[center][img]https://txt.1001fonts.net/img/txt/dHRmLjExNi5lNzA4ZjMuUlhabGJIbHViaUJCYm00Z1UyVnlaVzVsYkdsbmFIUSwuMA,,/georganodemo.regular.webp[/img][/center] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/YkGhDeq.png[/img][/center] "Lynn!? It's Ken! I'm real, it's... It's all an illusion, come on! We've gotta get the others and get out of here before something worse happens!" Ken’s words forced Lynn further into the depressive pit. She knew she was out of the illusion, she knew she was back in her reality. She knew that everything she just saw, felt, and was teased was nothing more than a cruel joke that was an 8th Street get-out-of-jail-free card. And it worked. Lynn did not know what words could be used to describe how she felt in this moment, and she knew that was the point. How can a group fight back if they are trapped in their most wonderful desire? How could they have any hope of finding Kari? Would every fight from here on out play out like this? The group starts to get the upper hand, 8th street deploys their pink mist, and runs away like fucking cowards. The Future was already clear in the present, there would be many more fights to come their way. [color=F08080]“I know Ken,”[/color] Lynn said as agree buried her head in her arms, [color=F08080]“I can’t help the others right now, I can’t…I can’t do anything,”[/color] Lynn choked out. Lynn needed to get out of here. Everything was beyond fucked with no hope of it getting better. She needed a drink. She needed to get so drunk that feelings became dull, so drunk that the painful memories faded away into blissful peace, so drunk that she gets that sweet free trial of death where one moment she’s somewhere and the next she’s waking up somewhere else. She needed to get far away from the headspace she was in currently, and she needed to get there right now. Her hand, trembling, shot to her pocket and grabbed her flask. She quickly pulled it out, feverishly twisted the cap open, and pressed it to her lips ready for the sweet relief that it promised. She felt the tears fall harder as nothing came out. It was empty. Her eyes went wide as she held it in front of her and shook it to confirm. No, no, no no this couldn’t be. She was always so careful to not leave it open after a drink, how could it be empty? She pressed it to her lips again in some vain hope to manifest a single drop more but the flask did not yield to her wishes. She must’ve left the cap open just enough that the flask was leaking, or the explosive force that rocked the house jostled it loose, or the various falls must’ve pushed it open. There were a million reasons why Lynn did not have alcohol in this moment, and none of them made a difference. [color=F08080]“FUCK,”[/color] Lynn shouted, her voice suddenly angry, as she stood up and cocked her arm back. She turned her body and launched the flask into the inferno that still ragged. She looked at Ken, back to the fire, and back to Ken. [color=F08080]“We find Kari, and we make those fuckers pay,”[/color] Lynn said as she looked over and caught Lila being carried, [color=F08080]“They think their fucking safe, the future will prove them wrong,”[/color] Lynn paused as she began to grip her fingers together, balling them into a fist before releasing them and repeating that process. Her breathing was sharp, quick, but that did not stop the steady stream of tears from falling. [color=F08080]“We have to find Kari and-”[/color] Lynn paused as her words finally broke through the anger that filled her mind, [color=F08080]“we have to find Kari.”[/color] Lynn looked towards Ken again as she chuckled. It was a nervous chuckle, but it still caught Lynn by surprise. [color=F08080]“I’ll need your help Ken.”[/color] [hr] [img]https://txt.1001fonts.net/img/txt/b3RmLjEwNi5mMzllZDQuUVdGeWIyNCwuMQ,,/personal-use.regular.webp[/img][img]https://txt.1001fonts.net/img/txt/b3RmLjEwNi5mMzllZDQuVkdodmNtNWwuMQ/personal-use.regular.webp[/img] Aryin was on top of the world. There was nothing that she couldn’t do. There was no one she couldn’t fight. No scarcity, no troubles, and nothing but one good time after another. And it was all a lie. When Aryin came back from the twisted vision she nearly fell to the ground in shock. Gone were the bright lights, the adoring fans, and the ability to enjoy the life she was destined to live and back was the mud, the grime, the pain, and the suffering that her life was rife with. Her eyes saw much happen quickly with the group, she saw Linqian reacting as expected, she saw the crowd gather around Sloane, and she saw that everyone was hurting like she was. She gagged, and then vomited up some blood. The blood left its mark around her face, and mixed with the muddy water beneath her. She was hurt, extremely bad. She felt her whole body start to radiate as such. Her joint cast with Linqian had weakened her durability, and while she was still able to tank George’s hit and keep fighting it seemed that it did not prevent massive damage to her body. She looked down her chest and noticed a massive red and black spot that ran the entire length of where he had connected the strike. She coughed again and more blood came out. She needed a healer, but she couldn’t look weak right now in front of the coven. Her vision was her at the strongest, and she wanted her former crew to not see her as wounded as she was. She needed the chalice, but she also needed them to always know she’ll be able to take a hit and keep fighting. Aryin was not weak, Aryin was tough and strong and always willing to put herself in the face of danger. She could not let them worry about the potential that she’d never be strong, and durable enough to keep going. As such, she quickly began to limp away from the scene and towards her car, her arms holding the jacket closed to make sure none got a look at her wounded form. [hr] “Sypha,” the door to Sypha’s office was thrown open as Jason quickly entered. His head shot back around and locked onto Jordan as he carried Aryin into the room. Aryin was clearly not completely present, her eyes were nearly completely closed and her arm dangled and swayed as Jordan maneuvered the room and placed her down. The bottom half of her face was caked in blood as was the jacket that now failed to hide the wounded, naked body underneath it. “What the fuck happened,” Sypha shouted as they grabbed their knife and quickly cut their palm. Several tendrils shout out in an instant but hung in the air harmlessly. “Don’t know,” Jason responded, “we were outside as she drove over the curb to get here.” “I’ve never seen her this hurt before,” Jordan said as he rubbed his temple. “I can’t heal her in this form,” Sypha said as they retracted the tendrils, “we need to get her to swap.” “We’ve tried,” Jason responded back as he ran over to Aryin’s side and leaned next to her ear, “ARYIN, come on I know you can hear me. You need to swap, man, you’re in a bad spot right now. You need to get healed.” Aryin simply groaned in response as their eyes flickered a few times at the light. Sypha walked over and looked at Aryin and sighed. They then slapped Aryin right across the face with every ounce of strength they had but their hand simply hit the brick wall that was her jaw. “Let me try,” Jordan responded as he channeled a lot of his magic to his strength. He raised his open palm, high into the air as he crossed the distance to Aryin, and with a sudden move he brought the slap down connecting with the jaw. The room, hell the whole building, shook as the couch exploded as the force of the impact moved through Aryin’s body and into the ground below. The paintings hung in the room shook violently, as any hidden dust that escaped the relentless perfectionism that was Sypha’s cleaning entered the air. [color=00BFFF]”Why did you hit me I’m trying…trying to sleep,”[/color] Aryin groaned as their eyes finally opened a hair more. “ARYIN,” the trio shouted as one, “SWAP.” Aryin’s eyes blinked three times before understanding kicked in. They swapped their form back down to Aaron. As a result, their covering now had Aaron shirtcocking it right in the middle of Sypha’s office. Jason quickly took off his shirt and tossed it on the offending sight before him. The blood tendrils once again shot out from Sypha, impacting all across the site and the healing process began. Jordan sighed as he rubbed his hand. His healing factor had already healed the damage the slap had done to his own hand, but he never quite got used to the pain hitting Aryin brought. “Okay, I got this boys,” Sypha looked up, “they’re really hurt though and they’ll be here a while. Get a spare change of clothes for them, and grab Octavia.” [color=8A2BE2]“Where am I,”[/color] Aaron weakly asked as he tried to lean up but a new blood tendril shot out and hit his head, and forced it back down. Life was already returning to his eyes, his face, and his body in general. He groaned as the pain radiated ten times as strong as his internal body began to let itself back together again. “Your back at the 317. The better question,” Sypha said as she shooed Jordan and Jason away to their tasks, “What happened to you?” [color=8A2BE2]“I,”[/color] Aaron paused as he sighed. Fuck. He was about to reveal he joined up with sycamore again. His breathing began to increase as the crushing realization of a sudden trip down poverty lane was ahead of him. “Hey don’t worry, we know who you were with. Rules are going to be changing so you’re good,” Sypha smiled. They did not like the rule change but it was needed, and if they were going to join up they needed all the able bodied soldiers they could muster. “Just tell me what happened.” [color=8A2BE2]“I joined up with sycamore,”[/color] Aaron groaned in pain as his broken ribs continued to move inside his body, [color=8A2BE2]“wanted to figure out what’s killing us, you know? And we were at a dead friends house when 8th street,”[/color] Aaron paused as Octavia entered the room with a set of clothes that should fit in hand. She had a concerned look on her face. [color=8A2BE2]“When 8th street attacked us unprovoked,”[/color] Aryin pointed towards their wounded chest, [color=8A2BE2]“courtesy of George once again,”[/color] he coughed up some more lingering blood. “Twice in one week, you’re crazy,” Octavia responded as she tossed the clothes onto Aaron’s feet. “How did George get you this bad though, last time was not like this.” [color=8A2BE2]“A good friend and I used to do a duo spell,”[/color] Aaron started. “A joint cast,” Sypha responded. “Yeah, it’s called a joint cast,” Jordan responded as he entered the room again. [color=8A2BE2]“A joint cast,”[/color] Aaron rolled hood eyes, [color=8A2BE2]“gave me some more power but,”[/color] he paused as he sighed, [color=8A2BE2]“I may have forgot the downside to my durability.”[/color] The blood tendrils retracted from his body as Sypha steadied herself. Octavia ran over and held Sypha upright. “You’re out of the scary zone but you need much, much more healing. I’m tapped. Let’s take a quick fifteen, let you get dressed, let me regenerate” Sypha paused as she pointed towards the door. Octavia began to help walk her towards it. [color=8A2BE2]“What’s changing, what’s changed,”[/color] Aaron asked with a smirk. Jordan looked to Octavia with a grin, and Octavia returned it before the duo looked to Aaron. “Rest up big man,” Jordan joked as he left the room. “We have much to talk about tonight,” Octavia smiled as she did the same with Sypha in tow.