FernStone
NoriWasHere
Antlers
Estylwen
TokyoPewPew
Framing A Moose
Cao the Exiled
Raijinslayer
Mixtape Ghost N
AtomicEmperor
Penny was going to miss. She never missed. Sigil glowing, her finger course corrected as Mariah lifted Isla out of the pool. However, she had to snap her hand back as she felt her weight begin to shift. Any further and she would’ve thrown herself into the pool, and frankly Penny didn’t put as much value into a good booping as other people rightfully did. Yet she still felt the disappointment. She adjusted her sun hat as she stood back up, readied a mock scowl to throw at laundry day cowpoke who’d “saved” Isla that immediately broke as the Scotswoman started rambling.
Penny was trying to find a way to get a word edgewise when all of their attention was drawn to the shouting at the other end of the pool. Some girl in a headscarf was yelling and gesturing wildly between Kimberly and Jordan’s cousin. Madison, right? Penny raised eyebrows graduated into a single laugh as she saw the tired look on Kimberly’s face. She gave her friend an unhelpful thumbs-up. It was becoming a trend where each time they offered to help someone they got yelled at instead. At least Kimberly wasn’t getting threatened with a gun. The shouting girl began to back down, but Penny kept an eye out just in case things turned ugly. She wouldn’t let Kimberly stew in witch drama if she didn’t think Kimberly couldn’t manage it.
"Or you? Who're you? What--" said Mariah. "--y'all ain't just secret members of the coven I ain't met or somethin', right?"
“I’m Pen—”
Isla, quick as ever with her tongue, beat Penny to her own introduction, “She’s Penny. Definitely ain’t a coven secret member, she’s way too competent for that, no offence to like everyone here.”
“Yeah I’m beginning to get that impression,” said a distracted Penny, her narrowed eyes relaxing as the situation at the other end of the pool seemed to diffuse itself as other members of the Coven came forward to put a stop to the drama. She shook her head and focused her attention on the two in front of her. “Anyway, yep, I just can’t get enough of this supernatural shit. Helping a friend hunt down a man eating monster in return for her helping me investigate a doomsday prophecy. You know.” She shrugged. “The usual.”
Penny’s eyes drifted over to Mariah as she spoke. Momentary confusion over her bizarre wardrobe faded as she smiled and gave a head nod up, “Thanks for saving my friend from the pool. I told her she needed to start wearing floaties everywhere after the boat incident.” Penny paused as she focused on the top of Mariah’s head, her brow knitted. She was pretty sure she had the same one back in the day. Shit, it was definitely gone now. “I like your hat.”
“And hold up, did you say you Florida was nice? Is that what drove you to joining a bunch of witches instead of just getting a plane ticket home?” said Penny, turning her attention back to Isla.
Madison unleashed the verbal assault as Vashti closed her eyes, her finger tracing the ridges of the quarter. She wasn’t trying to keep the Leviathan back. The Leviathan was in deep hibernation, unwilling to come out while Kimberly was present. Vashti just didn’t want her crying to be as obvious as it was while Madison hit her with brutal accusations. She was shocked by the remarks because of how deadly accurate they were. They pierced right through her scales and cut her deep. What had been her gut reaction just now, as Madison berated her? To cry, to play the victim, and to complain about how Madison always targeted her.
No, fuck that, this was unfair. She was a victim. Madison had assaulted her. Before that, Madison had insulted her, bullied her, picked on her. Kimberly had abandoned her to a pick of uncaring bitches that operated under false pretenses of being a sisterhood. She had been cursed to turn into a goddamn monster, and it was all because of some jerk from the internet. She had agreed to only meet with that asshole because she wanted to...Vashti choked back more tears. She was standing on a dangerous precipice. Not many people survived falling from the pedestal that had been built upon the refusal to take responsibility for their actions. She froze.
And took the verbal lashing in silence, still frozen on that edge.
Madison left. A pyrrhic victory if there ever had been one. The quarter was cutting into her flesh now. She hadn’t been pushed over. Not yet. Emily was the one to do that. Instantly, Vashti felt like pleading, backing up to say that she wanted to find a cure for both her and for Emily’s—somebody. Vashti let out a ragged breath. Emily had told her and Herik about needing to find a cure for a curse in private, and Vashti had practically forgotten about it entirely. She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand as Emily called for Herik to come get her as if she was a bratty child throwing a tantrum that was incapable of taking care of herself. She was falling now. She wasn’t a child. She just wanted to know why everybody was always being so mean to her when all she had ever been was supportive and nice and friendly and any time she wasn’t it was because her curse made her do it and really they should appreciate all she has done for—
“Oh my god,” muttered Vashti, horrified, as she hit the bottom.
Opening her eyes, she shrugged off Herik, walked over to a deck chair as Emily and Lyss saved the situation, sat down, and, finally, kept her wayward mouth shut.
