She could feel her heart thundering against her ribcage.
This was terrifying, and stupid, and exhilarating.
What if it was useful information?! What if she was acting on a vision for once and it turned out to be good and she was telling an Order member and one day, one day when she wanted to join it would be more than just Caradoc vouching for her!
She stepped into the house, wringing her hands together and nodding, “everything’s fine, just-” Tipsy, scared. “A little tired I guess, tea would be lovely.”
Oh god, what if it wasn’t useful? What if she said it all and James just laughed at her and actually the reason he’d never brought up what she said at Hypnos was because he thought she was crazy and had just been too nice to say as much to her face without provocation.
She had to tell him though, right? It was important. If Evan and Nate ended up lying or saying something else then they’d never know this, and they had to know this. Maybe. Sybill thought they aught too- but what did she know?
James had vanished to make the tea and come back while all this whirred through her brain. She was worked up and pacing a tight circle in his living room, only drawing to a halt when a hot mug was hovered in front of her face. “Thanks.” She took it with a grateful smile, the tempest of her thoughts soothed for a moment by the grounding heat in her palms. “I’d usually turn to Caradoc with something like this but he’s out setting traps- which…” Sybill rubbed her lips together, aware of the slip too late. “Which you didn’t hear me say because I don’t know anything about it, of course. Matter of fact, you didn’t hear me say any of the things I’m going to say because I’m not supposed to know anything about any of it.”
She was rambling, stalling maybe. She didn’t talk about these things often- or at all. There were still so many questions. Could she trust James? She had to hope so, he hadn’t spilled her secret so far. “Anyway, as far as I can tell- uh, see..” She waved a hand about in the air a moment, as if to represent some mystic knowledge. “Nate and Evan are going to have the most to say. Or they might not. The future is funny like that. Anyway.” She pauses to sip her tea, hovering by the coffee table. “I think… Lucius, should be someone you pay more attention to. It’s possible he’s a little higher up the chain of command than most others. From what I’ve seen he’s always around when shit hits the fan- I mean, Evan was directly responsible for what happened with Olivanders, but Lucius was definitely there. Maybe he gave the order, or got hold of the explosives, or.. I don’t know, point is that guy is like, always around. At everything major, just kinda.. Lurking.”
Sitting - Merlin he felt useless.
Understanding why he was being benched didn’t mean he was okay with it.
It was almost a feeling of relief that washed over him as he saw Sybill. He might be doing nothing, but he wasn’t going to be alone. Besides, there was a troubling look upon her face, and James knew a problem a mile off when he saw one. Not that Sybill was a problem by any means, but one was troubling her. James might not be able to be on the front lines, but maybe he could help a friend, and that would be enough.
Getting her inside, he took a moment to brew them up some tea. He knew just how important it could be to have something to hold onto, especially something warm, when something was troubling. James often found that giving his hands something to do whilst he was nervous was the difference between his mind fidgeting and his mind clarifying.
Once the two mugs were put together, he headed back towards the living room. He could see her pacing, and could feel her nervous energy in the air. Something was definitely up, and James was becoming increasingly sure that it had something to do with her gift. There was something that was deeply unsettling her, and James knew that it would continue to until she was able to get it off her chest. He handed her the mug and contented himself to listen.
Nodding his head, James made sure to give nonverbal signs that he was hearing her, truly listening to her. “Anything you say here, it’ll stay between you and I. It doesn’t matter if you’re supposed to know it or not, I’m certainly not going to rat you out,” he promised her. After a breath he amended his statement, “Nothing you don’t want told will leave this room. If there’s something you need people to know but don’t want traced back to you, I can do that too”. James had no doubt that Sybill wouldn’t be here at this time of night if it wasn’t something important. This moment would be make or break for them, that much he was sure of. She was choosing to come to him, the way he had told her she could many times throughout their friendship. Sybill was putting her faith in him, and if he failed her now, that would be the end of her trust in him. James knew there was more to life than just what was typically seen. He had no reason to doubt Sybill, or her connection to the universe.
Running his finger’s through his hair, James let out a puff of air. “Right, okay. The universe didn’t happen to tell you what they’re going to say did it? Sybill, if you can tell me as much as you know, in as many details as you know them, I can get that information to the people that are going to need it,” he answered, his full attention directly on her. “I don’t know much about how your gift works at all, Sybill, so please bare with me. The future changes all the time, right? So your vision is a glimpse of one possibility that could come to pass? Or is it something that will happen we just don’t have the full context?" he asked, trying to figure out what they were working with. Nodding his head, James gave a small hum, “That actually makes a lot of sense. In most organizations there’s people that do the dirty work and people that pull the strings. We need the people that are pulling the strings. I’ll make sure they put extra focus on Lucius. Getting even just one of the big players off the board is helpful. Besides, he’s a snake, we could probably get information from him”, James mused, both talking out his thoughts and trying to keep up with Sybill. However, he took a second to look at her properly before saying, “I need you to know that I believe you, Sybill. I have no doubt that this is hard to navigate, and I am very much still willing to keep your secret safe. Thank you for coming to me. I’m going to do everything in our combined power to make sure we do something with it”.