[sup][h1][center][url=https://open.spotify.com/track/4OmlsAT8r4q9vPFBvfYgyZ?si=e6b0245683d2424b][img]https://i.imgur.com/PNkV2rk.jpeg[/img][/url][b][color=black]L U C I L L E  C A L D E R[/color]
[color=lightgray] L U C I L L E  C A L D E R[/color]
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[indent][sub][COLOR=SILVER][B]Location:[/B][/COLOR] [I]Northern Forest[/I] - [I]Dundas Island[/I][/sub][sup][right][COLOR=SILVER][b]Human #5.022:[/b][/COLOR] [I]Search the sky for a while[/I][/right][/sup][/indent][sub][hr][/sub][INDENT][sub][color=SILVER][B]Interaction(s): [/B][/COLOR] [I] Alyssa, [@Lord Wraith] [/I][/sub][/indent]
[indent][color=gray]Alyssa had always been sensitive about Luce's heart. 

Luce took pains to remind her it was no more or less vulnerable than any other organ, and even that it had, in fact, been the very first piece of Luce supplanted by her abilities, skewered in a very different forest a very long time ago. After Alyssa had banished the Chernobog - and one of their peers with it - the very first thing she'd done was rush to Luce, taking her injured body into her subtly strong arms and carrying her bodily from the ARC to receive medical attention Luce neither wanted nor needed, even despite Luce being very much able to leave the ruined hall under her own steam. Still, Luce couldn't say she was ungrateful or unmoved by Alyssa's continued, consistent affection and care over her, despite the obvious redundancies in such concern. It was just another example of the bond forged between the girls, a bond so heavily appreciated and needed in the wake of the attack. PRCU was closing and the island returning to the purview of national government and bureaucracy; when that news had landed, it had been Luce's turn to take her friend in her arms. 

Now, though, Luce poked around the foliage and debris of the northern forest, and if it weren't for the fresh scar trailing diagonally down from the side of her throat down to below her heart, you might not know anything had happened at all. It was the last few days they had on the island before they'd be officially trespassing; while others spent their time finishing packing, or commiserating with their friends, or securing transport to whichever corner of the earth they were now forced to return to, Luce was following a trail, chasing a scent that faded further every second. It had been recent, a couple weeks at most, but as ever, magic didn't like to play by the rules. Sometimes even its own.

She swept some dead leaves and snapped twigs aside with the toe of her boot, carefully inspecting the ground. The forest was still around her; that's how she'd known she was in the right place to begin with, the trail leading her into a dead zone of activity and noise. It had been almost a toggle - crossed some invisible threshold, and the sounds of birds and rustling in the brush had fallen away in a near-instant, replaced only with wind through the trees. Sometimes, the breeze would carry an eerie, almost imperceptible whistle with it, and Luce would raise her head sharply and listen, only for the silence to return. She consciously suppressed the feeling of fear that crept up her spine and whispered in the back of her mind. The fear was how it started. The fear was what they wanted.

She edged forward, shuffling more foliage from before her and continuing her inspection. The scorch marks had to be around here somewhere, and from there she could follow the echoes back to the entryway. Wendigos didn't just [i]happen[/i]; they [i]arrived[/i], which meant they had to come through from where they should be to where they shouldn't. Beasts weren't clever enough not to make a mess of it; rips like those were rarely ever just one-way.

[color=#ff9f36]“The moon in Ünterland is always red,”[/color] Alyssa began, appearing behind Luce as as she watched her friend look around the scene where the pair had fought the Wendigo. [color=#ff9f36]“A blood moon in Midyeden signals a Conjunction between the two planes.”[/color] Her eyes were elsewhere as she spoke, as though reciting her words from a long-forgotten verse. [color=#ff9f36]“The next lunar eclipse is not until New Year’s Eve. But there is another time that Limbo opens this time of year.”[/color] She continued, looking to the mid-September sky.

[color=#ff9f36]“The Hunter’s Moon.”[/color] Alyssa whispered. [color=#ff9f36]“When the harvest is ready, the Hunter’s Moon rises.”[/color] She paused, her eyes returning to Luce, finally focusing on her friend with a small smirk tugging at her lips. [color=#ff9f36]“Lucille Calder, I [i]know[/i] you're not looking for a rogue conjunction point by yourself, especially without proper warding. Because that would be [i]idiotic.[/i]”[/color] She teased, lightly. [color=#ff9f36]“Limbo would tear you apart, and whatever [i]did[/i] land in Ünterland would be little more than a shell. What protects us here, abandons us there. The Council tolerates our help due to the dwindling number of Jäger left, but they still withhold much from us.”[/color]

[color=9370D8]“They withhold too much.”[/color] Luce said, not looking up from the forest floor as she continued to search. [color=9370D8]“They are happy to send us slaying, but unwilling to properly equip us to do so. Were it not for Ellara or your family, we’d have been slain ourselves long ago, and I think the Council would be all the gladder for it.”[/color] She looked over her shoulder, casting a conspiratorial eye. [color=9370D8]“Are you here to preach, or to help?”[/color]

[color=#ff9f36]“Help?”[/color] Alyssa asked in a confused tone. [color=#ff9f36]“Help with what? The Wendigo’s Conjunction will have been long gone by now; scars may remain, but they will be inert. The effects that Ünterland had on this forest mere weeks ago have already begun to dissipate. Without another Sheol stone, we can’t get into Limbo, and again, Lucille Calder, you do not possess the proper warding.”[/color] 

Alyssa raised her left palm towards the other girl, displaying the rune that was tattooed there. Beneath her wrist was another marking, a number and small barcode etched into her wrist by a painful memory and a place she’d rather not return. 
[color=#ff9f36]“With P.R.C.U. gone, the Council is all I have. I will not return to the Foundation Institute.”[/color] Alyssa stated defiantly. [color=#ff9f36]“You are therefore stuck with me and procedure. We should ask the Chosen to imbue their blood onto another stone.”[/color]

Luce sighed, frustrated but defeated. Alyssa was right; whatever hole the Wendigo had torn its way through had long since healed, if not been outright repaired; Ellara wasn’t one to be so careless and Luce couldn’t be sure fixing the Conjunction hadn’t been half the reason she’d even come to the island at all. She certainly hadn’t spent much time with Lorcán. Luce stood up, stretching out her knees and spine.

[sub][color=9370D8]“Don’t take me for granted.”[/color][/sub] Luce said quietly, before she turned to face Alyssa. [color=9370D8]“Stuck with you, I’ll give you that. I don’t care much for ‘procedure’, though. If procedure meant anything, we’d have been properly sworn in before we ever needed to return here. And now, it feels like we’re just back where we were post-Hyperion. Except…minus another safety net.”[/color]

She walked toward Alyssa, gesturing forth to lead them out the way she’d come in, her search an ultimately fruitless endeavor; it was just busywork to occupy Luce’s mind, more than something that might actually produce results. She just needed to feel like she was doing [i]something[/i], rather than submitting to the blackness that lurked ever-so-close behind her, forever nipping at her heels since the day she'd walked out of the woods, and her brothers hadn't. 
[color=9370D8]“Alright. Let’s get out of here. But the Council isn't just going to give us a couple fresh stones because we asked nicely. Especially not for Hype drama. Maybe El can still bend some sympathetic ears without them needing to know about it.”[/color]

[color=#ff9f36]“Then we best be moving on. Ellara Van Abrams has returned to the Black Forest.”[/color]
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