blackdragon

The Sisters of the Dying Branch

Rebecca looked at the fight breaking out with more than a little apprehension. She didn’t like fighting at the best of times, and once everybody brought magic into the picture, it could get very bad, very fast. Add in the fact of life that was teenage impulse, and well… it wasn’t entirely impossible that she could have a few new ghosts to talk to soon.

This needs to be nipped in the bud, now. We can’t have the coven turning on each other like this, especially over something so petty. Rebecca wasn’t the type to raise her voice often, so on the rare occasion she did, it was all the more memorable. With a few good breaks, she could calm everybody down, or at least “Both of you, knock it off! Summer, I really don’t think she ordered Astro to steal the bracelet, so don’t take it out on the little guy. And Kota, once you realized it wasn’t yours, you should have found out whose it was and returned it. Now, can we start being civilized about this whole thing and resolve this peacefully? Please?”

A voice came up from behind the medium. It was Cassandra, wearing a happy little grin. “I’ve got twenty bucks on Summer!” she called out to nobody in particular. Rebecca, for her part, simply buried her face deep in her hands. “What did I do to end up in this place? Kick a puppy into low-earth orbit or something?” she wondered aloud. This was going to be one heck of an interesting time. Hopefully, the fallout from all this wouldn’t be too disastrous… but she seriously doubted they’d all get that lucky.

The Sisters of the Dying Branch

Rebecca started to turn even paler when sleeping outside was brought up. Turns out, the coven’s pretty little princess wasn’t exactly a nature girl. “Uh… you mean with all the bugs and the dirt? O-okay, I guess.” A little shiver ran through her as she tried to get her things together for this. Whatever happened, she was going to need to spend the whole day in the shower.

“Um… If anybody wants me to, I can project out and keep watch. It’ll get my body some sleep, and make sure nothing disturbs us.” The witch blinked a few times, then went to join the other initiates. I wonder if the elders have any surprises planned for us. I wouldn’t put it past them…

Cassandra, meanwhile, was quite fine with it all. The goth sorceress needed surprisingly little to get through the night, and she was one of the first ready to go. A comfortable sleeping bag- midnight black, of course- and a particularly fluffy pillow was all she took with her.

“Well, ladies, gentlemen, and various assorted others. I think it’s about high time we got on the road.” She hoisted her duffel bag on her shoulder, not really wanting to levitate it, but she was still interested in what a better connection to nature would do to her curses. It was time to find out...

The Sisters of the Dying Branch

Rebecca nodded as Sister Deborah started to herd them back towards the coven house. "Yeah... going back sounds real nice right about now." She joined the throng of new witches, still reeking of Eau de Stagnant Water and unsteady on her feet.

As she made her way back to the table, the medium started to see a few more ghosts, but something was... odd. She'd always had to focus a little bit to interact with the dead, and they were constantly fuzzy, but now, she could see them easily and clearly. Something to do with the wellspring, perhaps? Jennifer floated over, not the pale spectre she usually was, but bright and colorful, almost solid. "Wow! I could feel the magic coming off you before, but now? It's like comparing a faucet to a fire hose!"

"I know. I'm amazed by all the power. It... it might actually go to my head, you know. Not that I'm going to let it. Hopefully."

The Sisters of the Dying Branch

Cassandra looked at the knife with what could only be described as dispassion. So, this is all I have to do? Easy enough, let's get this over with. The cursewright stabbed herself, then drank the blood. It felt like a hundred lightning bolts went through her body at once, as she went stiff as a board and fell blind for a few seconds.

As she got up, having toppled over backwards, she saw that her problems had been comparatively minor. Rebecca looked like one of the dead she dealt with on a regular basis, Calypso was puking up more stuff than she thought humanly possible, and the rest of the witchlings were in various states of agony and physiological mayhem. A perfect chance for me to play it all up, she thought. With a grin on her face far more suited to a six-year-old getting her first puppy than a teenager who'd just been knocked flat on her ass, she quipped "That was fun! Let's do it again! Let's do it again!"

The Sisters of the Dying Branch

Blood magic. Ugh, really? At least we don't have to sign away our souls... Rebecca rolled her eyes at the idea of drinking her own blood. Sure, she'd sacrificed a drop or two to open a way to the afterlife before, but this just felt a little too macabre. And that was saying a lot for Little Miss Death Magic. She looked back at the rest of the witchlings. At her family. At her friends.

She stabbed her palm, letting a trickle of red fluid slide into the cup. "Over the lips and over the gums, look out stomach, here it comes." The redhead downed the drink in one gulp and saw... well, she wasn't sure what the hell she saw. Flames, great castles, various kinds of entities that twisted her mind. A vision of the world beyond, perhaps? Finally, after what seemed like years, she came to face down and half drowned in the lake. Sputtering, she hauled herself out of the drink, her robe absolutely ruined beyond all hope of repair by pond scum. "Um... I think that could have gone better, couldn't it?" she quipped, her face the same tomato-colored shade of her hair. But she was a witch, she was a sister, and nobody could ever take that away from her.

The Sisters of the Dying Branch

Cassandra looked down and realized she'd forgotten her purse. Cussing up a storm (cursing was something extremely different, in her experience), she went back to the food table. As she found the black leather bag, she also saw Hana there, lagging behind the rest of the witchlings. Huh. I thought everybody was already up at the house.

"Oh, hello, Hana. I almost didn't see you there." Cassandra gave Hana a warm grin as she went up to the potioneer witch. "Mind walking down to the house with me? I could certainly use the company, and I've got a few ideas I want to talk to you about, if you'd be so good."

The Sisters of the Dying Branch

“What could go wrong?” Oh, how Rebecca rolled her eyes at that statement. Every witch in the world knew far better than to tempt the fates like that. Still, she managed to keep her spirits up- though she did a quick search for a four leaf clover, just in case. “Don’t think like that, Rowan. If you believe you’re going to fail, then that’s what will happen. But if you believe you’ll succeed…” The medium tapped the side of her head. “It’s all up here, Rowan. That’s what decides how you do.”

It was then that Kate came up, making a crack about summoning Satan. “I hope not, Kate. Besides the obvious problems with calling up the Lord of Evil- and how would you put him back down- I don’t want to even guess at the cost we’d have to pay. Whatever it is, I’m pretty sure it’s not that.” Thank god.

Redhart Academy: A Fantasy/Horror RP

My lamia should fit in just fine with a little adapting.

The Sisters of the Dying Branch

Rebecca listened to Sister Deborah's speech with interest. She let out a whispered "Thank you" when the coven's leader mentioned those who had passed in the previous year- she couldn't see any of their ghosts around, but it didn't hurt to give her respects. Finally, the moment arrived. Sister Deborah told them all to meet for the binding ritual, and she let out a very unladylike yelp of sheer joy.

The medium was absolutely off like a shot, making a beeline for the house. On the way, she saw Rowan heading there as well. "Hey, Rowan. Mind if I join you?" Without even so much as waiting for a response in her giddiness, she continued on. "Any idea what they're going to throw at us? I've asked a few of the spirits, out of sheer curiosity, but they've all been careful not to let anything slip out."

The Sisters of the Dying Branch

Cassandra sat bolt upright when Sister Deborah started her speech. She knew exactly what this meant. After going through the usual motions, and a moment of silence for those who had passed, the coven's leader got to the point that the cursewright had been waiting for: listing the names of the new witches and telling them to meet for the ritual. With a grin on her face, she headed straight for the house, almost feeling light enough to fly. Almost- she'd leave the aerobatics to Dakota.

A few of the other witchlings were already there, and Cassandra caught sight of Iris. The other girl had been interested in golems lately; taking the phrase 'making new friends' a little too literally for her taste, but to each their own. She gave Iris a curt but friendly nod. "So, who's the buddy you've got over there, Iris? Somebody new?"