"I could look like this again when I'm four hundred," Brand says, mostly to make South make a face. If she doesn't know his sense of humor by now, it's her own fucking fault. "Probably won't, but I could."

Mayan and Rune are still talking and it absolutely sounds like politics, complete with references to a game board with people as its pieces. The Hanged Man is mentioned, and it sounds more like a title than anything, though "Layne Dawncreek" sounds like a name. They go back and forth, with memory-Brand butting in, until Mayan confirms that there's nothing he can say to keep them out of the building. Present-Brand rolls his eyes and Mayan hands something to Rune.

"Maybe if the Tower had done a better job of 'containing' him, we wouldn't have been such a fucking inconvenience," he mutters. He glances at South and points up at the building without the fire escape. "The only reason the kid up there isn't dead like all the others the Hang Man groomed and lured into his clutches is necromancy-lite."