undergrounds | Five Years Later...

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A lot can change in five years. Students who were at Redbright have now started their careers. People have moved out, moved in, started a new life together or apart. Some move on from the city while others return to it. But while the lives of its residents continue to grow and change, London remains as it has ever been: a focal point for magical power.

A tentative peace
The last five years have not been without conflict, both internal and external. The vampires have played with the politics of in-fighting and backstabbing. The werewolves have overthrown their leader and chosen a new alpha. The witches have suffered one scandal after another. And the fae have quietly engineered a small change here, a personal revenge there, until finally with Redbright and Hillingdon acting as neutral parties a peace agreement was reached between Circle Daybreak, the Islington Nest and the East End Pack. Their territories are still beholden to the same rules (e.g. vampires are still forbidden to enter East End territory and vice versa) but they are no longer in open conflict. Small steps, perhaps, but positive ones.

A delicate balance
The year is 2022. The balance of power in the city is now evenly split between the East End Pack, Islington Nest and Circle Daybreak, thanks largely to the rise of the werewolves and the new President Laura Roslin who simultaneously holds the post of Werewolf Representative.

Samantha Okeke lost her position as Witch Representative following allegations of corruption, and has been replaced by Diphylleia "Dee" Absin, a much more co-operative member of the Night Council. While Samantha has retained her title of Mother of Witches, there are rumours that she lost her powers during a confrontation with a powerful fae. Circle Daybreak firmly denies all such speculation.

The connections between the Redbright Institute and the Hillingdon Clan have grown stronger since the former is now perceived to be a more neutral force rather than tied to the Night Council, although Hillingdon certainly still has the less clean-cut image of the two.

Meanwhile, the Seelie and Unseelie Court have largely withdrawn from public life in the mortal realm except in isolated corners, though they claim the right to go where they please throughout the city. Consequently, there are no barriers preventing travel between the realms, which seems for now to be an acceptable compromise.

And after all, politics is the art of compromise.

Looking ahead
All in all, the vampire and fae presence in the city has reduced as the vampires move around and the fae decide that if they're invited it can't be that great a party anyway. The number of witches has recovered thanks to an amnesty allowing those who were once members of Circle Midnight to return (though the faction itself has not reappeared).

The biggest change that has been noticed first by staff at the Redbright Institute however is the increasing number of meta humans, in particular young meta humans, being discovered in the city. Often these are humans with no knowledge of the supernatural developing their powers for the first time. The reason why has yet to be discovered...

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"No," he shakes his head as he flips through the pages, "I never really spent much time around there."

He's not getting into the details of it just yet, tilting his head in thought as he scans the words for a little while longer until he forces himself to close it and look up at Arthur again.

"Thank you, it's great."

Arthur smiles at him, satisfied with a job well done here. "I'm glad you like it," he says.

"I do," Eames taps the cover with a knuckle, expression still deeply thoughtful, "I think some of this might be old fae languages-- not many of us use those anymore."

It's going to be some time before he stops thinking about figuring it out, but he can spare an evening to show some appreciation.

Arthur pushes his foot across the floor to gently bump Eames' toes with his own.

"It wasn't meant to be a homework assignment," he says playfully.

Eames puffs out a small laugh, slightly embarrassed, and pushes the book aside to lean forward on the table.

"It's fascinating," he says, and he finally takes a sip of his wine, "you found a way to make me want to do research."

"That was my long play," Arthur says dryly. "I just wanted a new research partner this whole time."

He raises his eyebrows wryly at Eames, leaning forward as well.

He snorts, letting out a bigger laugh, and reaches for Arthur's hand.

"In that case, this may be a job well done."

Arthur meets Eames' hand, brushing his thumb over Eames' knuckles. "Good. I've been searching for an impossibly attractive research partner for years."

"Yeah?" He smirks, giving Arthur's hand a squeeze, "maybe I should get some glasses. Really round out the whole experience."

Arthur takes a deep breath as he looks at Eames' face like he's testing it out in his mind's eye. The verdict?

"You shouldn't joke about that."

Oh, that's an interesting response.

"Is that a yes to the glasses?" He raises an eyebrow, smirk only sharpening, "because I might have a pair upstairs."

"No," Arthur says, grinning and shaking his head. "This is your birthday celebration, if anyone should be making requests it's you."

"We'll revisit the glasses later then," he says it with a wink and reclines in his seat. He never thinks about his birthday anyway and he doesn't have any requests, already more than happy with what he's got.

Arthur smiles at him and them down at the book between them. He likes his boyfriend so much. "So what does the birthday boy want to do with the rest of his evening?"

"I think..." Eames drawls, trailing off a little as if he has to think about it, "he wants to be lavished with attention from a beautiful man. And maybe have a nice meal too."

So basically the same thing he wants every day.

"Sounds easy enough," Arthur says, "might be hard to find a beautiful man this late at night."

"You're pretty resourceful, I'm sure you can figure something out."

Arthur smiles wryly and pushes himself away from the table so he can stand up. He really would like to lay down and cuddle for a while but he should also get started on dinner. Still he can just walk over and run his fingers through Eames' hair affectionately right? He has time for that.

Well obviously that's a signal that Eames should tug on Arthur's waistband to pull him closer for a hug. He's not going to get up, but look at how sweet he is when he rests his head against Arthur's stomach. Who can resist that?

Not Arthur, that's for sure. He obliges Eames, still running his fingers through his hair.

"What should we have for dinner?"

"Something with a bit of kick to it, I think."

That's his only requirement.

"I can do kick," Arthur says, leaning down to give Eames a kiss on his forehead as he pulls away. He may or may not have the recipe for a spicy Italian dish that won't take too long to throw together, and he pulls out his phone to pull up the recipe for it right away.

Eames grins at the attention and settles a hand on Arthur's waist for the moment he's there, hand staying put until Arthur's too far to touch.

When that happens, he's back to the book and his wine.

Arthur grins and gets to work right away, putting on some music and setting out to cook. He leaves Eames be to look at his book unless he decides to talk, but regardless about an hour later he's announcing it's done and serving it up into two bowls.

Eames makes some idle conversation here and there, even getting up to refill Arthur's drink and keep him company for a bit while he cooks. When the food's ready, Eames slides the book away and smiles up at Arthur.

"That smells amazing."

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