat. Jordan, generally, kept his pace moderate as he moved up the ranks. Slow and steady as he kept his eye on Hadyn's progress almost as much as his own. Their mother had determined Hadyn should never been far behind Jordan- logically because should Jordan become King, he could appoint Hadyn to Ace and it looked more reasonable if Hadyn's rank matched the responsibilities. Illogically, Hadyn wondered if Laureline hoped he would get himself killed trying to keep pace with his brother. "Well, to each their own I suppose."

Hadyn rolled his eyes a little, picking up the towel as he watched Julien move away and blend into the departing gawkers. Ah, well....From 7 to 9. Two ranks. It wasn't the first time it had ever been done, at least.

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Jordan had been able to see the writing on the wall long before he turned eighteen. He did have a heavy weight of expectations on his shoulders, and had his entire life. His mother and her mother alike had been determined from the start that irregardless of his surname, Jordan would always been more Bernard than Novak. That had only increased when Dwayne had been struck down in a challenge not unlike Hadyn's here; swift, bloody, and in later years he recognized it as the work of a Spade who had been explicitly trained to that point by Laureline Bernard Novak. Again, he thought, not unlike this here. He and Hadyn were both trained to be deadly weapons.

Some might say at first glance that it was Hadyn who had less pressure put upon him. It was clear to most of the Spades who paid any attention to the matter, after all, that Jordan Novak had his eye on David's position; there was no doubt that their family had been wanting a Bernard king for more than an entire generation now, and Jordan was the most likely candidate. Hadyn, on the other hand...his position was less clear, at least to those outside the situation. Inside it, there was no doubt that Laureline considered her second son a tool at best. Jordan rather expected that was how he was meant to see Hadyn as well, but...

It had not worked out quite that way, after all.

He watched silently as Julien spoke to Hadyn, and only moved forward when the Ace slipped away. Julien was not pleased with the trajectory of the Suit, lately. Sieben Dietrich had been an irritant, one of David's favorites, but more easily manipulated than the man liked to think. Jordan had had no doubt when he challenged the former Seven that he could defeat him, and he had - bloodlessly. That the former Jack had died a mere few weeks later in a tragic car accident off-Deck was obviously coincidence, and certainly nothing anyone could tie to the nearest Jack of Spades. "Normally I'd say that you'd need to watch your back," he said. "But I think you know that well enough."

The dead former Nine has a twin brother, but it's just as much the monosyllabic Ace of Spades that Jordan referred to.

"Yes, and maybe he can put a knife in my back for it. Or maybe he can't..." Hadyn said, before he sighed. He had, of course, been trying for this fight for as long as he'd known Jordan's plans. It wasn't as if he'd stepped into it carelessly- despite what other people often thought of him. However, the death had been necessary, which was his mother's words coated in his own voice.

"If I'd let him live, he would have countered." Hadyn said in a matter of fact tone. "He is a marksman with a rifle, crossbow, bow...And he can do it on horseback. He's used it as a counter for every challenge he has lost in the last two years, and there was no amount of training I could do that was ever going to have me ready in time. So....I decided, this morning."

It wasn't, really, that he'd needed to explain it to Jordan. Jordan hadn't asked him to. But there was a need in himself to justify it, to prove that the ends did justify the means absolutely. Especially sense he suspected one or both royals were going to have words for him after this.

"And now, at least, I can show my face at dinner."

Edited 2017-12-05 01:58 (UTC)

With their mother, explanations were a fact of life, Jordan thought. For Hadyn more than him. It wasn't as if Laureline really trusted his judgment; that wouldn't happen as long as they were still alive. He wasn't punished for his judgment calls, however, and Hadyn always had been. He shrugged a little smiling slightly. "You'll have to tell us all about David's hypocritical lecture," he said lazily, flicking back an errant wave that had slipped out of Hadyn's ponytail. It wasn't as if both David and Katya hadn't killed everyone they'd ever challenged; their desire for a kinder, gentler Spades was commendable, Jordan supposed, but not exactly likely any day soon.

"Grandmother's inviting Ivona Wolf," he said, though, on the subject of dinner. "I think if she could arrange a marriage for me, she'd do it."

"Would you really say no?" Hadyn asked, dropping the towel down onto his bag before he looked at his brother. Hadyn didn't hold anything against Jordan- not their childhood, not their roles, and certainly not the fact that if anyone was going to get roped into marriage it was his brother. But Hadyn imagined that Clive's failed relationship with Ivona had given his grandmother the grand idea. And Ivona was a good fit for Jordan, for that matter.

"Well, I suppose I could just invite a guest too- we'd make it a right scene, and you could slip out the back without anyone to notice." And Hadyn would likely find anywhere that was outside the Castle to stay for a few days. He might not have been the favored child, but he did freely subject himself to more criticism and punishment than needed for the sake of Jordan at times. "I could go with a dick, or....a slag. Both would cause just all fits, no one would even have a choice to notice because Grandmother would likely be dying of rage."

He'd probably have to take a man- if only because most of the women he knew were not slags, and some were not built for the drama of Spade Royalty (As the Family liked to believe they were.) "Unless, of course....you want to get married. Then I can just...behave."

Jordan shrugged slightly. "I like Ivona," he said. They'd always gotten along at least as well as she and Clive had, though his cousin was just a bit older, and had a tendency to make girls' brains melt when he smiled. "And she'd just find that show hilarious. You could bring that Heart that works for their Chris. Drew? He'd horrify Grandmother straight into a lovely rage fit." Which would be more amusing if Jordan wasn't the one who'd have to defuse the situation later on, so....maybe not so much.

He bit his tongue against the impulse to point out that inciting their anger just made everything worse.

"I think Ivona and I can tolerate a few hours without requiring a distraction. She might not want to fit in with Grandmother's plans, in any case. She's still glaring holes into Clive's back half the time."

"Now you just take all the fun out of my eventful torture sessions." Hadyn said with a bit of a sardonic tone as squatted down and started hunting out his shirt. Glancing up he could see his mother, frowning as she was stopped by David and engaged in a rather unhappy conversation. The King of Spades had more than once caused a few issues between Hadyn and his mother- the first of which had been David's decision to recruit Hadyn into his merry band of spies. Larueline had not been pleased- but then, Hadyn supposed, his mother was never pleased with anything Hadyn did with his time.

"What do you suppose that conversation is like?" He asked his brother, glancing up at the other man before jutting his chin out a little in the King and their mother's direction. "Aside from David trolling her for the 100th time this year." Hadyn, really, rather wished David would stop that. It did, however, only seem to amuse David more when Hadyn asked as much.

"I'm surprised she showed, actually. She usually doesn't even listen to me when I tell her things. Like 'oh, I am going to challenge to nine.'" His was a complicated relationship with his family. His whole family. As expected, outside of Jordan, no Novak showed for support.

"It's true, I'm the death of fun," Jordan said, and leaned against the wall as he looked in the direction of the King of Spades and their mother. There was a pair, he thought. He was surprised that it hadn't ended in death between them, one way or another. But then, David was both deeply paranoid and inclined towards trying to cultivate a kinder, gentler suit of Spades. And Laureline was rather attached to the poetic vision of her eldest son - groomed since birth - standing over David's broken body.

"Like being stabbed to death with a 1000 needles," he said dryly. "For both of them." Laureline was cultivating the persistent rumor that David wanted to reunite with his erstwhile wife Athena - if nothing else it said very little for the man's judgment - and David, of course, had recruited his brother in part as a way to tweak Laureline Novak's nose. For his talents there, of course; Jordan knew Hadyn heard more than most expected. But even if that were David's primary objective, getting Laureline's goat was a hell of a bonus.

"You skipped the last ritual mass torture session," he said, looking over at Hadyn again. "Also known as dinner at Grandmother's. So you missed Aunt Julia telling mother oh-so-innocently that she'd heard Katya commenting on an odd distance between you and her." He shrugged. "I doubt the queen said any such thing, of course." Julia did know which buttons to push, though; Clive's mother was Bernard enough for that at least.

"Wasp, more like." Hadyn said, pulling out his shirt and pulling it over his head. His nose did wrinkle a little at the idea that his Aunt had prompted his mother to show. Everything in this family, he'd realized some time ago, was about appearances. His Grandmother used the phrase as a weapon- 'how, my dear boy, do you expect that to appear' was a phrase he'd heard more often than not. The first time Hadyn had been seen planting his lips on another lad, for example; getting drunk at a bar. Frankly, Hadyn thought, his cousins probably secretly loved that of all the children in the family....Hadyn was the black sheep. But he also wondered what he owed to those bickering Hyenas.

His family had never done much for him, but expected a lot out of him for their own means. With no reward for it. So it was all rather tiresome.

"I would have rather she'd not." Though he doubted Julia had said as much because she regretted Laureline and Hadyn's relationship. More like Laureline had made a snipe at her sister about one of her children, and Julia has fired back in kind. "The last time she said something, if I recall, she announced to the entire family that Easton and Helena had seen me making out with some boy from the Hearts." It had been several years back, but even Clive had gone a bit white as he stared at his mother. Laureline and Vivienne had been....well, it was an experience.

It was the start of his even rockier relationship with family. At least his cousins still cared, as they often went out to drinks with him and shared the family gossip.

"But, I suppose that makes sense. Her being here- has to keep up the appearance of loving, doting mother." Despite the fact that she'd picked most of his challenges until he was 20, and very nearly got him killed with it at least once. "Think she'll be upset about the killing, or proud?"

Mother and Aunt Julia had been embroiled in their own little family war for at least as long as they'd both had children - probably longer, if what Uncle Davin said was true. As long as Laureline Novak was going to push her sister's buttons, he thought, Julia Kelly was going to push back - and it never mattered in the moment who got caught in the crossfire. She was always sorry about it later, of course, which was a point in her favor that their mother would never have.

Then again was the fact that Jordan was and looked like the golden child - sleek, short dark hair, the Bernard blue eyes, friends and lovers who had matched up to what Laureline and Vivienne would approve of, and a steady rise up the ranks that had just this last year culminated in the first Bernard Face since Medea and Sean had fallen from grace. There was rarely any way for Aunt Julia to wield him as a weapon in her war against her sister - and that was certainly not the case with Hadyn.

"Laureline Novak is always upset when a decision is made that wasn't guided by her expert hand," Jordan said dryly. Initiative was hardly rewarded, he thought as he watched his mother, when one aimed to rule the Spades from behind one's sons. He was old enough and experienced enough now to know that was entirely his mother's intention. "Would you like me to distract her?" He asked. It could be done, in part because she did expect to rule through him. He was not King - not yet - but he was a Face Card, a twenty-seven year old who had the charge of legal and diplomatic affairs with the Outside.

Surely, he would require her advice on some thing, even if he had to make it up.

"Distract her, only for her to lecture me in my apartments?" Hadyn asked, raising a brow just a little before he shrugged. "She can't make a scene in public, usually best to get it done and over with." Even if it looked like David was doing his very best to keep Laureline distracted for as long as possible.

"Figured I would go out tonight....possibly not 'celebrating', but...I am a Nine of Spades now." He said, looking back at Jordan. He imagined, really, he should have cared more than he'd just ended another man's life today. He felt...unconcerned, but it concerned him a little. He'd likely find Avery and Tegan, share a bottle of wine with them while mulling over his lack of emotional response in silence.

"You could come, Avery and Tegan would enjoy having the chance to harass you about your need to wear a suit all the time." He teased, smirking a little as he looked at his brother.

He wouldn't go so far as to say that human lives were worth very little to them, but truthfully - you did not rise far in the Spades without some bodies left behind you. More than the average, perhaps, for the Novaks. Hadyn likely remembered Dwayne Novak's violent tendencies as much as Jordan did, and while Laureline and the rest of the Bernards liked to cover their matching proclivities with an elegant veneer, the fact of the matter was that the best assassins in the Spades had been trained by their mother. None were surprised that nearly a half-dozen Spades had fallen to Jordan in his rise to Ten; no one was surprised that when the last Jack of Spades survived his challenge and his failed counter, his life ended shortly thereafter. Likewise it had been expected that Hadyn's own rise would be given to that same violence.

"Ava knows perfectly well that I wouldn't look nearly as good in an embroidered tunic as she would." And Ava knew that he wasn't the type to swim against stream like she did in the Diamonds. One day, he thought, she'd exhaust herself trying to fight against the Diamonds' prevailing nature. But that was her problem. "I have a late meeting with Katya and Julien, but I'll come by after." God knew he'd probably need a drink after an hour of Julien monosyllabic smirking replies.

"You are terribly boring. Meetings, fake smiles....what has being a Face done to you?" Hadyn teased with a mock shocked expression before he heard a clear clearing of the throat that prompted him to turn and look at his mother. An annoyed looking mother, at that.

"Ah," he said, his smirk faltering slightly as he nodded his head a little. "Hello, Mother. I was not expecting you to come."

"And why should I have not attended such a harrowing challenge of my youngest son?" Laureline asked, a perfectly shaped brow arching up as her face seemed to project something of surprise. It was a trap, there was no doubt in that. "Well, I had to ensure that my idiot children did not make fools of themselves, and instead I find that one merely kills....out right. Tell me, Hadyn, is this a trait you learned from David, kill your opponents without any sense of grace and decorum?"

Ah, yes. There it was- the lecture, delivered in that oh so perfectly reasonable and motherly tone. If she were any other mother, he'd probably be meant to feel ashamed and apologize for his actions- for spilling the milk, or breaking something valuable. How did she do that, he wondered.

"He would have countered with horseback archery....I thought it best to just-" he started, but she cut him off with a slap across his face.

"You thought, ah. Of course, my idiot son had a thought- so he planned his murder carefully I see. If you could not have mastered the counter, you should have picked another." She told him in a clipped tone. "I should see you running five miles for this, but it seems David has need of you for errands. A shame, really, that you will not be free to hide behind his Lordship forever."

Laureline turned to give Jordan a critical once over, an arched brow growing a little higher before she took her leave without a goodbye. Or a congratulations, well done....anything.

"There are nights I wonder how different life would have been if she'd died and not father." He said after a moment, though it was a lie. He very well could remember what his life, at least, would have been like. "Ah, well...'well done, Hadyn. Mummy loves you, congratulations on your successful challenge. Keep it up.'"

As usual, Laureline Novak was like a hurricane, too swift and brutal for a reaction before she swept away again. When he got the raised eyebrow from their mother, he merely raised one back in return, something that had her tightening her lips. He was, he thought, the favorite for as much as it was worth, but his mother was starting to realize the disadvantages of pushing him to the top of the Suit. He was twenty-seven, confident because she had built him up while she'd broken Hadyn down, and he was the Jack of Spades. He outranked her and he didn't fear her. Her ambitions were too tied up in him for him to fear much in the way of reprisal.

Of course, she was perfectly capable of making him suffer but, he reflected with a faint smile, he could also reciprocate.

"More visible marks," he said dryly to Hadyn. "For each of us. Things might have been a bit more equal, I suppose." He tilted his head, though, his eyes gleaming. "I'm sure Te would give you a congratulatory kiss, or perhaps you can weasel one out of someone else at the bar. Keep it light until I go home, though. I need to maintain some illusions."

"Yeah...." Hadyn said, nodding a little, before he picked up his bag and slung it over his shoulder. "Well, first I'm going to shower. Then go begging the girls for sympathy, I suppose...I, however, make no promises about helping you maintain this absurd illusion about my behavior." Hadyn said, his smirk returning slowly before he gave Jordan a quick hug and turned to head out of the gym and toward his apartments.

Thankfully, no one who might have seen the incident tried to approach him. It wasn't, he realized, something he wanted to talk about.

Once home, he showered and then changed before he started off across the deck to round up Tegan. She'd been ignoring his text, rather pointedly. So while Avery had agreed to meet up with him and Jordan at Mooseknuckle by nine that evening, his darling Jack of Clubs had....not. Silence. It was so annoying.

It was that annoyance that had him opening her office door without knocking, and loudly stating- "I am beginning to think you don't want to fu- .... Uh, huh." He stopped when he saw Elisha Kagan, Ace of Clubs sitting across from a startled Tegan. "Well, that explains why you didn't answer my text."

Elisha tilted his back against the chair and to the side to pin...whoever with a bland stare. Ah, Hadyn Novak, newly minted Nine of Spades, he thought. The Jack's little brother. They hadn't been introduced yet - but likely that would have changed soon, in any case, since Hadyn's best friend Miss Zoë Kattalakis was embroiled in planning a small wedding to Elisha's best friend Victor. Either way, he knew him by sight if nothing else. He knew his challenges tended to be violent and bloody, and that was the way things went with the Novaks.

"You've been holding back, Te, darling," he drawled, twirling a pen between his fingers as he switched his smirk between the Jack and the Nine. "None of this is an emergency; we can finish planning Her Majesty's latest Twelfth Night brainstorm another time." Anything that smacked of the medieval was Argine Rainmayr Fioro's very favorite thing.

Still, while he stood up, he didn't leave just yet. "I hear congratulations are in order, Mr. Novak."

Elisha was handsome, he had to give the Ace that. And... well informed, or connected. Of course, the man knew Victor. Victor had stood around to watch the quick match, even smirked a little at Hadyn before leaving. It was still odd, really, dealing with that man who was as loyal a beast as anyone could hope for a Spade and yet utterly unpredictable.

"Twelfth Night, sounds magical." He said, remembering himself just barely as he watched Elisha stand, eyes traveling the length of the man before smirking just a little. "Depends on the party, I suppose." Hadyn said, shrugging a little. "But thank you, My Lord. I believe this officially makes me among the youngest to achieve the rank, a rare feat."

He paused though, not yet moving to unblock the door as Tegan squinted at them both while chewing on her pen. "You know," he said, "I was just about to.....steal your Jack away to celebrate. Would be quite the scandal if she didn't have a chaperon."

"Hadyn...." Tegan started, but stopped when he only glanced at her a moment.

"Unless, of course, you are previously engaged. In which case I promise to return your beautiful Jack unharmed, slightly drunk, and utterly pleased with herself." He paused again, frowning just slightly. "Well, assuming she doesn't go home with anyone, that is."

Victor had, several months before he challenged a Ten, blandly commented that who knows but that Laureline Novak might point her youngest in his direction. It was the kind of throwaway statement he only ever made when they were alone and with whiskey, and even so it said very little about Victor and more about the Novaks. Few people dared to challenge Victor Fox, after all, and anyone he challenged tended to be marked for death.

That was how it had been as long as Elisha had been in the Deck, which was going on a decade now. He'd had the rank of Seven a few years past when Andrew and Argine had named him Ace after Edgar had died in a car accident. He snorted a slight laugh, though, as Hadyn Novak gave him a onceover and invited him along. A "chaperone."

He waved off Tegan's protest. Somehow, despite his deliberately light and charming demeanor, he still hadn't lost the slight air of command from the IDF and Mossad. It had the upper Clubs - even Tegan, sometimes - looking a little green. "If you're impressing me into duty I'm going to require at least one scotch." He tilted his head. "Or rye whiskey, I suppose, if you're going to Mooseknuckle."

It was a good bar, but it was a dive. Single malt was a little rich for their blood.

"I really can't say no to Mooseknuckle, given I do enjoy testing my luck and bar dark enough you can't tell what is on the floor. Adds...atmosphere." Hadyn said, smiling easily before he glanced at Tegan and stared at her for a moment. She, honestly, looked like she might have been ready to kill him, and was vigorously mouthing to uninvite the Ace at Hadyn.

Well. He certainly wasn't going to do that.

"Well, we have some time before the others arrive....but I think I can manage to find you a suitable whiskey. It does pay having friends in low places, who know all the best hidey holes." He said, moving back out of the door way. Lifting a hand he waved Tegan off as he let Elisha move through the door.

"Darling....I can't say no to a handsome face, come on. Surely you know this by now." He said, with no lack of amusement, to Tegan.

"I will poison you in your sleep," she muttered, rolling her eyes as she stood to grab her things and follow.

Elisha could hear the other two behind his back, and allowed himself one single eyeroll, though whether it was at Tegan's tension - she'd been Jack for a year and knew he didn't bite - or Hadyn Novak's flamboyant flirting. It wasn't the first time he'd been flirted with that obviously. He ran arts administration; it was a job hazard the way getting shot at had been one before the Deck.

Still, curious that he'd been invited along, he thought as he wrapped a scarf around his neck and zipped his jacket for the short walk to Mooseknuckle. He still had the thin Mediterranean skin, and didn't much care for the Deck weather when the temperatures dropped. Especially since Hadyn and Tegan mostly had their heads together. He only turned back towards them as they were approaching the bar.

"Is there a curfew I need to keep in mind?" He drawled. "Tomorrow's Saturday and we don't usually force our Jacks to do their five am pushups on the weekend."

"As long as no one is planning to turn into a pumpkin at midnight, I don't see a reason for a curfew." Hadyn replied easily to Elisha, before looking back at Tegan. "What?"

"Nothing, nothing...." Tegan replied to him, waving him off with a shake of her head before moving up to walk beside the Ace. She had pinched him a bit before, reminding him he was laying it on a little thick...but he'd ignored her. It wasn't, after all, like he was out to make friends with the Ace. And really, admitting the man was attractive wasn't the worst crime.

Still, he probably should have suspected that Tegan was going to move past both of them suddenly, when she spotted Avery and Jordan waiting for them outside the bar. Both the Diamond and the Jack of Spades regarded Elisha a bit curiously- before Tegan said something to usher them inside.

"I don't think she approves." Hadyn said, smirking a little. "Of me. But, well...you wanted a whiskey, yes? And here we are, though I suppose one day I will have to really examine my attachment to this place." Mooseknuckle was, generally, frequented by a certain group of people. The lower ranks, the actors and artist, mainly it was people that didn't want to be seen by those around them.

Hadyn had started coming here after his cousins had caught him out with a boy. He rather liked that the rest of his family wouldn't be caught dead in this particular bar.

"Well, you Spades do have a certain reputation, Mr. Novak," Elisha said as they stepped into the bar and peanut shells crunched under their feet. People didn't part like the Red Sea for anyone in Mooseknuckle, not even the Ace of Clubs, so he pushed their way towards the front of the bar. "The Koval, neat," he told Eric in a slightly raised voice before turning back to Hadyn.

"You know. Dark, dangerous, irresistible to romantics across the Deck." His tone was as dry as dust, because if anyone was definitely not a romantic, it was Elisha Kagan. He'd grown out of that stage ten odd years before, at least. Truthfully, he'd always been too pragmatic to be considered much of one. He supposed it made him an odd artist. "She'd probably worried you're going to take my heart and crush it under your heel, and you must admit, a broken-hearted Ace is probably more than she signed up for when Lancelot left."

"I don't know, I think they all resist me very well." Hadyn replied with a bit of a sardonic tone as he ordered his own drink. When Eric brought him the glass and the bottle to pour, he waved the man off. "You can leave the bottle, put it on Jordan's tab." Eric, thankful smirked a little at that and nodded before moving on to the next customer.

"However," Hadyn went on, looking back at Elisha. "I cannot deny the 'dark', and possibly 'dangerous'. We're all a bit of a train wreck, and tend of leave mayhem in our wake." Though he imagined that was not the sort of 'dangerous' that Elisha had meant to imply. "And luckily for you, and Tegan I suppose, I'm rather unlikely to break hearts. Generally speaking, I'm sure you have to....mm, well, be someone other than me." Hadyn had friendships, close and loving ones- he did not have relationships. Drew told him it was because he was just impossible for people to deal with.

The heart was probably right.

"I've accepted the role of 'bad boy', or the 'guy you have fun with, but don't take home to mom.' There really is nothing to fear...plus, and I mean no offense...you don't strike me as the sort to let his heart get broken, My Lord Ace." Well, at least that was the sort of reputation Elisha had.

"Much of the Deck is a bit of a train wreck," Elisha said. He included himself there, but honestly - the Deck seems mostly composed of messed up types that ought to be seeking some kind of therapy. There are a few exceptions, but most of those active in the politics of the Deck have mess written all over them.

Hadyn Novak was one of those. He didn't know the Spade well - there was no reason to - but there was plenty of reason to be aware of his brother, the Jack, and his mother, one of the more lethal Tens. He'd taken care over the years to seem harmless and beneath her notice, but his former association with Sieben hadn't helped there. Being friends with Victor didn't, either; most people assumed that Elisha was far more than just a glass artist and a competent administrator. They weren't wrong, but he'd just rather they take him more at face value. It made certain aspects of his job easier.

Still, he shrugged, sipping his whiskey. "There are worse roles to embrace," he said before giving Hadyn a bit of a knowing look and an amused smile. "I'm a little old for heartbreak these days," he said. "It happens a few times, and then your heart develops enough scar tissue to make it a little unlikely, you know?"

Ah, Sieben. Hadyn half thought that one of the reasons his brother had decided to 'challenge' Sieben was that he'd rather disapproved of Hadyn's relationship (as it were) with the former Jack of Spades. It had been an odd one, punctuated with slightly creepy behavior. Something Zoe had also experienced in her move from the Hearts to Spades, and eventual rise to Seven.

Hadyn also knew that most people only thought of him as 'Jordan's younger brother'. It made it very unlikely that anyone took much notice of him beyond that- he'd long gotten used to being in the background.

"I don't know, really. I've never had my heart broken, or stolen." He admitted as he poured himself a glass of whiskey. Setting the bottle aside, he turned his attention to his glass looking up at Elisha as he did so. "Goes against the image, you know, to fall in love. Or to get your heartbroken."

And it also would have helped to be...lovable. Hadyn often felt it was an unlikely outcome for him- if he ever married, it would be to someone his family chose for him. Love was not required, in such cases, merely the ability to reproduce at least once.

"I am surprised, though, that you even agreed to come tonight. Most people find me far too obnoxious to take the invite when offered."

Sieben had liked to think of himself as careless and...suave, Elisha supposed, but he'd always had a tendency to fixate on people he could tell himself were 'innocents.' Elisha had been one, nearly a decade before, though he'd already been jaded between dealing with his mother and a rather violent turn in the Israeli military. He had, in fact, been recruited by Mossad shortly before he ran into Sieben Dietrich in Monte Carlo.

It was no surprise, then, that Sieben fell into his old habits. Zoë had been first, and Elisha rather thought that initially that was as due to Victor's interest as anything else. Hadyn was, of course, right under Sieben's nose and the younger brother of a rather protective Ten who also happened to be Sieben's chief rival for his position. In short, Sieben had remained stupid about his relationship decisions right until someone took care of the problem once and for all.

All of which was not really the point now, he thought, tipping his head at Hadyn. Hadyn was on the surface vivacious and yes, obnoxious, but under that...Elisha detected some isolation, distance from other people whether deliberately or not. He'd make a brilliant spy, Elisha reflected. "Well, you were obnoxious. Tegan might have killed you on the spot if she didn't like you so much. But people tell me I'm obnoxious, too, so I'm immune to it." No, he wasn't. But he was bored, and not in the mood to say no to a free drink.

"Is there really such a thing? Being immune to obnoxious behavior. If there is, my brother is in need of that- My Poor Jack has far too much to deal with when it comes to me." Hadyn said with an easy smile before he lifted his whiskey to his lips and took a sip.

In truth, Jordan was one of the few people who spent enough time with Hadyn to know there was more to the Spade than an easy smile, and a quick wit. His brother, more or less, just sighed these days. He knew what Hadyn did, even understood how Hadyn did it. Few people ever suspected the man behind the smile, and when plied with alcohol? Well they tended to say much more than they noticed.

Hadyn would never have admitted it, but he was a rather talented spy.

"I'm not sure that Tegan likes me so much as puts up with me, some of the time." He went on as he looked away from Elisha and glanced about the room. He nodded once, after catching Jordan's curious (and possibly mildly annoyed) stare, and then the girls each looking his way.

"I don't think they trust me in a social environment." Hadyn commented, smirking a little at the group across the bar. They, or at least his brother, was probably more annoyed that Hadyn had insisted they come out...and then he ditched them to talk to the Ace of Clubs. To be far, though- Elisha was attractive, and someone he could sleep with.

"Probably more a matter of two obnoxious forces canceling each other out or something else pseudo-scientific." Elisha waved a hand vaguely; pretending to know nothing when it came to mathematics and the sciences had become a habit by now, a way of concealing his old life, despite the fact that working in glass required a firm grasp on chemistry. His life in the IDF and in Mossad had required that and more besides, but he hadn't wanted anyone to question why the new Three setting up a glass house and volunteering to sketch the then-toddler Eileen Eicheln would have such a grasp on the harder sciences. "But I've heard that it doesn't work on siblings anyway. Plus," he added, inclining his head at the new Jack of Spades.

"If you ask me, which I know you haven't, Jordan mostly looks suspicious of my intentions towards his little brother. Tegan is probably imagining new potential levels of hell, and Avery is just generally skeptical of the idea of love and romance ever ending well. " Rumor had it that one of his Eights was to blame for that, but rumor also had it that that particular problem had emerged several years before she and Lucas Addison ever dated.

"Yes well, you might actually have something to worry about in that regard." Hadyn mused, thinking on how Jordan had very much expressed his disdain for Sieben. He imagined Jordan wished Hadyn settled on three things: someone closer to his age, something less dramatic, and someone within their own suit. Those, perhaps, the last point was negotiable. Slightly. "He forgets I'm capable of dealing with things on my own. But I suppose it would be cruel to rob him of his one purpose in life- making sure I reach the age of 30 in one piece."

That was, possibly, not even a joke.

"As for the other two- well...Tegan would forgive me, eventually. But only if I left you in one piece. Avery, well...I don't think she likes many Clubs. Male Clubs, to be exact." He winked at the girls after that, smiling at Avery's laugh and shake of her head. Given enough time, they'd convince Jordan to stop staring the two men at the bar down. They always did.

"Dramatics aside, My Dear Ace, I do have to warn you- my plan for tonight was quite simple. I planned to drink this entire bottle of whiskey, and wake in the morning with the most unpleasant of hangovers. My brother, for all his wisdom, would not allow this without distraction. Hence those lovely ladies at the table with him. However, it was also likely that they would take his side in this matter...which, alas, is where you come in. You, I am afraid, afford me the excuse to stand at the bar deep in conversation about...oh, the meaning of life. Or just the simple joy of being far too drunk to know left from right. Of course, I would hardly wish to subject you to such a display all night. You were, after all, a happy accident- I had planned to subject some other poor soul to my philosophical musings tonight. Eventually, however, I plan to migrate outside. Being winter, it will be blissfully empty, and with my brother being utterly distracted...ample time will be provided for me to finish this bottle in peace."

Though, really, it did beg the question of why he'd invited anyone out at this point. But Hadyn did have a reputation to maintain- one that included a cavalier response to killing another man.

Elisha tilted his head to one side, sliding his glance over at Jordan Novak. But it certainly wasn't trepidition in his eyes, or concern for his safety. He'd risen to Eight without violence and then been appointed Ace by virtue of the fact that he'd asked the new king if he had absolutely lost his mind to appoint Argine and Edgar's little girl, Eileen, to the rank. The Deck as a whole didn't really know what Elisha Kagan was capable; he fully expected that Hadyn's king was one of the exceptions. Regardless, his glance at Jordan was mostly to ascertain whether the Jack's expression read what Hadyn said. And really - not quite. Jordan looked concerned, but Elisha was fairly certain that the concern was less related to the Ace of Clubs and more related to Hadyn's state of mind after his challenge ended the way challenges ended more frequently in Spades than anywhere else.

Still, he expected there was some truth to Hadyn's words. He had enough ears in Spade Castle to be aware of the political games the Bernards played with the Faces and among themselves; he came from enough money and had enough experience with government work in war-torn places to know that the Deck wasn't unique in this way.

"I'm fairly sure it's one specific Club," he murmured, just loudly enough to be heard over the noise in Mooseknuckle. Then Hadyn kept speaking, and Elisha's brows rose slowly as he took another drink of his bourbon. This time, when he tilted his head to one side, it was in direct response to Hadyn's words. "First," he said as he picked up the bourbon bottle and refreshed his glass. "It's Elisha. I hate to live and die by Suit stereotypes here, but we're not exactly formal in the Clubs, darling, and really, I spend all day with Diamonds and Spades calling me my lord Ace, so let's put a moratorium on it when we're at a dive bar, shall we? Second," he added with a faintly amused smirk as he swirled the whiskey in his glass. "It's none of my business, you can do what you want, and if you need someone to keep your brother from seeing you plan to drink an entire bottle of expensive American whiskey, I don't mind being used. But I am curious: do you always recite your evening plans like we're in a gothic novel? It's an interesting approach."

"It is more fun to say 'all Clubs', really." Hadyn said, smirking a little as he tilted his head and took a slow drink from his glance. It wasn't really, that he was overly found of dramatic declarations, but he had to admit it was more entertaining than the simple truth. It was probably how grand rumors started, but Hadyn didn't much care or mind that.

He also pointed ignored Jordan. His brother would either give up, or eventually try to break up his affair with the bottle- which would have been a crying shame. More so if Jordan convinced the girls to try with him.

"Elisha, well then. I do hate to be a stereotype, but I feel I just cannot escape some. Though, tell me...how is one close friends to our my Lordly of Tens, Victor Fox, and not come to believe ones name is merely 'My Lord'? I have to ask for a friend, you see. He's dying to know." David had, after all, tried for years to stamp out that rather odd trait in Victor. He'd once expressed to Hadyn he never understood how someone could turn manners into such a precisely aimed insult.

"As for reciting plans- no. You might actually be the first to ever bear witness to them. However, if it has to be in a particular style- gothic novel sounds fun. Graphic novel would be more fun, but I'm not entire sure how to go about that." He grinned as he drained his glass and reached out to pour himself another. "I am pleased, however, you do not object to being used."

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