FernStone

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

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“I’m already wearing a hat,” Maya said to Quinn, almost at the exact same time that Claudette did. She shook her head but didn’t get a chance to say anything disparaging as a very familiar woman appeared.

“Phillis?” Her eyebrows raised and she smiled as charmingly as she could, in the sudden situation. She’d expected Phillis to be on the orgy yacht as much as she’d been expected, it seemed. Blake really wasn’t holding back by inviting his wife to his full on orgy. That was probably why she was drunk. “Well, it is nice to see you… Can’t say I was invited, but just don’t tell Blake and it’ll be fine.”

She tapped her nose before stepping forward, slipping an arm around Phillis’ waist: partly to move things forward, and partly because she was drunk and Maya really didn’t want her to fall overboard. “Mmm, I don’t think they’re interested, so why don’t we find a room...”

“...Fire!”

“... In the opposite direction of that fire! My friend will deal with it, so I wouldn’t worry,” Maya nodded, half to Claudette even though she had no intention of staying there. That would be cruel to poor Quinn to have to watch what would happen. “Can’t say I’ve had a chance to look around so why don’t you show me one of the lovely rooms I’m sure this place has, and we can repeat last time.”

She winked at Phillis and started to head towards one of the doors inside.

This certainly was a nice surprise, and made waiting around while everyone else actually did shit well worth it.

Neon Rainbow: Kings & Queens of Miami (Quirky gang satire set in a Neon-aesthetic Miami)

@The Ghost Note

Ayano “Kite” Kojima

Full Size Image _______________________________________________ Ayano Kojima _______________________________________________ May 27, 1995 | 25 | African-American & Japanese _______________________________________________ Single | She/Her | Pansexual _______________________________________________ “Kite” | Car “Acquirer” _______________________________________________ Physical Profile ___________________________________ [+] Basics: • Height | 5'-4" • Weight | 121 lbs • Build | Hourglass shaped, athletic • Hair Color | Black • Eye Color | Dark brown

Physical Profile ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ At first glance Ayano is clearly mixed: her mother is Japanese and her father is presumably African-American. Her black hair is incredibly curly and falls down just past her shoulders. She rarely bothers to tame it but will tie it back when it gets in her ways. Her dark eyes are akin to her mother’s, monolid and fairly large. Her wide nose and thick lips are a mix of both, as is her warm, medium brown skin tone. She’s also got a fair amount of piercings: left nostril and four piercings in both ears, two on the lobe and two helixes. Ayano ended up with a pretty nice body, athletic from exercising (fighting) and quite curvy. Her ass isn’t the largest but it’s certainly way more than her mother’s flat one. On the other hand she has a large chest: though she has a habit of wearing sports bras half the time just to make it a little more manageable. It’s still pretty noticeable even in that case. By some miracle she managed to avoid getting many scars as she grew up: a few small ones, and a noticeable one on her hip from a nasty fall. Clothing wise, Ayano varies a lot by how she’s feeling. On some days she’s happy to show herself off: wearing tight crop tops or low cut shirts. On other days she’s the complete opposite, wearing loose t-shirts with her bright purple bomber jacket on top. The only constant is that she wears shorts almost all the time, jeans only being for when it’s actually cold. Ayano has one tattoo, which is a large watercolour bird on her back with all sorts of colours behind it. Psychological Profile ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ Deadpan: Ayano looks like she’s absolutely done most of the time, and it goes along with how she speaks most of the time. She’s certainly not the most expressive around most people and it kind of goes along with how sarcastic she is with most of what she says. Confident: Not full of herself, but Ayano is pretty confident in both her opinions and her body. She’ll gladly stick up for herself and is confident enough in her ability to beat someone up if they get a bit too aggressive with her. Bullshit Tolerant: Cause of her mom’s personality, Ayano’s put up with an awful lot of shit. She’s the kind of person who can just tolerate it without losing it at the person pushing at her… though she’s not gonna hide how much she’s done with it. Touch Repulsed: Unless it’s someone she’s friendly with, Ayano absolutely hates being touched by other people. Like, aggressively. So it’s best not to try unless she’d said it’s okay… otherwise the offending hand might just get broken.

_{Criminal-Past
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Ayano was born in Neon Miami, and to put it bluntly she was a mistake. Her mother was a prostitute, a lower level member of the Lips, and her father one of her clients. Things went wrong and it ended up with Ayano. So little Ayano was raised without even knowing who her father was and no chance of ever finding him. Now her mother wasn’t the worst mum in the world, but she certainly wouldn’t get a prize for being the best - she had a very hands off parenting technique (and had no qualms telling Ayano about all sorts of things a kid her age shouldn’t know). Thankfully for Ayano, she had plenty of big sister figures in her life… only they were all in the same line of work as her mother and gang members. When she wasn’t spending time with them she was hanging out with other youths like her, vandalising shit and stealing - her mother didn’t exactly have money to get her a phone or anything. All things considered, Ayano grew up about how you’d expect for someone in her situation.

Now, Ayano’s future was always set in her mother’s eyes: she’d follow in her footsteps, join the Lips and make back the money that had been spent on her upbringing (which was pitiful little, anyway). Ayano herself didn’t have much say in this… not that she had any thoughts for the future anyway, after spending all her childhood as a hoodlum. So she went along with it and went right into that line of work as soon as she was legal (and thankfully not before). It wasn’t exactly something she enjoyed but it brought in money and kept her mother happy. Everything was going absolutely swimmingly until she was twenty when one of her clients got a little too interested in her… in a stalker way. This culminated into him breaking into her flat, when her mother was away, and tried to force himself onto her. In her panic Ayano managed to grab a gun she always kept under her bed and shot him. Then she shot him again, and again. Then he was dead.

She was left shaken, from murdering someone and everything that had happened. She was left with two choices: stay and wait for her mother to get back, hoping it could get cleared up by being members of the Lips. Then she’d go right back to the life she’d been living up until then. Or, she could flee.

Ayano chose to flee. She didn’t want to go back to how things had been, not after that. So she quickly packed her essential things and ran.

This led to her joining the Royals, with the plan to live a completely different life from before… well, to never consider prostitution and do other sorts of terrible things. She switched to the street name Kite, after the bird - following her love of birds and some bullshit about birds representing freedom (but mostly the former, lame as it all was). Unlike others, she isn’t that bothered about being called that or Ayano. She started specialising in stealing… namely, car theft. After the learning curve jumping to that from her other kinds of stealing (don’t need to hotwire a phone) she quickly made a name for herself in the gang for doing it, becoming one of the best when it came to getting them the next car for racing: whatever the make they wanted, she’d get it. And when she wasn’t doing that she was beating up people who’d crossed them and destroying their property, because where was the fun in sticking with just one thing?

_{Arrest & Sentencing Information
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Criminal Offense | Notes

Second Degree Murder | One count: murder of a stalker. The man was shot, but it wasn’t a premeditated murder.

Motor Vehicle Theft | Many counts of Ayano stealing cars on behalf of the Royals, far too many to count.

Larceny | Aside from the vehicles, Ayano has been stealing since she was young: from simple things in convenience stores to phones.

Assault | The list is long: security guards, store owners, rowdy clients and most commonly rival gang members.

Vandalism | Ayano destroyed a lot of property growing up, and never stopped.

_{Skills & Equipment
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_Skills:

Theft | Since she was a kid Ayano was stealing, starting small and getting bigger as she got older. When she joined the Royals she got into stealing cars for their races, something she is very good at. While she isn’t going to pull off a bank robbery she’s very good at car theft and all that comes with it (hotwiring ect).

Street Fighting | Ayano was always tussling with other kids her age, and this fighting and violence got worse as she grew up. She’s adept at beating people up, especially if she has a bat in hand.

Point Blank Shooting | She killed a man, once, and would do it again. Ayano isn’t a good shot but she has no qualms about hurting people with it, which is half the struggle. She can’t aim at a distance but up close she’s an alright shot and technically knows how to use a gun.

Languages | Ayano is bilingual, having been brought up speaking Japanese along with English. On top of this she has a talent for picking up languages and has picked up a little bit of Spanish, Portugese and Chinese from clients.

_Equipment:

Car Stealing Toolkit | Ayano always carries around a bunch of items thrown together into a makeshift tool kit to help with car jacking. Most notably this contains a long rod with a hooked end, lock picking tools, spare wires, a screwdriver, and much more.

Metal Baseball Bat | Ayano’s trust baseball bat, which hasn’t seen a single day of baseball in its life… but a hell of a lot of people’s heads. This is her weapon of choice in both beating people and property into a bloody mess.

The Murder Weapon | A pistol that Ayano was gifted by her mother on her 18th birthday which was used for her one count of murder. It’s served her well so far and she’s rarely found without it, even if it doesn’t see much use. It's not the most powerful but it does the job.

^{Other
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Nomadic Odyssey: Fallen Virtue [Cancelled]

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Aline gave a wide grin as Brown went off in response to her compliment, nodding along and not put off at all when her arm popped out of her shoulder. On the other hand, Isko looked like he wanted to pick up the injured girl and run her to the nearest hospital.

“I’m holding you to that!” Aline piped up after Brown stopped talking, absolutely set on getting shown how to land without a parachute. It looked like a whole load of fun! “Parachute’s are lame, anyway. I’m definitely never using one again.”

“And life saving,” Isko muttered, rolling his eyes. He then practically grabbed his sister by the back of her coat and dragged her towards Jonas - who he’d much rather be by than the worst influence ever. He gave the doctor a nod, and then towards Otsana, but was otherwise silent.

"I bet I can beat the both of you to the bottom of the hill!"

Brown

“You’re on!” Aline grinned, immediately pelting after Brown… But much slower because the snow came up to her waist and she wasn’t burning through it like the other girl was (she must be warm, Aline wanted to get closer just for that). “Hey, wait up! Some of us can’t melt everything!”

Isko shook his head but started the walk towards the tower with the actually sensible members of the group… not that they got further before some jackass appeared shouting Ninja far too many times. Isko had to resist the urge to face palm and just turn around to walk in the other direction. Was all this worth going through? Normally he was pretty chill with things, but there was only so much shit he could talk while trudging through freezing ice to defeat a wannabe robot overlord.

He couldn’t turn away, though, because his sister was off chasing after Brown and would definitely get herself killed.

“I agree, let’s get this over with,” Isko let out a heaving sigh as Jonas told them to get going again, once again starting walking. He pointed towards Aline and Brown in their weird race towards the bottom of the slope as he did. “And try to catch up with those two.”

He tilted his head as they continued walking, eyes narrowing as he had to concentrate to ki-sense: trying to ignore the energies coming from Brown and his sister as she tried to catch up. Two people fighting… he assumed they were up against Oh-One. That meant they were getting close. He turned to look at Jonas.

“So, what’s the plan for when we reach the fight?”

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

For anyone interesting I've added a second character who Ima bring in after this Blake arc (from another recollections rp) (i totally could've just said on the discord but for the sake of ooc activity)

If people cba to scroll to my character post in that tab:

Isla Douglas

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"You wanna know more about me? Well, let me tell you..."

[ 21 | 5’6” | Iranian [Scottish] | She/her | 114lbs ]

[Dishonesty]

APPEARANCE

"I don't think I'm dressed for the weather here..."

Smug smile nearly always on her lips, Isla exudes confidence in her physical appearance. She has a slim body with lean muscles and reasonable curves, even if she’s a bit lacking in some areas. She has a nice figure when she wears form fitting clothes and she knows it. She has a gentle, oval shaped face with a well defined jaws. Her nose is rounded and lacks any definition at the bridge, smoothing up towards her dark brown eyes. She almost always wears eyeliner and eyeshadow around them along with red lipstick on nicely defined lips. Her skin is a warm brown in colour, lighter than expected for her origins due to a lack of sun while growing up.

Isla is never found without her yellow, knitted beanie on her head. It covers the natural dark brown roots of her hair, which she has dyed a golden blonde. It’s long and curly, something she rarely bothers to tame as it falls midway down her back. Even though Isla is confident in her looks she rarely makes an effort to wear nice clothes that show it off. She’s almost always found in a baggy hoodie and black skinny jeans, preferring combinations of bright oranges, yellows and reds. Only when she’s feeling especially good, or wants to make a good impression, will she wear something more form fitting - most likely the same skinny jeans and low cut, tight shirts.

One of the most shocking things about Isla is her accent, which is clearly Scottish (Glaswegian specifically). She tones it down when around people who aren’t from there, but it’s still clear and will often get thicker as she gets angrier. Isla’s never actually spent a day in her life in Iran so contrary to her appearance she’s more Scottish than anything.

PSYCHOLOGY

"If I’m being honest..."

MAIN GOAL ⫻ Isla’s main goal right now is to get enough money to find a way back home. Aside from this, she just wants to live her life having fun and spending time with others, living each day as it comes to it fullest. Deep down, she wants to be able to actually stop lying and start being honest to herself and others. She also used to want to go become a Vet but never got the grades for it and doubts she could ever achieve their goal. But she doesn’t really have a solid goal.

WHAT THEY WANT OUT OF THE COVEN ⫻ Since she got stuck in Tampa, Isla trawled the internet and managed to find out about the coven (and watched a few videos of them). She figured that her best of getting by in a strange city was to join a group of witches. From the coven she’s mostly looking for companionship in a strange place, help getting home and maybe a place to stay.

PHILOSOPHY ⫻ Always look out for yourself, and don’t let anyone else know the real you. Isla basically believes in lying to make it and to be included and that you should cover up the worst parts of yourself. She has a sense of companionship and believes groups are better than individuals, but would still choose self prioritisation.

SECRETS ⫻ The fact that almost nothing she tells others is the truth, and that most of what they know about her is lies. How insecure she actually is.

SEXUALITY ⫻ Bisexual. Isla has had relationships with both men and women in the past, and is comfortable with this.

FEARS ⫻ Isla fears being found out for all her lies. She also fears not being liked by anyone and being excluded.

REPUTATION ⫻ None, since she just arrived in Tampa.

FLAWS ⫻ Isla is a pathological liar for a start, and very little that she says is entirely honest. With her dishonesty comes a certain expectation that others will be the same and she isn’t very trusting of others. Contrary to her relaxed attitude, Isla is actually often on edge and in anticipation of something happening. She’s also fairly insecure, something she covers up with her lies and bright persona and attempts to fit in. She also has a really annoying habit of going on and on when talking.

BACKSTORY

"You’ll never believe how I got here."

Isla never knew her birth parents: her mother passed away giving birth to her and she didn’t have a registered father. However, this wasn’t a particularly sad thing for the girl - she quickly got adopted in her birth country of Scotland by a couple who couldn’t have their own child. Her adoptive parents weren’t particularly well off but they provided her with everything she could need. They were great parents and brought her up well.

Unfortunately for them Isla fell in with a bad crowd in her highschool years. She started hanging out on the streets, stealing and fighting and smoking. She wasn’t exactly the ringleader but she participated pretty heavily in the theft side of things. It was when with this group that Isla first started lying, discovering that it was easier to gain people to her side and get what she wanted by being dishonest.

It was when she was seventeen that things took a turn for the weirder. One day she messed up when she was staying over at a friend’s in Edinburgh, and let her friend egg her on to steal from a really fancy high street shop. But eyes were already on her as soon as she entered because she clearly looked out of place, and she got caught as soon as she started pocketing stuff. One minute she was staring at a shop worker, tension high as she waited for the consequences, the next she was in the back alley outside and hit by a vision of someone she’d never been before.

This woman introduced herself as Isla’s biological mother, who explained to her that she had been an Adept - and so was Isla. She explained to her exactly what this meant and about the powers that Isla had now inherited. In this vision she told the teenager a bit about herself and how to use her newfound abilities. This left Isla confused about suddenly discovering a world of Extra-Normal she’d never known about before.

However it didn’t change her life much, beyond giving her something else to practice and making her even better as a degenerate teenager. She kept it secret and went through her life, graduating highschool and going to college for stonemasonry, before getting an apprenticeship in that.

Then, very recently, Isla ended up waking up in a strange boat in a place called Paradise. This led to grouping up with a bunch of strangers and going through quite a few crazy (horrible) adventures, which included watching one person get bifurcated and then finding out a little girl was behind it all. Once all was said and done the girl opened a portal to take them back home… only Isla ended up in Tampa, Florida.

SKILLS & TALENTS

"Oh, this is yours?"

Theft ⫻ Isla has been stealing since she was in early highschool and it’s a skill, and bad habit, she’s never broken. Her main skill lies in stealing from shops or of other things just left lying around, picking it up without others noticing. She also has experience with stealing directly from people (and their pockets) - but how well this goes is heavily dependent on how perceptive the person she’s stealing from is.

Lying ⫻ Due to basically being a pathological liar, Isla is very good at lying. Most of what she says is believable, and most of what she says is lies (well, the twisted truth). She’s not perfect, lacking an amazing memory, so she does sometimes mess up consistency wise - but overall it’s hard to tell when she’s lying or when she’s telling the truth.

Street Fighting ⫻ Isla spent most of her highschool years and beyond hanging out with unsavoury characters, some of which were pretty good fighters. She picked up a few tricks from them from the tumbles she got into - she could take people without any fighting experience easily but would get beaten by those who are trained. She tends to fight dirty and always carries a foldable knife with her, just in case.

Understanding Scottish ⫻ Alright, most may not think of it as a skill in any form but Isla is pretty proud of her ability to understand the thicker Scottish accents and slang. Not to mention she can easily read and translate Scottish twitter for others so it's a win win.

Stonemasonry ⫻ A pretty niche skill and what Isla went to college for. Useless outside of her job of helping regenerate old buildings.

ABSTRACTION

"One minute I’m here, the next I’m not."

TYPE ⫻ Adept

ABSTRACTION ⫻ Purple lux. Channeler: her beanie (hand knitted by her adopted mother).

ABSTRACTION DESCRIPTION ⫻

Blinking ⫻ Short ranged, fast teleportation. She can teleport to someone she can see at that moment, within reason (if she was in an endless field she could only teleport a certain distance - but if she was in a room she could teleport all around it). This can be used in quick succession and frequently, being her most used and practice spell. Essentially she can “blink” around the place.

Long Range Teleportation ⫻ Isla can cast longer range, more traditional teleportation. She can teleport to somewhere she has visited before within a reasonable range.

Movement Stopping ⫻ Isla can stop something, or someone, that is currently in motion. For example if someone was running she could make them suddenly come to a stop. She can also, with a greater difficulty, stop a very specific movement - such as someone who is about to punch her, she could stop the movement of their arm. This is the spell Isla has used second most after blinking.

Telekinesis ⫻ One of the spells that Isla only recently figured out and has been trying to practice. At the moment Isla can move around nearby objects - causing them to levitate them, pulling them closer to her and the like. Her control of the speed of the object's movements is shaky at the moment. She can’t do much more than that yet.

LIMITS ⫻

Blink: Isla can teleport around fifteen feet at a time and can chain blink around three times before it gets too tiring and has to catch her breath. The whole thing drains her stamina.

Teleport: Isla can teleport up to sixty meters to a place she has visited before... but she can only do it once an hour as the experience is very straining and tiring on her body. She can bring people but that just makes it even more tiring.

Movement Stopping: Isla can only stop the movements of one object at a time within a ten meter radius, but it doesn't work effectively on Extra-Normal beings. She can use it on them, but the more she uses it on them, the more resistant they become. She can hold the spell for up to a few minutes atm.

Telekinesis: Isla's control over objects is very rudimentary and she can't do anything fancy at the moment. She can only manipulate one object a time up to a limit of one hundred pounds, also she can only do it in a six-meter radius.

WEAKNESSES ⫻

Blinking: Blinking causes some disorientation and throws off her balance, rapidly blinking will cause her nausea and will probably fall over due to disorientation.

Long-Ranged Teleportation: The spell is very taxing and teleporting will probably cause her to be stunned for a bit.

Movement-Stopping: Movement Stopping greatly slows her down. Like she's walking through thick honey as long as the spell persists.

Telekinesis: The usual; headaches, nosebleeds, etc etc.

OTHER

"I’m out."

Isla’s real name is actually Arabella, but she hates that name with a passion and hasn’t gone by it in years.

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

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"Actually, you're right Maya."

Madison

Maya’s mouth fell open when Madison said that, shock clear across her face. She’d never been told she was right (outside of academic answers), especially in relation to coven business… and the last person she’d expected it from was Madison.

Her joy was short lived, when the three left were told to stay put. Of course that was why it had been a great idea. She hadn’t actually wanted to go along with Maya’s entire idea (which had involved getting aid). The last thing Maya really wanted to do was stand around at the edge of a boat while everyone was having fun hunting down Blake. Well, she’d try her hardest. It was best to not fuck it all up again.

But she also really, really didn’t do well with being told what to do. But she’d try for the sake of learning teamwork. So, to Claudette, she said, “sure, staying back here sounds smart.”

“A smoke sure would be nice right now,” Maya responded to Quinn, even if she was entirely a social smoker. It was better than doing nothing. She heaved out a sigh and leaned against a nearby railing somewhat dramatically. A few minutes went by before she spoke again. “Are we really just going to stay here?”

She knew the answer would be yes from Claudette, because she was a stickler for not getting into trouble. But either way this was exactly the opposite of how Maya had imagined spending her time on the orgy boat. There were a lot less attractive women that she didn’t know around.

“I can’t do it,” Maya pushed herself away from the railing. “What are the chances of bumping into him? This ship is massive. I’m going to have a walk around, just a short walk, making sure to avoid the sounds of anything Blake might be into.”

She waved her hand and started walking away before either of the other two could stop her, assuming that once she was on the move they’d probably follow her anyway. Blake was probably at the front right? That, or the highest level sounded like him. So she headed towards the back to explore a bit… who knew what was hidden on a millionaire’s yacht.

Neon Rainbow: Kings & Queens of Miami (Quirky gang satire set in a Neon-aesthetic Miami)

Interested in this probable shit show

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

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Maya was glad to get onto the boat, rather than the rather haphazard travel where she’d ended up clinging onto chompy because honestly she trusted him the most with her life in the water. She gave him a quick scratch under the chin as thanks before he lumbered off, before straightening up and looking around at the others. She wore a cute, two piece swimsuit that looked a lot more like a crop top and skirt than a bikini - not because she wasn’t confident in her body, just she knew she didn’t really have the figure for that. On top of this she was wearing a straw sunhat and sunglasses: to help with making her less recognisable.

“Why does he even need a boat so big?” Maya commented, hands on her hips as she grinned. “It isn’t like he can bang someone in every room at once. It’s like he’s asking us to steal his girls.”

Which was exactly what she planned to do. He’d tried to kill her and her friends, so she’d pay him back in a way she knew would hurt him. After all he’d gotten oh so angry when she’d slept with his wife.

“I’m going solo. If either of you find Blake first, don’t approach him. If he sees you, Maya, he’ll have security on our ass in an instant.

Lyss

“Don’t worry, I’ll stay out of sight.” She tapped the sunglasses she was wearing. “He’s probably stupid enough that he won’t recognise me with these on, right?”

Of course, Lyss strolled right off without waiting to hear anything the rest had to say. Maya frowned. Well, if anyone was alright going off alone it would be her. Not that Blake could do much to any of them… apart from call security which, honestly, they could deal with if need be. She shrugged and turned back to everyone else.

Claudette had already said she would go with Madison… which left her, Quinn and the new girl. Maya absolutely did not want to end up stuck in a group with those two even if it was what Lyss had hinted with looks when talking. Her, with Quinn? That would mean she’d be the more competent of the two and that was not the role she liked to play at all.

“Soooo,” Maya said, mostly looking at Madison as she spoke. “How are we splitting this? Since Lyss just left us as an uneven number.” She folded her arms. “Five’s a bit big if you wanted smaller groups.”

Then she smirked. “Maybe I should just find a room and camp out there… after finding a person or two to keep me company. Then there’s no chance I’ll run into Blake! If you don’t think about the fact it would make me useless...” She waved her hand. “Well, that aside, what’s the plan?”

FernStone's Character Archive

S P A C E R

A New Generation [Fern & Sky]

“Hello!” Bryn grinned at the other three that had approached them, giving a slight wave. She then looked around at who they had… six, which didn’t really help things. “I’m Bryn, nice to meet you all, and this is Min.” She pointed to the shyer girl beside her.

“I’m Ishbel,” Ishbel smiled, before glancing between Carter and Eli. The other boy seemed nice… they all did. She looked at Li, who had his camera out, before nudging him.

“Oh- I’m Li,” he quickly said, before looking back to his camera. He’d go in whatever boat he was told to go in.

“Hmmm…” Bryn hummed thoughtfully at Min’s question, flashing her a comforting smile as she quietly replied, “don’t worry I have an idea.”

Louder, she said, “why don’t you three boys go together? Always good to make more friends before we start! And we’ll all meet on land, as Eli said before. And then us three,” she indicated herself, Min and Ishbel, “can find another boat.”

She looked around and pointed to a nearby one, which a short girl was already sitting in. “Let’s go there!”

“Works for me,” Li mumbled, only half paying attention as he stepped onto the boat Eli was in.

Bryn, on the other hand, gently grabbed Min’s arm and dragged her over to the boat she’d spotted, Ishbel following right behind. She quickly asked if they could join before stepping in and offering up her hand to Min.

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Vivienne raised an eyebrow as Jacob called someone else over, but gave a nod to the boy when he explained he was also a pureblood. Thank god for that. Not that she expected anything less from him.

“Thank you,” she smiled at him as she accepted his help onto the boat, getting on after Maddie and sitting down next to her. She let out a sigh as she looked around. “I hope that we get moving soon. I don’t see why they insist on making us first years go on old boats like this every year. Surely it makes more sense to go straight to the Thestral carriages?”

She shook her head in slight disgust. “Especially for us half bloods, don’t you agree?” She smiled at the others.

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Ben’s eyes widened as Archie leapt right into the boat, widening his stance to stop himself from falling in. He smiled as Nadia took his hand, and Gus got in last right behind her. He took the seat right next to Archie after shooting a sympathetic glance at the other two.

“I don’t think that’s how it works,” Gus rolled his eyes at his twin. “You know all the boats leave at the same time, right? Are you going to hurry everyone else up?”

“I’m sure we’ll be on the way soon,” Ben added calmly, looking towards the castle. “Then we can get our houses and eat.”

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“Oh I'm so glad!” Olivia grinned, though she looked a bit confused at what Saiorse went on to say. “Are there many squid in the lake? Did you read that in a book somewhere?”

Her questions got half lost as the other girl ran off, and she quickly followed. Thanh strayed a bit behind but was glad they didn’t have to find other people.

“Of course! Great job finding a free boat,” Olivia grinned and hopped right in, sitting opposite Saiorse. Thanh followed and sat beside her. “So, like, do we have to row these boats or do they move with magic? They don’t really tell us about these things before we get here.”

Recollections: The Othergrounds [Complete]

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“... Miss, miss, wake up.”

Isla’s eyes shot up as she immediately bolted into a sitting position, looking at the unfamiliar woman that had been shaking her awake. She seemed to have fallen asleep on a park bench. It was about the middle of the day with a bright sunlight beating down that immediately made her realise that she was dressed far too warmly. And that something wasn’t right… because there was no way that it would get this hot in Scotland.

“Are you alright?”

“Uh, yeah,” she lied as she turned her attention back to the stranger that was peering at her with concern. “Excuse me, where am I?”

“Tampa, Florida,” the woman looked even more concerned at the question.

Isla, however, did a very good job of keeping the shock from her face and just grinning instead. “Ah, just making sure! You know how it can be when you accidentally fall asleep in a park and then you don’t know if you’re in the same place when you wake up!”

“Sure,” the woman stuttered. “Well, if you’re alright…”

“I am.”

The woman just gave another nod, before hurrying away. Isla let out a heavy sigh as her smile dropped, leaning back on the bench and grabbing her hair in frustration. Wasn’t the portal supposed to take them home? How the fuck had she ended up in Florida of all places. Of course she’d always wanted to visit, but not like this. She pulled out her phone and groaned at the lack of signal. Because of course, she didn’t have a contract that worked in America. She also didn’t have her passport on her which meant she couldn’t just find a flight back home.

She also had no money.

Fuck it. Isla stood up with a frown. She just had to make the most of a bad situation! First, she’d find (steal) some money and get a hotel with wi-fi so she could get on the net. Then, she’d take a nice long nap and wake up to decide what to do.

Might as well enjoy all that Florida had to offer while she was here.