Kara took in the things she said, about liars, and a coven? Like with witches, or something. ”Well...“ She slowly rolled up both of her sleeves to show her bare arms. On her right was a black pattern resembling bones spiraling up to her shoulder from her palm, a sign of an awakened. She held them both out in front of her, palms upwards. After a second or two, her hands darkened in color, they went from a soft pale to dark and brown like mud, and then the texture changed with it. The skin began to change shape, it piled up on itself, and branches began to sprout a few inches up, they were mostly straight, and had the complexion of oak. The bark writhed up and down as if it were water churning around the inside of the wood, which continued to grow, until Kara’s entire hands were nothing but wood. They weighed quite a bit, actually. The branches stopped when they were roughly a foot high, right in front of Claudette and Mariah. There wasn’t a single leaf on the branches, but they looked healthy and perfectly fine.
”This is what I can do...around a year ago, there was a fight that I tried to stop, I can’t remember much, but since then, I could do these things. I tried to find you because I was looking for others like me. Ever since this happened to me, I’ve felt out of place, like there were things around me that only I could see. I’ve seen people walk past me with these strange marks on them, but no one seems to understand. You told me there were others like me, and that you were like me. I don’t understand what that fight did to me, but I’m trying to learn. I was hoping you could help me. Kara’s voice was steady and forward, for someone who was in the dark, she didn’t seem afraid to speak her mind. That was something Kara was good at, even while tiny trees were growing down to her wrists.
”I’ve felt alone in all of this, no one but myself to understand whatever I’ve been given for the past year. Trees shoot out of the ground when I want them to, and out of my hands. If you need some kind of help with something, I can talk to people about things. Negotiating, I did it in high school and it stopped fights. I’ve only been out of school for a year.” Kara was between high school and college, seemingly. ”I didn’t come here to cause trouble for you, and I don’t know how I can help you and your people, but I can try, if you want.” After the two of them had a long, hard look at Kara’s presentation of her Abstraction’s bare minimum power, the small trees began to subside, sinking back into her hands until the bark appeared to fade into her skin like alcohol evaporating into the air. She unrolled her sleeves as her arms were stuffed into her pockets.
”I’ve tried to figure this out as best I could for the last year, but I haven’t learned a lot about anything other than myself.”
Vashti never thought she’d put so much value in a quarter. Before, change was one of those things that she always considered inconsequential, a burden that she’d often leave behind in the coin deposit just because she didn’t want to walk around with jingling pockets. Actually, change was one of those things that she never even received, since anything and everything was put on daddy’s little black card and magically paid off by the end of the month. Yet now she kept a quarter with her wherever she went, employing Herik’s trick to keep the Leviathan at bay as liberally as possible. For a couple of days it had worked to help her reach gnosis and keep herself relatively chaos free.
Unfortunately, it didn’t work one hundred percent of the time. As far as she knew she had not injured anyone, but the Dairy Queen on 56th street would be closed until further notice after a “massive alligator” got into their walk-in and devoured all of the ice cream. Meanwhile, Vashti’s search for a Lavender Lux was going about as well as a giant alligator trying to digest tubs of dairy products. There was a creeping feeling of hopelessness that Vashti tried to ignore, just as she tried to ignore the news story from the first about a chihuahua being snapped up by the Gatorboy of Cypress Swamp.
Still, all things considered, just two Leviathan outbursts in a week and some change was pretty good. Except she’d been practically avoiding the Coven during that time, and they certainly elevated the level of chaos around her. Maybe that was why she kept pacing around outside of the beach house instead of going straight in. She was nervous. The last time she had seen the entire Coven she had yelled something to them about an orgy, and from that orgy they had acquired a beach house. The girls had insisted that Blake Schmidt had gifted it to them. Vashti didn’t want to know more. Too many questions were prompted by the idea, and none of them had answers that wouldn’t be upsetting.
However, it wasn’t those questions that were stopping Vashti from entering the beach house. She was worried about Madison. Vashti wanted to try and make amends with her. However, she just felt like there was a storm brewing, and with the Leviathan inside of her she had to keep herself from letting the hurricane out. She gripped the quarter in her pocket and ran her finger along the edge. She decided to do a loop of the neighborhood to give her head some time to clear, and to get the eyes off of her: she swore she saw blinds being peeled apart by suspicious baby boomers concerned by the appearance of a Muslim woman in their idllyic vacation spot.
By the time she was back, the blinds were shut and Emily’s moped was there. Good. With Emily there, Vashti would have some back up if Madison decided to be a hard ass. Even if Emily didn’t actually back her up, it would be nice to have her in the room—maybe Madison would split her fury between the two of them instead of unleashing it on one. Assuming that Madison got angry at all. Vashti shook her head. There was no space for negative thoughts like that. She’d talk to Madison, and they’d be cool. Easy peasy. She stepped up to the door and let herself in.
"Okay, yeah, who the fuck are you? More importantly, why is yo' boney ass here?"
Oh no. So much for catching Madison at a good time. Vashti stayed in the entrance way, lingering near the threshold into the common area. She peeked her head around the corner as the Middle Eastern girl in the yellow beanie talked, and talked, and talked, and—holy shit, did she not need to breath? It was a bit difficult with the accent but it sounded like the girl wanted to join. Why not? Vashti was pretty sure the Coven’s whole screening process was just a little song and dance to make the group seem more legit than it ever could possibly be. She walked around the corner to meet the newest member, the greeting dying in her mouth as Madison and Emily chucked the girl out the backdoor like a bag of garbage.
“Um, what?” Vashti felt her brain break as Madison and Emily gave each other a high five. Vashti, wide-eyed and slack jawed, gestured repeatedly to the door as the English language began to delete itself from her mind. “What-the-fucking, why-would-you-even, I-can’t, so-stupid, I, what? What? What!?”
In the face of Claudette's visible discomfort, Mariah smiled gently and innocently, whilst twirling her parasol. Yes, she saw Kara walk up behind Claudette, but she didn't say a word. When Claudette turned to look at Kara, Mariah laughed lowly to herself at the reaction. What was more interesting was Claudette's accent. Put simply, it was weird to her ears, and she was going to ask where it was from a little later.
"Let me just say, I'm Claudette Jones, the leader of the Coven, and while I want to welcome you to the Coven, I have to ask some questions just to make sure that you're a good fit. And tell you some information so it's not a surprise later." Claudette sighed, "But first, let me just ask you two to tell me about yourselves. Why you want to join, what you can do, and anything else you feel is relevant..."
Mariah stayed quiet as she thought up an answer but it was Kara who started speaking first. Speaking and demonstrating.
”I’ve tried to figure this out as best I could for the last year, but I haven’t learned a lot about anything other than myself.”
"Preeeach," Mariah responded. Since her fan was already open, she needed only channel her will into it, but she decided to do a very flamenco fan flourish, as the glowing arcane symbols flared in the air around said fan, and it ignited the entire gazebo in a very neon orange outline. "Mis Abuelas told me a while ago, in some kinda vision or sort, that I got both they powers in one or somethin'. They showed me some stuff but said it might be a bit different cause I'm mixed-- whatever the hell that mean," Mariah elaborated, "So basically if anyone shoot fire out they ass at us we good right now. Them Abuelas mentioned some other stuff I might be able to do but real talk? I kinda forgot most the vision. I mean?"
Mariah looked around, gesturing widely with her fan as she declared, "It ain' exactly like I get shot by magic constantly? And I only discovered how uh. This one-- this one worked. Th-this cause--" she took a sharp inhale. Up until this point, her tone and gestures were all very confident, self-assured, and quite honest but now there was a tenseness to bordered on downright anxiety. Heavily, Mariah cleared her throat, then fanned herself rather hard while declaring, "It ain't much really. Sure ain't like Miss Trent over here." No matter how smooth she was, Mariah couldn't quite mask how she wanted to not go into detail about her previous thought, by changing the focus onto something else. Whatever she wasn't saying had certainly got her a little wound up. She did appear to be sweating as she went on to say, "I known about my magic for a long time but just ain't had much reason to use it. Probably weaker then it should be for how long I known it."
“Wow, that sure was something!” Clapping could be heard as Isla walked up behind Madison and Emily while they did the gayest high-five, as if absolutely nothing had happened. “Is that how you treat all prospective members? Could’ve gone pretty badly if it was anyone else.”
She grinned brightly even as she had to ignore her head swimming.
Of course, Isla had completely expected a bad reaction (she wasn’t quite that much of an idiot). So when Madison had grabbed her she’d just gone with it rather than bothering to use her abstraction to get away… May as well let them get it out of their system. The only pain was in the fact that it was a powerful throw and she’d had to blink in quick succession to get back and behind the two.
But a little bit of dizziness was nothing!
“So, did I pass whatever weird test that was?” Isla asked, even though she knew fully well it was them trying to throw her out.
“What-the-fucking, why-would-you-even, I-can’t, so-stupid, I, what? What? What!?”
Oh, someone else was here, good. Hopefully this third member wouldn’t want to throw her right out of the door. She blinked past Madison and reopened the door, stepping out to wave at the third member (who looked incredibly shocked at what she’d just seen).
“Hi, I’m Isla!” She stuck her hand out towards the other Middle Easten women with a wide smile. She certainly seemed much friendlier than the other two going by her shock at witnessing Isla being chucked out. “Nice to meet you, I’m guessing you’re a member too?”
She then turned her head to look back at Madison and Emily. “Gotta say, the last group of Extra-Normals that I bumped into were a lot friendlier and circumstances were much worse… Anyway, I hope you’re not gonna throw me out again! Cause I can do this all day and believe me, you’ll get tired of it before I get tired of teleporting.”
As she planned, Claudette listened to Kara and Mariah as they explained their abilities and motives for joining. She was hoping that she wouldn't have to play therapist slash den mother for another pair of idiots, but they seemed... okay.
Though, the last few people that seemed okay ended up being some nasty pieces of work.
Kara showed Claudette her sigil and then she transformed her hands into wood. Almost on instinct, Claudette looked around to make sure that nobody was looking. Fortunately, for this park, at this time of day, everyone was playing, jogging, or enjoying themselves. However, she had to make sure that she gets it abundantly clear that she should be careful using her abstraction in the open like this. Or else... they'd draw attention that they don't want.
Kara explained her Awakening and her motives for joining the Coven and Claudette figured that she was mostly looking to get to the bottom of this foolishness. Just like me. Claudette narrowed her eyes. Honestly, it wasn't that bad of a reason for joining the Coven. Opposed to some of the other weirdos they got who want to live out their fantasies of being a supercriminal or a gangster. Fortunately, the Coven gave them the runaround.
"I am like you, Mademoiselle," Claudette quickly assured her as she stuck her hand out and an orb of smokey-darkness appeared in her hand. She was more than certain the Blind couldn't see this. "In the fact that I am magic, like the two of you."
She assured them before she continued. "I am no expert but I believe you are an Awakened... you got an ability from the stress from that fight and it reflects some aspect of you. Of course, I wouldn't know since I am not one, but there are a few Awakened in the Coven who got their abilities from a similar experience. Maybe you can speak to them? Share some experiences." Claudette was briefly tempted to bring up Herik and Emily.
”If you need some kind of help with something, I can talk to people about things. Negotiating, I did it in high school and it stopped fights. I’ve only been out of school for a year. I didn’t come here to cause trouble for you, and I don’t know how I can help you and your people, but I can try, if you want.”
"I believe you," Claudette assured her that she had believed everything that Kara had said, "Your abstraction should be enough to bring to the table to warrant you coming in. However, I would appreciate another level head, but I'll get into that in just one moment."
Then it was Ms. Mainline's turn to take the stage. She agreed with Kara before she demonstrated her ability and then Claudette's eyes shot open when she applied the effect to the gazebo. Not out of shock or awe of her ability, but she didn't know who was here and what they could do. Or even if the effect could be seen by the normal people - she was under the impression that almost every ability was invisible, but there were those few. Though, the effect didn't exactly do anything to tell Claudette what she could do... unless she can just illuminate things.
Then cool.
"Mis Abuelas told me a while ago, in some kinda vision or sort, that I got both they powers in one or somethin'. They showed me some stuff but said it might be a bit different cause I'm mixed-- whatever the hell that means," Mariah elaborated, "So basically if anyone shoots fire out they ass at us we good right now. Them Abuelas mentioned some other stuff I might be able to do but real talk? I kinda forgot most the vision. I mean? It ain' exactly like I get shot by magic constantly? And I only discovered how uh. This one-- this one worked. Th-this cause it ain't much really. Sure ain't like Miss Trent over here."
Claudette narrowed her eyes as she picked up on the change in tone that Mariah just displayed. She was just all energetic and jokey merely a few moments ago, and now she seems to be losing that composure. Almost as if she was... hiding something or lying. Suddenly, Claudette figured that she was hiding the full extent of her abilities or identity.
"... I believe you're an Adept," Claudette answered softly, "Before I continue, let me say that you two should please keep your abilities under wraps in public like this. I know, that you know, that the normal people - or Blind as we call them - can't see our abilities in action. But, they're not the problem..."
Well, it seems that they're at this bridge, Claudette knew that it was time to cross it. Because she was already set on letting Kara in, but she was a bit hazy about letting in Mariah - but that could change. She had to give them the details on the nitty-gritty.
"... Let me just get this out of the way so when you find out later, you don't feel like I lied to you or anything," Claudette began, "But, the Coven has run afoul of a few different groups. Just two weeks ago we were attacked by the-" Claudette made sure to stop and finger quote, "FBI who came after us because we were flippant with our abilities and they tracked us. And we also angered the "millionaire playboy" Blake Schmidt after..."
She trailed off as she tried to find the words.
"... One of our members had relations with his wife and he made a pact with a powerful Apparition that came to attack us. In that incident, we were betrayed by..." She paused for a moment as she realized that neither of these two probably had a clue what an Apparition was yet. "... A so-called ally of our group who killed one of our sisters. We solved both of our situations but I'm just trying to let you know that things are a bit dangerous here."
Claudette was not going to blame them if they didn't want any part of the Coven and left, which was why she wasn't sugarcoating it. She was going to tell them the way things are. "You may have to fight, but I promise you if you help us, we will help you. To the best of our capacity."
Claudette shrugged.
"What I'm asking is if you can handle that? I would not hold it against you if you choose to leave."
Then she had to address Mariah a bit more. "Can I get a clear explanation of your ability?"
The Beach House.
“What-the-fucking, why-would-you-even, I-can’t, so-stupid, I, what? What? What!?”
It seems that Vashti was at a complete loss for words. Honestly, from her perspective, it did seem pretty fucking overkill, and kinda weird. However, neither Madison nor Emily showed even the slightest amount of remorse for their actions.
"Sorry Vashti," Emily said as she pushed some hair out of the way of her face. "But we gotta filter the weirdos someh-"
“Wow, that sure was something!” Clapping could be heard as Isla walked up behind Madison and Emily while they did the gayest high-five as if absolutely nothing had happened. “Is that how you treat all prospective members? Could’ve gone pretty badly if it was anyone else.”
"What the hell?!" Both Emily and Madison said in unison as the chick just popped back in like it was nothing. Of course, they had to remember they have seen weirder shit (In Madison's case that was a bat peen), still, they were hoping that this chick got the memo.
"This is how we treat weirdos that trespass!" Emily shouted at her as she slammed a foot on the ground and balled her fists up.
“Anyway, I hope you’re not gonna throw me out again! Cause I can do this all day and believe me, you’ll get tired of it before I get tired of teleporting.”
"Yeah, about that..." Madison said as the Jaws reactivated and she grabbed Isla by her pants and shirt yet again. The door was already opened when she chucked her out into the beach again.
Then she turned around and Isla was there.
"Take the hint, sis," Madison said as she walked over, grabbed her, and threw her out in the same fashion again. Then she was there again and Madison dragged her outside and as she did so, she spoke, "Look, we don't want your ass here, sis! We got enough weirdos as is! Think we wanna add more!?"
And away Isla went, flying through the air and Madison was partially tempted to add a corny quip to the end... and then she turned around and Isla was there. After throwing her out three times Madison realized that she was probably dumb as a box of rocks and unable to take a hint. Or well, getting thrown out of a building three times.
"Okay, this isn't working," Madison admitted, "Looks like we gotta play hard-ball."
She walked over to the open door as she wet her lips, puckered them, and stuck two fingers in between them as she loudly whistled.
"Chompy!"
And it wasn't long before their twelve-foot long pet alligator came running around the building, climbed the stairs before he walked up to Madison. She squatted down and affectionately patted him on the head before she pointed at Isla.
Hearing the things Claudette was saying was a surprise to her, admittedly. Kara never would have guess that things were so bad for these people, but then again, she group up around shit like that so it’s like like she could say much. The bright lights surrounding the Gazebo made by the second girl made her eyes widen as she looked up all around her, and back at the black orb in Claudette’s hand, she wasn’t alone after all, it felt surreal to her. The look on Kara’s face was a mix of awe and stoicism, there was no way she was alone in this, but it felt nice to finally feel like she could actually relate to someone about this. She took in all the things Claudette told her about, the death, the FBI, fighting. Nothing she’s not used to.
"... Let me just get this out of the way so when you find out later, you don't feel like I lied to you or anything," Claudette began, "But, the Coven has run afoul of a few different groups. Just two weeks ago we were attacked by the-" Claudette made sure to stop and finger quote, "FBI who came after us because we were flippant with our abilities and they tracked us. And we also angered the "millionaire playboy" Blake Schmidt after..."
She trailed off as she tried to find the words.
"... One of our members had relations with his wife and he made a pact with a powerful Apparition that came to attack us. In that incident, we were betrayed by..." She paused for a moment as she realized that neither of these two probably had a clue what an Apparition was yet. "... A so-called ally of our group who killed one of our sisters. We solved both of our situations but I'm just trying to let you know that things are a bit dangerous here."
Claudette was not going to blame them if they didn't want any part of the Coven and left, which was why she wasn't sugarcoating it. She was going to tell them the way things are. "You may have to fight, but I promise you if you help us, we will help you. To the best of our capacity."
Claudette shrugged.
"What I'm asking is if you can handle that? I would not hold it against you if you choose to leave."
She took a moment to answer, letting the words roll around in her mind, she been alone this whole time, both literally and figuratively, so it would be nice to have friends to talk to. She didn’t like violence, but it’s something she dealt with a lot.
”When this started, I threw everything out of my head to keep my friend safe from getting bullied. He was bleeding, and I didn’t care what happened, I just wanted to help. Whatever this thing I have is, it came from that fight, it sounds like it came from wanting to help. If I can help fight someone off when they’re hurting someone, it seems like I should. I grew up around violence, so I’m used to it. If there are monsters out there like you say, I don't see this as any different.” Kara was absolutely willing to throw down for a friend. If they let her in, she’d do what she could.
Thought the explanation of all the trouble The Coven had gotten themselves into, Mariah listened whilst idly twirling her parasol, and her abstraction faded to nothing. There was more than a little disregard for the FBI thing and the Blake thing-- hell, she'd been there to stomp Blake with them. If anything? Those two incidents had made The Coven seem more appealing. Knowing more people was a good thing but knowing people who could fuck other people up? Even better. Mariah smirked a bit as Claudette mentioned fighting.
”When this started, I threw everything out of my head to keep my friend safe from getting bullied. He was bleeding, and I didn’t care what happened, I just wanted to help. Whatever this thing I have is, it came from that fight, it sounds like it came from wanting to help. If I can help fight someone off when they’re hurting someone, it seems like I should. I grew up around violence, so I’m used to it. If there are monsters out there like you say, I don't see this as any different.”
"That's like some noble superhero shit right there," Mariah nodded with a slight snicker.
"Can I get a clear explanation of your ability?"
And it was then that Mariah snapped back with a, "Do you want me to explain how a fuckin' wall works or?" A sigh escaped her before as she said, "Ma'am? I don't even know all the way how it work, true shit, and them Grannies ain't said anything else to me since the first time they talked but that was years ago. All I know is that I done stopped bullets, knives, and half-explosions with this shit, and ain't much else I know 'bout it. Supposedly I'm sposed to be able to go invisible or war shout or some nonsense," Mariah waved a hand as her accent grew gradually more Cuban, "And they showed me sommore stuff that I ain't even tried to do yet. Look. Mostly I wanna get to know y'all Coven folks cause, sis? Knowin' folks who got stuff in common with you is important. Especially when you special. And if my ability do what it do then I'd be use to y'all too. Most this shit gonna be figuring out what it's about anyway."
The last week has been the most stressful than it has in awhile. Herik spent more time at home, with his fractured leg, than he has in almost fifteen years. He had a lot to think about while home alone. He's on sick leave from his job, until his doctor tells him can go back. Another five weeks, then physical therapy afterwards. He's fortunate to have months worth of PTO. He grieves every day for Ellie's death, sometimes stays up all night, because he can't sleep. His mind running through all the scenarios where any of them could done something to help her, but he knew it was futile to think this way. Emotions get the best of him sometimes. He thought about Emily's recovery and the comment of the green string she saw between him and Vashti. He tried to see what she talked about all week, but he never could. He hasn't kept up with anyone other than Vashti. News stories about a Gator Boy got him thinking about her. He hoped she was okay. She hasn't reached out to him, so he assumes she's coping with the quarter he gave her. The Coven has a new meeting place. Schmidt gave them a beach house. He saw the snapchat photos of it. It's nice, but he doesn't trust a man that's indirectly responsible for the murder of one of their friends. Nothing bad happened there yet, so that's a plus.
There are supposed get new people joining. He's happy, of course, but he worries that by being pulled into their mess more people will die. He hadn't thought of death before Ellie, but now he's all he can think about going forward. Any o them could die at any moment because of the choice they've made. It isn't right to bring anyone else into this mess. The only positive he's had all week was Asta. He helped him get around his apartment more than once. He gets objects that are too far for Herik to reach without getting up. Was this something his mother could do and he never noticed? He hasn't been to see her at all. The guilt hurts, because he never goes more than two or three days without visiting. He'll do that today.
Herik took longer to get ready with his cast in the way. His shorts were too tight to get into, they weren't loose enough to accommodate the cast, so he settled for loose faded black pants he usually sleeps in. His shirt was dark blue and his shoes were closed toed, 'cause sandals with crutches didn't go together. He took a look at himself in the mirror before he left. He was pale, the bags under his eyes were deep purple, he lost some muscle and weight from all the stress he's been through. He'll have to hit the gym when he could. He hoped he could still bench 400lbs. He couldn't drive himself anywhere, so he called an uber to pick him up. He cheated getting down the stairs, by riding Asta down. No one was around to see him. He stood on the curb with his crutches under his arms. He waited a minutes before his ride showed up. He smiled and greeted the driver. He spoke to him during the whole drive. He didn't answer tell the full truth about what happened to his leg when asked. It was weird to have to lie about it, but he couldn't possibly explain he got thrown several hundred feet into the air and used a magical lion to break his fall. Only to bounce off and hit the ground hard anyway. No one would believe that. Simply falling several stories did the trick. The driver filled the rest in for himself.
Thirty minutes later he hobbled into his mother's room, the machines attached to her beeped like the last time he saw her, but she was paler. Her lips almost blue, the veins in her gaunt face showed through her skin like she was translucent. He called the nurse for an explanation and she couldn't give him one. Just that over the week she looked to be getting worse, but her vitals were the same. They ran test, everything was normal for her since she came in years ago. Could the magic keeping her under be getting worse? He needs to hurry. The Coven is distracting him from his goal, from several of the member's goals. It's important to find someone that can help him, Emily's sister and Vashti. He'll have to talk to them about being more proactive. He won't let any of them fail if he can help it. He stayed with his mother, until a half passed one. He kissed her forehead, promised to be back soon, then took an uber to the beach house.
He heard the commotion from the stairs leading to the house. Trouble again it seems. He shook out his left arm, Asta appeared at his side. He rode his back to the door, opened it, Chompy charged at a girl in an orange beanie. An interesting choice. If any of them were in real danger Vashti, Madison, and Emily wouldn't use a gator to attack.
"Chompy!" He called, voice excited to get his attention. Chompy passed the girl and came at Herik. His saving grace was that Asta was behind him. He couldn't take the full brunt of Chompy's weight with a bummed leg. "Who's a good boy?" He pet his back, arms wrapped around his hard scaly body.
"Do we have a new friend joining us?" He asked the girl that was almost attacked.
Lyss shifted in the California king sized bed and grunted. Her hand reached through the charcoal purple, silk sheets to find her phone somewhere inside. When she pulled the burner towards her, she noticed two things about it. The first was the time. She’d slept in rather late today. The empty bottle of whiskey on her nightstand was to blame for that. It was definitely to blame for the headache that made her squint in the bright bedroom. The second thing she noticed was that she hadn’t received any texts. Not only from anyone, but from a certain someone that usually would have said something by now.
Well, maybe it was for the better that she didn’t.
By the time she’d stumbled out of bed, pulled on her pants, and threw on a flannel over her tank top, she’d made it down to the bottom floor to see a random girl in an orange beanie showing off her abilities. Lyss frowned and rubbed her head. She could have joined the three girls in the living room. She could have given a “friendly leader” greeting or continued the interrogation. Yeah, she could have done anything... but she wasn’t in the mood. She turned away from the scene instead and headed towards the kitchen.
First, she needed water. At least a whole glass or two. While she stood in front of the fridge and pushed buttons so that water and ice filled her cup, she could hear Madison and Emily in the living room. ”Aw hell naw!” Lyss furrowed her brows, and as she watched her glass fill with water she thought over every step of her life that led to this exact situation until it almost spilled over. She gulped down half of the glass’s content before filling it up again. Vashti, her voice coming from the living room, sounded confused and irritated at the same time. Lyss sighed. Guess it’s time for me to get out there.
Yet as she saw what was going on in the living room, she decided to sit back and watch. She leant against the wall of the hallway that led from the kitchen into it. If the hangover didn’t give her enough of a headache, the new scene before her did. As if in some comical cartoon, Madison continued to throw the new girl out of the house. Only for the new girl to show up right behind her again. Lyss sipped her water as she thought about this new girl. She felt no apparition from within her. So that meant she was either an awakened or an adept. Probably with a purple lux, if she was the latter. From what she knew, most teleporters came from purple lux heritage.
The girl wasn’t an outright threat. If anything, it was funny to see Madison and Emily trying to deal with her themselves. Lyss was just about to laugh and give her position away when the two girls called their giant, scaly guard dog into the house. Oh, fuck. Lyss, concerned about her dehydrated body, took to chugging the water in her glass as she prepared her mind to intervene. She was ready to bust into the room and stop the wild alligator and give the newbie a proper greeting.
Thankfully, by the time she’d finished the glass, Herik came in to save the day. Lyss was still mildly impressed by his abstraction. She tilted the glass back and let an ice cube fall into her mouth. The first noise that the group of extra normals would hear from her direction was the crunching of the ice cube between her teeth. She slowly made her way into the living room now and kept her gaze on Isla as she did.
“She’s going to have to explain herself before she’s allowed to stay.” She murmured. Without waiting for the others to chill out and sit down like normal humans, Lyss sat in the corner of the massive, and far too comfortable, couch. She still had bits of the ice cube in her mouth as she looked at Isla again. “Forgive me if I wasn’t here to hear you say this earlier, but why do you want to join the Coven?”
Claudette was fairly happy to see that Kara was completely fine with the dangers behind the Coven. She did present a valid point when she mentioned that the dangers were seemingly inherent to being Extra-Normal. Though, Claudette couldn't help but chuckle when Mariah mentioned that was some superhero level speech.
"Do you want me to explain how a fuckin' wall works or? Ma'am? I don't even know all the way how it work, true shit, and them Grannies ain't said anything else to me since the first time they talked but that was years ago. All I know is that I done stopped bullets, knives, and half-explosions with this shit, and ain't much else I know 'bout it. Supposedly I'm sposed to be able to go invisible or war shout or some nonsense, and they showed me sommore stuff that I ain't even tried to do yet. Look. Mostly I wanna get to know y'all Coven folks cause, sis? Knowin' folks who got stuff in common with you is important. Especially when you special. And if my ability do what it do then I'd be use to y'all too. Most this shit gonna be figuring out what it's about anyway."
Claudette raised her eyebrow as she didn't consider that Mariah wouldn't know that she didn't even know what her abstraction was. Then again, Claudette knew that she barely knew anything about being an Adept, she was more familiar with Apparitions. However, she figured that her abstraction revolved around protection... she would have to refer her to someone more qualified.
"You should speak with a sister named Lyss," Claudette started, "I believe you're an Adept and she'd know a lot more about it than me."
So far, she was more than certain these two are still going to join the Coven despite the dangers inherent in it. However, there was still one other thing that she had to discuss with them and make sure that they're prepared for. They probably should have gotten an idea of the problems that came from outside the Coven, but what about the threats from within. The problem with the Coven, in Claudette's eyes, was that they were their own worst enemy... and if they played decisions better in the past they wouldn't have even pissed off the FBI or Blake Schmidt. What's done is done, and Claudette figured that she should have tried harder to keep them out of trouble.
"Now, that's out of the way, I'm going have to warn you about the other thing that runs new members of the Coven off," Claudette started softly, "I am not aware of you know... the world of the supernatural seems to have a preference for the strange, the colorful, the eccentric... and the Coven is no difference."
Claudette began, "There's a lot of people with different personalities and world views - and with that comes with different ideas of how the boat should be run. I'm not going to lie; there's a lot of bickering and infighting, and "loud" personalities, in the Coven that doesn't necessarily go well together-" Which was likely why we cycle through leadership and membership so much. "-and I try my best to keep things under control, but it's frustrating."
Claudette looked at Kara for her response, then she looked at Mariah.
"Can you handle that? That is the biggest... dealbreaker, in my opinion."
"This is the last time." "You know it isn't." —————————————————— American Rust Car Repairs
There was Quinn wearing a white shirt, a mustard yellow bomber jacket, black loose hip-hops pants, black and purple high top sneakers, with a white beanie. She was not working in the garage like a normal day, she was sat on the curb with a subway paper bag and big gulp of sprite. She was quietly eating her meatball sub as she looked onto the oncoming cars, this was not exactly how she wanted to spend her day but there must have been a reason why she was late. Then again, since Quinn had not exactly eaten well in the past few days, she was chomping down on the meatball sub like it was nothing. It was gone so fast that no one even noticed that she pulled out another one from the paper bag. As soon as she opened the sandwich a red Aston Martin pulled up and she groaned, picking herself up from the floor along with her food. The window rolled down and she was greeted by a face she had gotten all too comfortable with.
"Yo!" called out grace from the driver's seat who was wearing a pink long sleeved sweater, black skirt, and black boots. Quinn then opened the passenger door and slid in.
"You're late." Replied Quinn, closing the door behind her and putting the big gulp in the cup holder. She brushed her hair back and looked out the window to see her boss working on a car inside. She is pretty glad that Mr. L is cool with her being so busy, and after all she is his best mechanic as he has made clear to multiple customers even though she knows that she is. She just is not good with people so he needs to keep it calm.
"Yeah well, you don't drive so you don't know traffic." Said Grace before starting the drive to the beach house. Grace then looked over at Quinn at the exact moment she took a bite and asked, "You got my roast beef?"
"I'msh eatimg shere." Quinn replied before pulling out the roast beef sandwich from the bag and holding it to her. She swallowed and continued, "You couldn't let me finish chewing?" She looked at the shorter woman who was not even phased by the death stare she was giving. What was wrong with this girl, most people usually feel some sort of intimidation from Quinn from her tall and dark vibe but Grace really just could not care less.
"You look like you hadn't eaten in days, I wouldn't have had the chance." Grace replied, taking the roast beef sandwich and taking a bite. She chewed and swallowed before continuing because she had better manners compared to the tall gremlin beside her, "How much do I owe you?" Asked Grace as put her hand in her purse while still looking at the road and rummaged around trying to feel for her wallet.
"Uhh..." Grace had definitely been way too nice to her to ask money from her, she did kind of owe her a little so she played it off with, "Fuck that, I'm paying with that sandwich to drive me there." There was this odd feeling inside her towards Grace, she just could not pinpoint if it was positive or negative. Quinn could tell Grace was feeling the same about her.
Grace let out a smile and shook her head before continuing the drive, maybe Quinn isn't entirely an asshole.
—————————————————— The Beach House
Half a mile away from the beach house, Quinn let out a "You know what, you're rich, sandwich is a hundred bucks." Obviously she was joking but if Grace was that nice then boy she will feel bad about it... Not now, but in the future... After she's spent the hundred bucks.
"What!? No!" Maybe she spoke too soon, Quinn is definitely an asshole.
"I'm kidding. Anyway, is that it?" She asked, pointing to the huge beach house. Grace's eyes widened and was surprised by what Blake had given them. She parked and Quinn got out first, now on her third sandwich she closed the door behind her with her butt, holding the big gulp in one hand and the sandwich on the other. "Yo, this shit is the business!" They arrived just to see a girl get kicked out from the distance.
The two walked together towards the beach house; Grace looked up at Quinn who was definitely too busy admiring the view and eating her sandwich to even notice Grace looking at her. They got to the door and opened it, letting themselves in. They saw Vashti by the entrance and that girl that got kicked out now back inside. "The fuck happened here?" Quinn asked before she took a bite of her sandwich.
Herik then showed himself to stop Madison and Emily from throwing that girl out. Quinn shrugged and headed straight for the kitchen to eat there in peace. Grace on the other hand would probably break her neck looking up at Herik, he was quite tall but she did not know him, and he seemed nice so there was not a better time to introduce herself. She walked up to Herik and said, "Hi! I'm Grace, I believe I haven't introduced myself to you." She then looked at Vashti and turned to her after talking to Herik, "Oh and to you too! Nice to meet you!" She then peeked her head around Herik to look at this girl who was kicked out seconds ago, "You too! There were a lot of people than I had expected! Hello! I'm Grace." She exclaimed, she clapped her hands together with a huge smile on her face. She was definitely all giddy since she was now cementing her place here in the coven. Maybe she could help Quinn make friends because the heavens know that this girl needs help.
Quinn finished her sandwich and got threw the rumpled up wrapping of the sandwich in the trash bin before heading back to where Grace was. Big gulp in hand she looked at Herik and nodded slightly at the new girl, "Sin-... Quinn, Hi." She said before shaking her head, trying to wrap her mind around now being called Quinn.
Grace was pretty excited with the new place and the new member, of course she was more excited at the fact that she was now interacting with these people for pleasure instead of for their lives.
Quinn did not care much, new people? Yay? Who gives a fuck, new people mean more people to hate so she really did not care much. Unless this person is fine with Quinn and her antics she will fit perfectly here.
Isla had to resist a heaving sigh after she was thrown out for the third time, only to blink right back behind her. It was pretty hilarious but also already exhausting… she was starting to feel sick and a bit dizzy and it was only thanks to her willpower (need to not be thrown out) that she was yet to fall on her ass.
"Okay, this isn't working. Looks like we gotta play hard-ball."
“I did tell you it wouldn’t,” Isla shrugged, a coy smile on her face. This stayed in place even as her dark eyes widened at the sight of Chompy lumbering up the stairs and into the building. “No way, is that a crocodile?! You gotta be kidding me I’ve never seen one in real life, I didnae expect-”
Isla didn’t get to go on with her thought train on her lack of knowledge of reptiles because said incredibly large Alligator was sent charging towards her. She blinked out of his direct path and onto the sofa, crouching there as she prepared to stop him from running at her again. Thankfully she didn’t need to because the Alligator beelined right past and right to another new member… some very tall Thor look alike.
So the coven allowed men too? Not what she’d expected when she’d read that they were witches.
“Aye, that’s what I was hoping,” Isla nodded to Herik, stuffing her hands in her shorts pockets as she hopped down off the couch. Her head snapped around to the fifth member who entered (it was really getting hard to keep track without name) as she was crunching up ice cubes as if they were chocolate. And there were another two and honestly Isla was getting lost with who she should be introducing herself to. She waved to the last two that had entered, taking note of their names (since they’d actually given them) as she tried to process everything.
She’d start by answering the question of the ice eating girl who gave off an air of authority.
“Welllll, I already gave those two a rundown of my circumstances but I guess I can go over the basics again,” Isla nodded towards Emily and Madison. She deviated on her way over to the couch, picking up a small potted plant and setting it in her lap as she sat down. It made her feel more grounded somehow...
“First off, my name’s Isla, nice to meet everyone! To put it simply, I’m stuck here with no way to get back home and no place to stay. I was-” she hesitated, mind going blank for a moment as she tried to remember the lie she’d told for being here. Fuck, the constant blinking was getting to her head. “I was travelling and then got all my belongings stolen because of a poorly timed, outdoor nap. Obviously I ain’t from here so I’ve limited options without a passport. I found out about the coven online and it seemed like a good place to start getting help, and some company… since I’ve spent the last week alone in an unknown city, y’know?”
She nodded. That about summed up why she was here, right?
“I imagine you’ll wanna know what I can add, right?” she asked, before continuing without waiting for answers. “As I’ve shown far too many times, I can do short ranged teleporting like that. I can also do longer teleportation! And I can teleport up to, uh…” she started counting on her fingers, mumbling something about children and scary big men as she did, before continuing. “Up to six people other than myself! I’d say that’s my most useful abilities and all.”
She didn’t really know where to start with explaining the whole movement stopping thing, so she wouldn’t bother, and it wasn’t like her telekinesis was that useful yet.
“If you got any other questions, I’m happy to answer ‘em all till you’re satisfied I’m alright to stay.”
Because even if they tried to kick her out, she’d teleport back into this beach house to use one of the bedrooms so… it was better all around if they just accepted her.
Lyss barely looked Quinn and Grace’s way as they came in through the door. Quinn made herself scarce, which Lyss was grateful for. There were already too many voices in the room. Grace was as sweet and normal as ever, but her girly voice was making the headache worse. Lyss found herself squinting her eyes to focus on Isla as she tried to ignore Grace.
The beanie girl repeated what Lyss already acknowledged, but Lyss was more irritated by another thing the girl did. Why the fuck is she holding a plant? She thought, her eyes on the plant as the girl started speaking. At least she was sitting down, now. Hopefully the others would just hang back and give her a chance to speak.
Lyss finished the ice she’d been chewing on and moved to set her glass down when the girl hesitated. Lyss’s eyes moved to Isla’s face. She could see the hesitation clearly. She’s lying. Lyss frowned lightly. She could call her out on it, but Lyss also never told the Coven why she’d joined them. So Lyss stayed silent, nodding along as the girl described her powers. Isla may have her own demons, too, but she’d keep an eye on her in case there were other intentions.
When she’d finally finished, Lyss nodded her head before taking a deep breath. She sat up a little straighter and leaned forwards to rest her elbows on her knees. “I understand if you want to seek shelter here. You don’t have to tell us the real reason why you’re here, but I hope you come to trust us with that reason one day.”
“I also hope you understand that we are not exactly a safe haven anymore. We’ve run into trouble many times now. We’ll run into trouble again. We’ve fought off strong apparitions and pissed off a multi-millionaire. There’s a government agency watching our very move, and two of our girls have crossed over with the Hound.”
She paused for a moment. She hadn’t told the other girls about Izzy, yet. Her eyes turned towards the rest of the girls and Herik. She clasped her hands together. “The DENs have been looking for a woman named Annabelle. She is responsible for the recent mass murders in Tampa.”
…
“I regret to inform you all that a few days ago, she was the one responsible for Izzy’s death. I only discovered this yesterday when Agent Liao approached me.”
Lyss averted her eyes now, so that the Coven wouldn’t see the anger and guilt in her eyes. I should have asked Meifeng to give her a proper burial. We should have given her a funeral. She’s probably in some morgue somewhere counting as evidence for the DENs. She wrung her fingers together and suddenly wished for more booze, and maybe a text from Max.
She then looked up at Isla again. "Are you willing to protect the members of this Coven, at the cost of your life, in return for your protection?"
“I understand if you want to seek shelter here. You don’t have to tell us the real reason why you’re here, but I hope you come to trust us with that reason one day.”
Isla raised an eyebrow, even as she flinched at Lyss’ words. It was so close to a callout that she feared but not quite there… thankfully. It was her own fault for stumbling up where she normally wouldn’t and forgetting the reason she’d given for a moment.
“It’s not like you’ll believe the real one, anyway,” she murmured subconsciously under her breath before giving Lyss her full attention. She shifted where she sat and held the potted plant slightly closer… even as she realised a potted plant was not in any way comfortable or normal to hug. Well, whatever.
Part of what was said rang far too close to the situation she’d been in before… a group of Extra-Normals dealing with a hell of a lot of problems. Not that there’d been a multi-millionare there but there’d certainly been apparitions. She winced as she remembered exactly what had happened with that apparition.
Yeah, she’d hoped to avoid seeing something like that again… but she’d also known it was unlikely.
“I can’t say I’ve had many run ins with multi-millionares or government agencies, but I’ve come across my fair share of strong apparitions,” Isla said as if it wasn’t just one really strong apparition she’d come across and ran from with a bunch of children. Yup, definitely counted as experience. Then, more genuinely, she continued. “I’m sorry for your loss… I know what it’s like to lose someone from a group you're in.”
She left it at that, smiling before any slight hint of anxiety or sadness could be shown in her expression. It wasn’t like she’d even known the albino girl that died in Paradise, or the others that disappeared. It just served as another way to get closer to this new group.
"Are you willing to protect the members of this Coven, at the cost of your life, in return for your protection?"
“Yes, I am,” Isla replied confidently, without a single sign of hesitation. It wasn’t entirely true because she wouldn’t risk her life for others… no, she wasn’t that selfless. But she would do what she could to protect them and get them out of harm’s way. How else could she expect the same back. “But I can’t guarantee I’ll be useful in any kind of fight, just getting places quickly and getting people out of them. Even that I can’t do that regularly but! I’m willing to give it everything I’ve got, even if that's my life... though I really do hope it doesn't come down to that, because I quite enjoy living. But yes, the answer is yes.”
Maya was running late. Now normally she wasn’t exactly the eager timekeeper who arrived exactly on time, or god forbid earlier, but she didn’t tend to be this late. She very vocally cursed her mother as she got stuck in traffic once again on her way to their new meeting location. Why did it have to be so far away from literally everything? Couldn’t Blake have given them a mansion in the middle of the city, or maybe a really nice apartment? Just somewhere closer that she didn’t end up stuck in traffic on her way. She would have been more on time if she hadn’t gone through hours of nagging from her parents.
By the time she pulled up to the beach house, she was already on edge and just about ready to snap. She kicked a rock on the pavement outside her car as she tried to calm down just a little bit. Letting the road rage carry onto a coven meeting was the worst idea. Finally, when she felt like she wasn’t going to sound blast the first person she saw, Maya headed up towards the door.
“...all that a few days ago, she was the one responsible for Izzy’s death. I only discovered this yesterday when Agent Liao approached me.”
The fuck? Maya froze in place, one hand clenching around the end of the white skirt she was wearing. Izzy was dead? She hadn’t been close to the other girl but nonetheless… it felt like a stab in the gut for two members to die so close together. And unlike Ellie, Izzy had been nice to the others and even offered Maya alcohol. Wasn’t that close to friendship? She was fun and now she was gone.
Fuck.
"Are you willing to protect the members of this Coven, at the cost of your life, in return for your protection?"
“Since when was that the deal?” Maya asked loudly as she stepped inside, folding her arms and immediately leaning on a nearby wall rather than sitting down. She glanced around everyone there and as expected, she was the last one there. “I don’t remember ever agreeing signing up to throw my life away, even if you all think I run headfirst into danger.”
Which she did, but that was besides the point. That was for her not for the sake of protecting one of the girls. She certainly wasn’t going to die for them.
Her gaze flickered to Isla, and she made a face. Another weirdo new member… they really were springing up everywhere. She didn’t even bother introducing herself before looking back to the others.
“I’m upset over… what happened to those two, honestly, but that doesn’t mean more of us should expect to sacrifice ourselves too.”
Her words were harsher than she’d normally like when directed at one of the few people she actually liked in the group, Lyss, but it had been a long journey there and she had not signed up for some self sacrificial bullshit. Count her out.
... And of course Herik comes in at the last second and diverts Chompy's attention. Madison couldn't help but roll her eyes at the display, because, while Herik was nice, he was just too nice. Though it could have been that he interpreted the situation as she wanted Chompy to kill the bitch, Madison didn't intend on having Chompy kill her. That she would get the point and use her fancy teleportation abstraction to buzz off. Madison rolled her eyes again as more people came - Lyss, Grace, and Quinn. As per usual, Madison focused her attention on Lyss because those two weren't... helping.
Lyss seemed to be fully intending on letting this weirdo into the Coven, even though she keeps going on these insane little rants right in her face. At this point, Madison - and Emily - threw in the towel and let things run their cause. Emily had crossed her arms as well and looked off to the side outside the door... she pointed her hand at it and the tethers came out of her fingertips and closed it. She shrugged as the thought of using her abstraction to do more than just open and close doors came and went. However, Emily was not going to drop this that easily... mostly because this situation seemed real sus.
"Lyss," Emily tried to use her chipper secretary voice to avoid coming off as a bitch, but... "Maybe you should leave this decision to Claud, yes?" Of course, that statement fell on deaf ears as Lyss was more or less trying to recruit her on her own, and... she knew that Claudette would listen to Lyss over her infallible logic. So Emily just shook her head and found herself a spot and just listened to bits and pieces of what Lyss was saying.
Until something caught her attention.
“...and two of our girls have crossed over with the Hound.”
"... Two?" Emily raised an eyebrow as, of course, Lyss had something she wasn't telling them.
“The DENs have been looking for a woman named Annabelle. She is responsible for the recent mass murders in Tampa. I regret to inform you all that a few days ago, she was the one responsible for Izzy’s death. I only discovered this yesterday when Agent Liao approached me.”
"Wait? The fuck?!" Madison shouted upon hearing the news of Izzy's death. Because what the fuck? She had to try really hard to fight the tears of her fallen friend. She sat down on the back of the sofa as she rested a hand in her face. Izzy was a friend of hers, probably not the closest friend these days, but they still related a lot over their love of Instagram and racy photographs. She quietly sobbed before she composed herself. A deep breath left her mouth as she looked up at Lyss. There was a hint of venom in her voice as she spoke, seemingly on auto.
"Okay, okay, okay, Lyss, I love ya' and I don't mean no disrespect," Madison said as she raised her hands and stepped up. "But shouldn't have told us this like, dunno, soon as you fuckin' heard it? And not use it to recruit some weird bitch who came outta nowhere?" She pointed a hand at Isla as she barely showed care.
A tear ran down Madison's eye and she promptly wiped it. She ain't know who Annabelle is, but she's personally wondering how deep Lyss has gotten with them given that, apparently, the head bitch in charge is giving them secret government information. From a secret government agency. One that Madison ain't trust not one bit.
"... And I think you need to start explaining some of this shit to us. Who the fuck is Annabelle? Who the fuck are even the DENS? And why the fuck do you seem all buddy-buddy with the very people that attacked us? Why the fuck... why the fuck did she kill Izzy?"
Madison's voice cracked as she was unable to maintain the facade and the tears came running down her face.
Maya came in and something amazing happened...
“Since when was that the deal? “I don’t remember ever agreeing signing up to throw my life away, even if you all think I run headfirst into danger. I’m upset over… what happened to those two, honestly, but that doesn’t mean more of us should expect to sacrifice ourselves too.”
... Emily agreed with Maya.
"... And why is the village idiot making more sense than half the people in the room?" Emily said as she looked among the group. She wasn't going to throw her life away for the Coven. Personally, Emily didn't particularly care or approve of Izzy and her whoring ways, but she also couldn't say that she didn't feel bad. They lost two sisters in a week and it... was becoming abundantly clear that Babylon was right. They were approaching a storm that they weren't prepared for... and she was wondering how many of them would be going down next. Yet, some of them were jumping to conclusions - including herself.
"Lyss, sweetie," Emily couldn't force that chipper secretary accent again but she spoke in her normal tone as she kept her whole attention on Lyss. "Are you one hundred percent sure we can trust them? Did you see a photograph? Or... even a Recollection of it?"
She crossed her arms before she continued. "They attacked us... for all we fucking know that bitch Liao herself iced Izzy!" She found herself shouting, but she sighed as she closed her eyes. Emily hated to do this to Lyss, but taking a shit at face value was the Coven's problem. "And as Madison said, some of us don't even know who the DENS, or Liao, or Annabelle even is. So, please enlighten us."
However, before her eyes drifted towards Isla as she couldn't ignore something that was bugging her anymore.
"And if you do not put that plant down..." She hissed at Isla.
"There's a lot of people with different personalities and world views - and with that comes with different ideas of how the boat should be run. I'm not going to lie; there's a lot of bickering and infighting, and "loud" personalities, in the Coven that doesn't necessarily go well together--and I try my best to keep things under control, but it's frustrating. Can you handle that? That is the biggest... deal breaker, in my opinion."
Mariah fanned herself with a bit of a smirk. So the coven was a chaotic collection of super powered women that barely functioned as a group? "Sis..." Mariah let out a laugh before she continued, "I'm a Drag Queen from Miami. There ain't no group of shadier, cattier, or louder people I'll ever haveta deal with then them. And when you choose your family you choose your problems."
Her tone turned a little more serious as she continued "But that ain't sayin I'll deal with anything. I know when I gotta jet, to make that clear, but I sure ain't no weak bitch with paper skin." With that said, there was a deeper undercurrent of the fact she wasn't ride or die for anyone. Period. And anyone that told her they had that kind of mindset, clearly lacked basic survival instinct, and was not to be trusted. With a shrug, Mariah went on to say, "And if you say you the leader then I'll just stick with you or whateva."
Truthfully? Mariah figured it was probably just best to hang back and follow whoever was in charge anyway-- she kind of didn't want to think too much when it came to stuff like this. Leaders? Followers? As long as the leader wasn't trying to jump off a plane without a parachute, Mariah was just gonna ride it out and network, cause she had bills to pay and performances to worry about.
Bills. And Hector's bone nipples. Idly, she cast a glance over her shoulder at Hector, and watched him do pullups off the branch of a tree. Her head shook ever so slightly before she turned her attention back to Claudette.
Vashti nearly jumped out of her skin as Isla popped back into the room, blinked through Madison, and introduced herself. She breathed in heavily as her hand clenched her chest, a grimace set on her face in stone. Before Vashti had a second to get over the initial shock Madison had given the girl the boot again, hoisting her out of the beach house like she was a bouncer at her club and Isla was a drunk patron who’d gotten a little too handy in the champagne room. Repeatedly. Vashti called out for Madison to stop, but her voice was dwarfed by the woman calling for Chompy to sic Isla. This was ridiculous. Hardly a minute back with the Coven, and everything was already coming off the rails. She could hear the crashing of waves as her vision began to swim.
Herik stepped in to save the day and intercepted Chompy with pets. His presence reminded Vashti to reach for the quarter in her pocket. She stepped away from the others and stared blankly out the window as she counted the ridges. Vashti wasn’t sure if the coping mechanism actually worked in this situation, because at the sound of Lyss’ voice the Leviathan’s presence dove back into her as her body shuddered. She exhaled slowly and turned back to the group with her arms wrapped around herself. She leaned against the windowsill and continued to collect herself.
The girl who’d joined the Coven moments before the Outsider attacked arrived with Quinn. Vashti was amazed that she’d decided to stick around considering the circumstances of her welcoming party. She mustered up a welcoming smile and an acknowledging wave towards Grace. It was weird seeing someone excited to be around the Coven. It wasn’t like the other girls didn’t have high energy, just...generally, theirs seemed a bit more volitalite than vibrant. It was a nice change. Vashti uncrossed her arms and rested her hands on the ledge, lightly scraping at the paint with her nails as Isla began to chatter yet again.
“I regret to inform you all that a few days ago, she was the one responsible for Izzy’s death. I only discovered this yesterday when Agent Liao approached me.”
Vasthi stopped chipping away at the paint. She didn’t know Izzy that well, but the girl had helped her with her injury on the way to the hospital. Vashti decided to keep her mouth shut, which gave room for her mind to worry. Lyss was spewing some shit to Isla about protecting the Coven with their life so that the Coven would protect them, but had the Coven protected any of them yet? Since she’d joined two girls had died. How many had been lost before she’d come? Taylor had made the right call to cut and run when she did. Vashti’s gut instinct told her that she should do the same. Unfortunately, she couldn’t listen to her instincts anymore because they weren’t her own.
“I’m upset over… what happened to those two, honestly, but that doesn’t mean more of us should expect to sacrifice ourselves too,” said Maya. Emily agreed with her. Hell, Vashti agreed with her. When she’d joined the deal had been to just defend each other. There was nothing about being ready to die for each other. Talk like that sounded more like it belonged in a proper cult than a loosely connected group of chaotic witches. Vashti inhaled deeply and looked at Lyss, but her eyes darted away nervously before settling on the beach outside.
“They’re right. Oh, uh, not about the plant,” added Vashti quickly, glancing at Isla. “Do whatever with it. Although knowing the previous owner, I’d be careful about touching anything in this house. Just...you might wanna wash your hands. Anyway!” She hit each syllable in the word musically as her slitted eyes flicked back over towards the tides. “Normally, I’d be right there with Emily when it comes to not believing a couple of government creeps. It wouldn’t be the first time they’d kill someone and pass the blame onto another. They love using patsies.”
However,” Vashti pivoted back to the point before her tinfoil hat started to poke out from her headscarf, “If Liao wanted to wipe us out then she wouldn’t have taken us to the hospital. She would’ve blasted us in Fantasy Land. Still, if we’re in danger then I think it’s time we’re all filled in on what’s what. Because I did join the Coven for protection.” From herself, mostly. “And I don’t feel like the Coven has held up their side of the deal. So, yeah, please, enlighten us so we can get done with this shit and start focusing on helping each other.”
”I can handle fighting.” Kara said bluntly, after hearing the other two talk. Fighting, and violence as a whole, was the very reason she was in this ring of events in first place. It’s not something she wasn’t used to handling, except now she could stab somebody with a wooden spike if she wanted. ”Like I said, I’m used to this stuff. Not supernatural stuff, but fighting. I grew up with that. It’s how I got here.” Her hands shifted around in her pockets, Kara’s tone was blunt, there wasn’t much stopping her from staying. ”I live alone. Nobody would notice if I’m with you guys. It’s quiet where I live, nothing ever goes on on that side of town, so it doesn’t seem like anything serious would follow me down there, nothing...supernatural at least.” She had been floating around under the radar for a while now, working some job downtown where she just moved stuff around. Corner store where people get beer and stuff on Saturdays.
The week Herik spent in isolation made him miss the Coven, but now that's he's back to all the bickering cattiness maybe he should've stayed home. Even he knows that stress doesn't help heal injuries and he's got a long way to go, before he's up and running again. He let go of Chompy. The gator went on back to the sunbathing and swimming in the pool. What luck his fine scaly friend has to relax. He needs a vacation. He shook his arm again, Asta returned as his tattoo. Herik hobbled into the living room on his crutches aiming to take a seat beside Lyss when she dropped the news that Izzy was murdered. He tightened his grip on the crutches, tears overwhelmed his vision. Another sister taken. She was alone, afraid, no there to aid her. He should've stayed home today and even with the news of her death the Coven couldn't get their heads out of their own asses to grieve their fallen sister.
He left the living room and opted for the dining room instead. It was mostly closed off from where everyone else was. Just around the corner through an archway. He took a seat at the end of the table furthest from the door. He hadn't bothered to turn the lights on. He wallowed in the darkness of his feelings and grief. Just when he felt a little better about Ellie, Izzy's gone too. She didn't deserve that. She wasn't all that bright and she drank too much. He'd hoped that she's learn to love herself, sober up while she was around everyone else, but she's dead. She'll never get the chance to grown into the better version of herself. Everyone stops when someone dies. He laid his head on his arms, tears soaked his skin, everything was too much. He joined the Coven to make friends and learn magic. This is so far removed from where the group originally started. Should he leave? But he has a goal. Maybe the question is could he do it alone with everything he's learned so far. Dumb question. He couldn't. Monstrous beings that kill and have the sentience to control others is beyond what he expected. If he faced one of those things alone he'd die for sure. He knows he would. If only his mother was awake, then he wouldn't be in this mess. He hasn't felt this emotional since he was kicked off the wrestling team. He needs a drink.
Both members seemed to be fine with everything that she told them. However, they might say they can handle a bit of bickering until they're actually getting into a heated shouting match with Madison, or Maya, or Emily... though, the latter two have been simmering down while the former was... becoming the opposite. Claudette did realize that she was exaggerating a little bit, only so they are prepared for the Coven's brand of tomfoolery.
While she was speaking, she pulled out her phone and ordered the Lyft to the Coven's hideout. She looked at Kara, before she looked at Mariah. She then affirmed all of this with, "You two are in," Claudette started, "We should go meet the others, I'm certain that they all should be excited to meet you all." Some of 'em should be. Claudette thought to herself as she saw the Lyft pull up and she was quick to move over to it.
They all got in and took the relatively brief car ride over to the beach house... and as they were pulling up Claudette was reminded of something. Something very important. "Also, I should let you know before we get there... that we have a pet alligator," Claudette awkwardly explained it, "Well, technically an apparition sealed inside of an alligator, but he's friendly and won't bother you."
The vehicle came to a stop and they all got out and Claudette lead them all to the front door. She opened it up for them so they can step inside... before she came in and announced herself.
"Hello, hello! These are the two new members of the Coven that I was talking to and..." Claudette looked around and saw Madison and Herik emotional, and everyone facing Lyss... "Oh no... don't tell me something happened while I was gone..." She said to the group.
Kimberly's motel room.
The next morning, Kimberly was gone.
Rowan was a bit confused by that turn of events but he shrugged. Maybe she needed some space to get her head on right, that was something that Rowan was fine with. He stared into the mirror wearing nothing but boxers as he grabbed the floss and snaked it in between his teeth. He stared going back and forth... before a bright flash of light overfilled the mirror and he looked over his shoulder.
Kimberly was back (Yay), and she had brought a friend....
Kimberly smiled at Rowan, before she looked at her friend with a warm smile.
"Penny, this is my cameraman and good friend Rowan," Kimberly introduced her, "And Rowan, this is my friend Penny, you know, we... saved the world together."
"Nice skivvies, dude," said Penny, stifling a laugh as she used a hand to shield Rowan from her view. The blonde girl gave Kimberly a mocking grimace. "So maybe the next time you teleport us somewhere could you go first and make sure everyone is wearing pants?"
"Hey!" Rowan said as he covered his crotch and stepped off to grab some pants.
"Well, um," Kimberly shrugged as she realized that she could have at least checked but she thought that Rowan was clothed. She tried to play it off as a joke as she said, "... No promises."
Rowan had thrown on some jeans and a t-shirt as he looked around, "Penny? I thought you said she was missing?"
"Aw, I was missed?" said Penny. There was genuine surprise hidden inside the sarcasm in her voice.
Penny looked around the hotel room now that Rowan was dressed. She had expected Kimberly to be living it up a bit more lavishly with her Internet famous money. Penny noted the drained whiskey bottle next to the only bed in the room. She raised an eyebrow as she leaned against the dresser and folded her arms. What happened in here was none of her business. She'd just need to find a way to pay for a separate room.
"Believe it or not, I was busy stuck inside of a pocket dimension created by some kid that was full of asshole apparitions. Honestly, I was kind of surprised you didn't wind up in there too, Kim," said Penny, her blue eyes darting over to the girl. "A good chunk of the support group ended up being there. That's where Caelea..."
Penny glanced down and cleared her throat. She lowered her arms and let her fingers tightly grip the edge of the dresser as she dragged her teeth over her lip. She'd already told the others about what had happened to the girl. She didn't feel like talking about it again. She looked up and clapped her hands together, immediately seeming upbeat. "So, I'm a bit out of the loop. Why would either of you two subject yourself to spending a single moment of your life in fucking Florida? Did you retire already?"
Rowan and Kimberly looked in between each other before their gaze landed on Penny.
"... Should I tell her?" Rowan said.
"No, no, I got it..." Kimberly said as she sat down on the edge of the bed... and realized that Penny probably was going to need a seat of her own for this. "Actually, mind if we go somewhere else? This place seems a bit too, uh, I don't know. Not the right... scenery."
"Sure," said Penny, pushing herself off of the dresser. "Lead the way."
Kimberly nodded as she stepped to the door and opened it, Rowan was the first out then Penny, then herself as the door automatically locked. She wondered if the staff were getting suspicious given how many times Kimberly just appeared in her room after leaving. She walked outside and looked around. It was Tampa. There was always a place or two within rock throwing distance, and she wasn't sure where... so she just picked a direction and started walking down it.
"So, um," Kimberly started as she walked, "Who exactly was trapped there? Because Hagan, Zoey, Min, and you, were the ones that were missing..."
"I didn't know the other people. A couple of trailer park teens, a Scottish girl, a depressed guitar player, and a..." Penny carefully picked her following words. "A friendly ghost, I guess?"
"Wait, Min wasn't there. Is he missing?" she asked.
They kept walking and then they stopped at a Dairy Queen... and Kimberly gave Penny an aside glance. Please, we can get better ice cream from a Gas Station! She thought to herself. Penny exchanged a look with Kimberly.
"We are not going in here," said Penny firmly with a hand on her hip.
"Agreed." Kimberly asked with a grin. "Well, where do you want to go?"
"I don't know!" said Penny, throwing her hands up and trying to hold back her own smirk. "A beach cafe? A Starbucks? Fucking Margaritaville? Hell, you find us a nice alleyway with a solid dumpster fire going and I think I'd enjoy it more than this soft serve shithole. Literally anywhere else is good, dude."
"How about..." Kimberly looked around, while Penny was pretty much fine with anywhere, she didn't want to sit around in some fast food restaurant or similar shithole. So they had to pick somewhere at least half decent so they aren't miserable here. In her field of view she saw a Starbucks and she shrugged. She figured it was Penny's speed so she just gestured for her to come along as she stepped inside the place.
It was already kind of busy... and Kimberly wasn't the coffee drinking type of gal so she just found a seat. Nobody in here would really pay them any mind... and she's a celeberity! It'd just look like she's just discussing her show. She found herself a booth as Rowan took to her side and Penny sat opposite. For just one second it felt like she was giving Penny an interview.
"Um... I'd grab some coffee, because trust me," Kimberly started, "You're gonna need it."
Penny took Kimberly's advice, returning to the table with a horrifyingly neon pink drink topped with a swirl of whipped cream. Sliding back into the booth, she eyed the pair and she played with the change from her drink. "So, what's the deal? Florida doesn't really strike me as a you place."
"It isn't," Rowan said as he threw his hands behind his head. "God, I miss New York."
"Fact of the matter is, both of us are here on business..." Kim trailed off as she thought back to last night where shit went down and the cure failed. "... We caught wind of something really nasty in South Carolina and tracked it down here."
"And 'something nasty' has a name," Rowan said.
"Annabelle Candy Heart...." Kimberly trailed off. "It's such a long story, I don't even know where to start. She was just some girl who got lost in the sticks of South Carolina and crossed a man named Luther Saul, and his group, the Forgiven...."
Penny stopped playing with the coins and leaned forward at the mention of Saul's name, but kept her mouth shut as the others continued.
"Or should we say cult." Rowan added yet again.
"They worship something supernatural, I don't know what, but we'll get to that bridge when we cross it, I guess. But, Luther Saul sacrificed Annabelle's friends to this being and Annabelle accepted a curse or something into herself to get revenge."
Rowan crossed his arms as he named the curse, "The Hunger."
"The Hunger?" asked Penny with a dismissive scoff.
"The Hunger is an affliction that makes the afflicted obsessively hunger for human flesh... but, the more flesh they eat, the more powerful they get."
There was a brief silence as Kimberly looked at Penny.
"... She's killed almost a thousand people so far, and I don't think anyone in Florida can stop her."
"Don't you mean anyone from Florida?" said Penny, leaning back in her seat and taking a sip of her drink. "I don't mean to trivalize their deaths, but when you compare a thousand to the worlds the Glutton erased it isn't even a competition." Granted, as far as Penny knew the Glutton didn't get stronger after every annihilation. "So, have you had any luck finding Annabelle?"
"Well..." Kimberly shrugged as her eyes drifted to the side and she remembered her past failures again like they constantly mock her. "... She doesn't make herself particularly hard to find."
"We just follow the trail of destruction," Rowan added on. "We found her two times, but every time we had to cut and run."
"Unfortunately, we lack the firepower to do anything other than piss her off," Kimberly said, "So, we've been trying other methods."
"What's worse is that Annabelle's a conductor for the Hunger," Rowan said, "Just by being around her people are compelled to start eating each other."
"Well, normal people," Kimberly said, "We have nothing to worry about, but still..."
She looked off to the side.
"I'm at a loss as to how we can stop her."
Penny sighed and let her eyes drift towards the window. She had her own reasons to be in Florida, but the immediate danger of Annabelle wasn't something she could simply ignore. She racked her brain for a solution. If the girl was an Apparition they could easily seal her, but Kimberly would've been able to manage that on her own if it were the case. Her eyes brightened as she thought of an idea that could potentially benefit the both of them.
"So it seems like we'd need to find a way to reverse the curse, right? If the Forgiven are responsible for Annabelle accepting the curse in the first place, maybe they also know something about her curse that we don't," said Penny with a shrug. "Full transparency here, but I'm kind of looking for Luther Saul anyway. I need to verify something I saw."
Approaching the Forgiven was not something that Kimberly considered, mostly because they seemed to be a bit unnerving - that interview more or less cemented it. Not just that, but Kimberly didn't know even know what they even worshipped. It was worth a shot, but later. She was curious as to what business did Penny have with the leader of the Forgiven, Luther Saul.
"And what exactly is that if you don't mind me asking?" Kimberly asked. "The Forgiven are... something's just off about them."
"You're telling me you think there might be something off about a cult whose leader sacrficed a group of people and calls themselves the Forgiven?" said Penny with a phony look of surprise on her face. She smirked. "Yeah, they have definite bad vibes all around them. I'm not saying we just go in, ask for a brochure, and see if they know anything about some mass murdering bitch who happens to make everyone around her crave some long pork. We'll figure something out."
Kimberly coughed awkwardly.
"But now I feel like I'm avoiding the question," said Penny as she stared distantly out the window. She was. She hadn't known how to approach it. With anyone else she felt like she'd have to hold off some parts of the truth just so that she didn't sound crazy, but Kimberly had gone through crazier things with Penny. Surely she would believe her, so Penny gave her the straightforward answer.
"Rosalyn, the girl who created that pocket dimension that all of us were trapped, in claimed to be from a future where our world had ended. She showed us all a Recollection of the aftermath. Honestly, I don't know if I totally believe the whole end of the world shit, but I saw Los Angeles in absolute ruins. So whatever happens, it's big. Rosalyn says that Luther Saul is somehow involved," said Penny.
She looked back at the two, wrinkled her nose, and continued, "Only, I don't know if I should be against him or with him. From all that I know, he seems like a grade-A dickhead so it'd be nice to go in there and squash whatever shitty cult voodoo nonsense he's up to but!" Penny pointed for emphasis. "If his shitty cult voodoo nonsense is the only thing holding back the world from ending then I'd feel like a real asshole if I'm the one to fuck it all up. It just has something to do with Saul."
Penny flopped back in her seat with a frustrated groan and ran her fingers through her hair, "So, yeah, that's what I need to figure out and I got a year to do it. Hell, it could all be bullshit—which wouldn't be so bad, all things considered."
As Penny explained Kimberly found herself sharing a look with her companion Rowan. They stared blankly into each other's eyes for a moment before they focused back on Penny.
"Okay, this sounds crazy, like really crazy," Kimberly said to Penny before she realized that she was being a bit harsh. "I don't mean it like that... okay, well, I kinda do." She shrugged.
"Gee, thanks," said Penny with a smirk.
"I think what she's trying to say is how accurate do you think this girl is?" Rowan said as he put his hands together on the table as he looked at Penny. "It could be bullshit, or even a different world ending... different worlds exist, apparently." Rowan shrugged.
"I mean, anything's a possibility," Kimberly added, "We did defeat a Tentacle God after all." She looked at him as she chuckled and he shrugged.
"Allegedly." Rowan rolled his eyes.
"Allegedly!?" repeated Penny with a scoff, her eyes widening.
"I guess I have to save the world again to show you," Kimberly smirked at him before she turned to Penny. "But, my problem here is that it's a bit too vague for me. He just has something to do with the world ending... and... from my perspective I think that something could have something to do with Annabelle."
Given that Saul definitely has something to do with her.
"I'm willing to help you, Penny, but my priority is finding a way to cure Annabelle. But, if Saul knows something then interrogating him might be the way to go."
"Sure, I'm good with that. In fact, let's be clear: I have the same doubts about the whole end of the world thing as the two of you do," said Penny, poking her finger against the table for emphasis. "But I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't at least look into it. And, if Rosalyn happens to be right by whatever small chance that is, then apparently I or anyone else would be able to live period. I rather find out that I wasted my time than do nothing and give up the world."
"But in the meantime, I don't think I can really let you two go after this Annabelle girl alone." Penny gulped down the remainder of her drink. "So, we going to go try and make nice with a cult?"
Kimberly merely shrugged at all of that.
"... Doesn't look like we have that many other options."
