FernStone

Recollections: Magnanimous

---

East Araminta - Construction Site

---

Shane went off to do set up, which Tuyen agreed was a good idea. She gave him a slight nod and stayed with the skeleton… Just in case something happened.

The skeleton gave them a bunch of information they already knew (defeat the Triple Goddess not the cult, a point Justin had already empathised) and then a bit that they didn’t. It wasn’t enough to prove he was trustworthy, especially with the strange rabbit trick, but it was useful anyway. Her inability to control anything man made gave them an advantage in their chosen location - since a building site was filled with objects she couldn’t control. And the lightning-

Fuck.

Tuyen froze, gaze stuck on where the bolt of lightning had just been. This was bad. This was her fault. She should have stayed in the mansion until everyone was out… A shiver ran down Tuyen’s spine. Vivid images of lightning filled her vision, booming thunder punctuating blood curdling screams. She couldn’t move because there was no threat to move against. She was stuck. In the back of her mind she knew this wasn’t real, but it felt it, sounded it, and it was so hard to ignore.

What a failure. Once again she was going to let people die.

No, she was just jumping to the worst possible outcome. She wasn’t at the mansion, it was impossible to actually see this or know. She was just too used to things going wrong and her shadow knew that. It was showing her this. She had to ignore it.

Slowly, Tuyen forced herself to turn away from where the lightning had been and shoved shaking hands into her coat pockets. Each breath she took felt like glass was scraping through her lungs. She’d only managed to drag herself out of hallucination a little bit, enough to barely function. It was only with so much experience that she could even get out of it without help.

“We need to go back.” Tuyen’s gaze, devoid of emotion as if her voice wasn’t shaking and screams weren’t still ringing in her ears, moved to Trisha, then Tansy, before finally settling on Shane in the distance. She didn’t pay attention to the fact the skeleton had disappeared and a stone woman had materialised in his place. It wasn’t important right now. “If the Triple Goddess is at the mansion, the wiccan’s will be too. There’s the person who can travel through mirrors… We should get in contact with her. Driving won’t be fast enough. Can any of you contact her… or anyone else in the group. Anyone will do.”

She paused, brain slow to realise she could contact someone in that group. If his phone was even on. “I’ll phone Justin, but I don’t know if he’ll pick up. It's best we all contact someone.” She didn’t care if she didn’t seem professional anymore. Not that she ever had. It was hard enough to react well to a situation like this without a fucking shadow whispering in her mind and forcing hallucinations on her. After everything today, she was doing well. Being able to talk was doing well.

Tuyen turned away and pulled out her phone. After a bit of fumbling she found Justin’s contact, and called him. The monotonous ringing against her ear piercing through the auditory hallucination she was still stuck in, muffling it in an almost comforting way. It gave her a chance to think of what to say on the very slim chance he picked up.

“Huh,” Trisha turned her head towards the mansion, as if it wasn’t that big a deal. She genuinely couldn’t care less and wasn’t about to help solve their problems. She was much more concerned about whatever the James hating skeleton had left behind. “Looks like Georgie’s finally going to up and die just like our dear old father. Be a shame about Sabrina though. Well, it’s not my problem, can’t do anything about it.” She then kicked the stone woman’s side. “What the hell is this? Did we have another sibling?”

Recollections: Magnanimous

---

East Araminta - Construction Site

---

"... Is a bit of a dick."

Skeleton Man

Trisha snorted, not bothering to hide it as she relaxed slightly. She immediately felt much more amicable towards the strange guy. Anyone who spoke shit about her father at least had their head on right. Not to mention it was pissing off Tansy and making her all strangely glowly.

”You’re right about our father being a bastard! He was a piece of shit, even if some of us are too blind to see that.” A glance at Tansy. ”Just cause he stuck it in our moms doesn’t mean we should have to deal with this mess.”

“However, I’m used to dealing with charlatans. It's quite easy to claim expertise over a subject when those you are speaking with know so little about it.

Tansy

Tansy's words were clearly pointed at her, the look in Tuyen's direction told her that much. She took a shaky breath, trying to ignore it. She didn't survive a world destroying abomination to be taken down by a few words by a sheltered rich girl. Though the words hit too close to her deep seated insecurities, and were completely true

She wished Justin was here. She was too much of a coward to deal with this herself. He'd actually know what to say.

But she definitely didn’t trust the skeleton. Losing his memories, or claiming they were his, was an easy excuse to avoid saying who he was. She knew what it was like to not feel like your thoughts were your own… but that didn’t mean she’d so easily accept it.

“...then prove it.”

Tansy

“Before that,” Tuyen stepped out so she was close enough to lunge and pull Tansy back, just in case. She would rather put herself in harm's way, if he chose to prove himself in a dangerous manner. “Answer a few of my questions. You say you don’t know whose memories you have… but also seem confident about your relationship with James Vanburen. How do you know that if they aren’t even your memories? How do you even know that he stole your name? Not to mention, how can you be sure you’re really a ‘master at the world of magic’? You’re clearly… not blind,” She paused, gaze flickering from a spot in the floor to the skeleton. “But that doesn’t make you an expert. Tansy is right, it’s easy to fake knowledge with words.”

She forced a polite smile that didn’t reach her eyes, as if those words weren’t a pointed jab that had stabbed deep. They were always going to turn on her anyway. It was easy to be a coward and internalise everything as if it didn’t affect her. People looked for reactions.
She really didn’t want to be here (she definitely didn’t belong here). But confidence was simple to feign with years of appearance, Tuyen’s expression not changing for a moment with each darker thought that crowded her head.

“Answer the questions, then prove it.”

---

Outside the Sunrise Resort

---

"Those idiots are right under a sprinkler... but before I do anything I want everyone to be on board with a plan."

Justin

“I’m on board,” Oscar nodded. It had been his suggestion after all… and with Blu offering up his help, the parts he couldn’t figure out himself were solved. It wasn’t perfect but it was relatively easy as far as plans go. He couldn’t help giving Blu a thumbs up and grin, while making a mental note to write down what he’d said about his abstraction later. And to question him on it.

“Hey, it’s a pretty good idea,” he laughed quietly at Ezra’s tired complaint. “It’s an easy way to get them out without risking hurting them, which wouldn’t be ideal for the whole diplomacy angle.”

Oscar smiled, a bit too cheerfully for someone who’d trekked through the wilderness in way too cold temperature. The snow made this whole thing much easier. “I’m not sure how much water is still in the sprinkler system… but I can easily fix that. Not exactly lacking in liquid around here.”

He moved closer to the window, ready to peer up so he could actually see the sprinkler Justin had mentioned. Then he looked at Blu and Justin. “I’m ready to go when you both are.”

Recollections: Magnanimous

---

East Araminta - Construction Site

---

A grating voice replaced the ringing that had previously been in Tuyen’s ears, causing her to slowly turn around. The shifting darkness was too similar to her shadow for her to entirely believe it was real. The true form was like something out of her imagination… A hallucination then. One feeding on her thoughts of the current situation.

Or not?

Out of the corner of her eye Tuyen watched Shane raise a gun towards the skeleton, overpowered by the light that Tansy seemed to someone. She squinted to allow her to still see and turned back towards the unwelcome visitor. Her shadow was eerily silent in its presence… Perhaps because it had no need to create hallucinations when something just like them was already there.

Was it an apparition? That seemed most likely from what she knew. She didn’t trust it and was glad that the Vanburen’s seemed to feel the same way. But who was this? Magic hadn’t come back so long ago… how come James Vanburen seemed to know so much, and had acquaintances like this.

”Can you stop fucking glowing,” Trisha complained, forcing herself to get over the shock of seeing a weird skeleton man who came out of the shadows. It frightened her, but that just bought out even more nastiness from her… And deep down somewhere she trusted Shane to protect her. A disgusting thought, to trust family, but it was there. She narrowed her eyes at the skeleton. ”What are you, some kind of supernatural stalker? Just because you knew our dear father doesn’t mean you can just show up spouting nonsense as if you know everything.”

Tuyen took a step to the side, so she was still behind Shane but able to see around his glowing figure that had blocked her vision. She wanted to be ready, just in case, because she couldn’t just summon up her abstraction in advance.

All of the questions she’d want to ask had already been said by Tansy and Shane. So she just kept a steady gaze on the skeleton, keeping her voice neutral. “Don’t take us too lightly.” As if she had any confidence in the rest of their ability to take on something like this if it came to it, with their lack of supernatural experience. “Just because you knew their father doesn’t make you trustworthy.”

It was directed to the three Vanburen’s as well, just in case - to not trust what it said.

Recollections: Magnanimous

---

East Araminta - Construction Site

---

Tuyen held back her doubts about Tansy’s ‘setup.’ She was right that walls didn’t stop the hounds either… But did they really have the time and manpower to put up enough tarps to set it up? Tuyen only had any physical fitness when it came to running (too much experience), not lifting. She didn’t have the luxury to use her shadow for this either. And a quick glance at Tansy and Trisha told her they weren’t going to be much help for that kind of manual labour…

“Where is that little psychopath! Did none of you idiots check if she was actually coming? Areyouallthatfuckingstupid!?”

Tansy

Tuyen flinched back, fingernails digging into the skin of her palms hard enough to draw blood. She shoved her hands in the pockets of her jacket to hide their shaking and the white glow that engulfed them. The extra sharp pain she felt as the light wounds healed was enough to distract her, expression only wavering slightly. This wasn’t about her. Stupid. Unlike the other three, she’d stuck around long enough to see Sabrina go off to get Georgie. But it had been stupid of her to assume they knew too.

Smash. The sound of shattering glass rang in Tuyen’s ears, distorting until it turned into a high pitch screech that wouldn’t go away. She winced, momentarily closing her eyes and turning away from the Vanburens. It was like someone was scratching glass right against her ears, a phone smashing turning into a horrendous cacophony of screeches in her mind. She needed it to stop.

”Oh do calm down, Tansy, at your age this much stress could strain your heart,” Trisha sneered, smug smile tugging at her lips showing how pleased she was with the thought. If only Tansy was actually old enough to fall over from a heart failure over her anger. Now that would be quite the sight to see. Her phone buzzed in her pocket as she went on, but she ignored it. Probably nothing important. ”You didn’t even notice Georgie was missing? Doesn’t that make you the stupidest of all? You sure don’t pay attention for someone who pretends to care so much!”

Tansy was enjoying this so much, watching Tansy lose control and then struggle to get it back. It almost made being stuck here worth it. Ah, she didn’t have many opportunities to witness something like this.

“Oh yeah, sure, I send Georgie hate texts all the time,” Trisha rolled her eyes at Tansy. Her phone buzzed in her poc “We’re not all creeps like you that check up on our siblings every move through text.”

Yeah, no, she’d rather die than have Georgie’s number on her phone. Was bad enough seeing her at family occasions.

The bickering, and Shane’s to the point words, filtered through the noise still ringing in Tuyen’s ears. She gritted her teeth and forced it away. Even if they didn’t trust her, rightfully so, she had a job to do. It was just auditory hallucinations, and she’d been dealing with those of a much worse nature for too long now. She had to stay in control.

“Your sister, Sabrina I think, went to get her,” Tuyen turned back towards the Vanburens with a cold gaze, an attempt to cover up the panic that was still clawing at her lungs. “Maybe try calling her?”

Or whoever Shane was calling would work, assuming they picked up. She would do it herself… if she had anyones number but Justin’s. Really it would’ve been much easier if he had just knocked Georgie out and let them drag her here.

“While he’s trying to get through, let’s start setting up. It’s better for us to be prepared for when they get here.” Because right now, she didn’t want to consider the possibility of this falling through. Any failure here would be on her.

---

Outside the Sunrise Resort

---

"Are those actually dogs like Ezra says? They feel like something else, something...macabre...?"

Blu

“They’re hellhounds,” Oscar said quietly, awkwardly patting the hands that had ended up wrapped around his arm. For all he was friendly he wasn’t really the type to comfort someone else… It was all facts and logic to him. “It’s fine, they’re gone.”

It didn’t take them much to reach the resort, with no hellhounds on their tail. He only hoped they were heading towards where the other group was rather than a lone Sabrina and Georgie.

“I agree with Ezra, I’m sure they’re both out of there by now. Georgie’s stubborn but she’s smart.” He checked his own phone, just in case there were any updates. None. “I hope they managed to set up a trap in time...”

Oscar fell silent in thought at Ezra’s question, trying to think it through. Unfortunately his abstraction wasn’t so useful when it came to distraction or getting someone’s attention. “If anyone’s going to be able to get a secret message to her it’ll be Arabelle, since she spoke to her before. Perhaps it would be easier to just distract the rest rather than secretly trying to get her attention?”

Maybe a concert from Blu… No, that was a ridiculous idea. He glanced at Justin.

“Maybe we can try and force them all out, and catch her attention that way, I can easily make it look like the sprinkler system was set off.”

Recollections: Magnanimous

---

East Araminta - Construction Site

---

Tansy got on Tuyen’s nerves as soon as she started speaking, even though her sickly sweet words were directed at another member of their group. She stuffed her hands in her pockets, fingernails digging into her skin to try to ground herself and concentrate on what she had to work on. Two useful abilities and one person who knew the place, that was good enough. Shane was definitely their best asset, and she was glad to have someone with some kind of combat experience.

"We would all just be mortified if you were badly hurt or, worse, disfigured.”

Tansy

”Shut up, Tansy,” Trisha hissed, dark eyes glaring at her oldest ‘sister.’ ”At least I can do more than make a light.”

As if her snapping had ever stopped Tansy from going on and on, pushing at Trisha until she stormed off. She knew that bitch was doing it on purpose but it got to her every time.

But in an effort to brush it off, she just flipped Tansy off at the mention of her friends… The ones she really wanted Tansy to stay the hell away from.

“They definitely won’t be polite enough to go through the front gate,” Tuyen gave a light laugh as she followed Tansy to the window, looking where she was pointing and memorising where it was.

"Mind if we look through the grounds now?"

Shane

About to suggest it herself, Tuyen gave a sharp nod. Not that Shane needed any agreement… but that was fine, they needed to look about anyway. Tuyen pulled her coat closer to herself and stepped out behind him. She kept quiet as Shane spoke, head slightly tilted to try and pick up all of his words as his voice continuously dropped towards nearly inaudible.

It was a better plan that she could have come up with. Though not perfect it pushed most of the risk onto her and Shane. Tuyen didn’t really want any of the family they were working for to be in that position, but someone with experience like Shane was best for the job.

“I hope she shows,” Tuyen muttered under her breath before talking louder. “I agree, you can definitely take the most. If we work under the assumption they’ll come from this direction,” Tuyen pointed in the direction Tansy had pointed out, “we can figure out where’s best for everyone to be.”

She frowned, glancing around the work site. An empty shell would make it difficult to block them in… Perhaps if there was an area more built up than the rest.

“If we’re going to hit them from both sides it should be somewhere more narrow. I can take up a lotta space and block them in, so they can’t just circle around and do the same to us. There’ll be more of them than us, I bet. So that’d be the best way to minimise any damage on our side.” She glanced over at Tansy. “Any place you think will work?”

"Have Trisha's creature things act as scouts, if they can do that."

Shane

“They can,” Trisha replied, helpful enough for once. It helped that it was a tolerable sibling asking. “I’ll know what they’re seeing,” through the logs she’d be shown, “and can make five. Doesn’t affect me if they die either.”

Tuyen raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment on that last bit. “Five is enough. We just need to know where they’re coming from so Shane can lure them in, and I can manifest my shadow in time to hit them from behind.”

And at least her shadow was silent for once, allowing her to concentrate on planning. A little too silent for her liking… but she would take it as a good thing. As long as it listened when she needed it to, it didn’t matter what it was like right now.

Recollections: Magnanimous

---

"I know they're... a lot, but you should go with the other group."

Justin

“Got it,” Tuyen nodded. She didn’t really want to split up, but she’d expected it. The plan was already risky, nevermind leaving it in the hands of useless rich kids. “I’m sure I’ll manage, but I’ll get in touch when we have the skull.”

And Tuyen sincerely hoped they ended up with the skull, because she couldn’t handle another “discussion” over what to do.

With the discussion mostly done, Oscar's mind had drifted off, snapping back into focus when Sabrina went off to talk to Georgie. He quickly approached Blu - he didn’t want him to feel like he couldn’t come along because his help had been brushed off this time.

“Sorry you had to witness all that, the rest of the family are a bit… touchy,” Oscar rubbed the back of his head while offering Blu an apologetic smile. “Why don’t you come with me to talk to their healer? If you can make people feel better with your abstraction then that’ll be helpful when we’re talking to them.”

Plus it would be nice to have another person there who wasn’t going to bicker with anyone else. Oscar was friendly, sure, but he also knew his limits when it came to convincing people. Having someone with an abstraction that possibly manipulated emotions would be very useful.

---

Outside the Sunrise Resort

---

Oscar was quite excited to be going on an evening trip to have a little chat with a magical cultist and hopefully seal an apparition. His mind was filled with questions he wanted to ask, and he secretly hoped he’d be able to see their abstractions a bit more.

Then a bolt of lightning interrupted his thoughts, head whipping around to where it had hit. Well shit, that was a little too close for comfort. With the scream there was clearly something happening… Oscar turned to look at Justin before speaking quietly.

“Let’s keep going. Maybe… maybe it’s not us, but the skull that they’ve found. If we continue to their lair we can catch any left behind or follow them from behind and catch them unaware.”

---

Tansy’s Construction Site

---

Tuyen felt like she’d ended up with the short end of the stick group wise.

After Justin had gone off to find the healer she’d headed back to the mansion with anyone else joining her to find Tansy and Shane - asking the former to take them to her construction site. It was then that she’d realised she’d ended up with the most difficult of an already difficult to handle of an already difficult family.

Two were very untalkative, and one talked far too much. Nevermind the possibility of miss stuck up plan ruiner being dragged along here later. Justin owed her big time for this. There was something especially intimidating about Tansy - she reminded Tuyen too much of her aunt, all fake smiles before quickly cutting you down with words. A few words from her would be enough to make her feel insecure and that was the last thing she needed right now.

At least she’d gotten Justin to get the water out of her phone with his abstraction before leaving - and thankfully the thing was old enough to still function after all that, so they’d be able to keep in contact if needed.

It was beginning to grow dark once they’d reached the construction site - which didn’t exactly make Tuyen optimistic for setting anything up. She took a quick look around as best she could… But this really wasn’t her forte. At least it was better than the mansion, with less things to destroy.

“Alright,” Tuyen cleared her throat to get her group’s attention. She realised she barely even knew what these people could do, or if any of them would be helpful. She didn’t even know how to set up an ambush, if she was being honest. She’d just been caught in far too many. “For this trap to work, I need to know what you can all do. Abstraction or mundane skills, anything that can help and any ideas.” She paused, before continuing for transparency sake. “I can manifest my own shadow. It can easily take on a couple of the cultist’s hounds by itself… and I imagine they’ll be one of our biggest threats.”

It wasn’t entirely true, but she wasn’t about to tell them that she couldn’t always control her abstraction. That was a weakness she wasn’t willing to share with anyone that didn’t already know.

Trisha didn’t really want to be here, out in the cold at the construction site of one of Tansy’s stupid projects. But she also hated Georgiana more and was entirely driven by spite to pretend to be more helpful. So when the far too young expert (anyone younger than her wasn’t an expert on anything!) talked she half listened.

”I can summon creatures that’ll do whatever I tell them,” Trisha shrugged, somewhat unwillingly forcing out the words in a sullen tone. ”I won’t be fighting.”

Tuyen resisted frowning, shoving her hands into the pockets of her coat. She could only hope the others were going to be a little more helpful. “I’m strong enough to handle a lot of them, but I need all of your help if we’re going to actually stop them from being a threat again.”

And you are going to help me. Tuyen glanced downwards, eyes narrowing into a glare towards the shadow skulking around her feet. She had to stay firm and confident, both with the Vanburens and her shadow. The earlier meeting had been a disaster on her part and she was going to make up for it.

“I don’t know this area very well, what direction is where we think the cultists are?” Tuyen turned towards Tansy, assuming everyone had taken a look at the location Justin had found. While she didn’t particularly want to talk directly with Tansy it was her construction site… And she’d have a better idea of what was going on there than her. “If we know where they’ll come from we can figure out where’s best to set up.”

As Tuyen spoke she glanced around, already filled with a sinking feeling that this wasn’t going to go the way they wanted tonight. She didn’t know if it was just paranoia, or the influence of her shadow on her mind, but she felt like she could already hear unnatural sounds in the distance.

Recollections: Magnanimous

---

“I was looking forward to the ice cream… Ah well, splitting in two sounds like a good plan,” Oscar nodded his agreement. “If we can’t actually find the defector then it’s not a complete loss, because we’ll still be able to use the trap the other group set up. I’m sure Tansy’s construction site will be much better than trying to raid the cult’s own base, or having the house destroyed again.”

They didn’t get that far into that plan before Georgie tossed the skull into her garden and made sure to get in more pessimism before saying she was leaving. Tuyen couldn’t help but let out a light snort of disbelief, covering her mouth quickly to cover it. Justin had just said flying solo was a bad idea and the girl had decided to go off on her own… And with the Horned God in her ‘garden’ as well. That was kind of ruining the whole set up a trap and lure them in with the Horned God thing.

Anyone smart would be going after her, since she had so much stored in her garden.

“Did she just walk away with the Horned God in her personal dimension?” Tuyen asked, unable to keep the disbelief from her tone. She looked over at Justin with a look filled with exasperation at the whole situation. It took a lot to annoy Tuyen (outside of towards herself), but Georgie had managed it. “How are we supposed to lure them in without it?”

“Hey, wait, Georgie-” Oscar hadn’t even finished his sentence before Georgie was gone. So much for nobody going off alone. He wasn’t quite sure what to make of Georgie… while he was happy she had found her passion while away, it’d be nice if she didn’t just walk off during this situation.

“Well, I guess we’re splitting in three,” he gave a rueful laugh, rubbing the back of his head. “She’s not the best at listening to others… Well, anyway, I’d like to go with Arabelle to meet the healer. I think I’m one of the easiest to talk to in this family, so it’d be best if I was there. We don’t want to scare her off! Also I know quite a bit about the extranormal so I think that'll be a help when talking to her.”

Oscar said all this without meaning to hurt any of his siblings - to him it was just a fact, he was easy going and friendly. Everyone had to know their strengths and weaknesses.

Trisha was happy Georgie had left, even if some others weren’t. As much as she didn’t really want to go talk to a cult member, or set up for a fight, the thought of being like Georgie and staying in the mansion with only her least favourite sibling was much worse. It was like picking the lesser of two evils. And since Oscar had already said what he wanted to do she could avoid another sibling she disliked easily.

The rest of her siblings were just as annoying to be around… but with her abstraction she could actually do something. It had been so long since she’d had something she could do, and they couldn’t.

”I’ll go with the group setting up the trap,” Trisha spoke from where she’d sat down, typing something on her laptop as she did. She’d need to run a program where she could get her workers to be on the lookout from different locations and feed that information back to her terminal… a bit of a hassle if she chose to use all 5. ”I still think this whole things stupid, but I’m not a coward like Georgiana. I can actually help with that.”

Tuyen observed what everyone else was saying about the splitting plan, after her initial points and annoyance - mostly because she didn’t want to commit one way or another about where she’d go. Her preference was to stay with Justin, of course, but logically they would have to split as the two experts. If something went wrong in either group it would be best to have someone that actually had experience there. She’d try to have a quick talk with him after this to figure out what to do… But at least they were finally getting somewhere, outside of the whole one Vanburen walking away thing.

There was only so much bickering she could take, and it made her worried for the future. How were they even meant to help them cure their curse if they couldn’t work together for even a moment?

Recollections: Magnanimous

---

“Thanks Tansy,” Oscar smiled warmly as he was handed some tea, letting the mug warm his hands before taking a sip. Exactly how he liked it and perfect to combat the chill in the air. He turned his attention back to Georgie, nodding as she spoke about what she’d found. “I think you’re right Georgie… She had to send her cult in to get the Horned God rather than coming herself, so she must be in a weakened state. And artificial materials…” He trailed off scribbling something down in his notebook, then laughed. “So we should just hit her with some human created chemicals?”

He was thoughtful as he stopped talking, starting slightly as Blu grabbed his arm. ”It’s alright.” There was a slight concern in his eyes when he glanced over at Blu and responded, but it didn’t last too long before he was right back to his notes.

It took all of her will power, and Oscar speaking before her, for Trisha to not outright try to deck Georgie. Her anger was clear on her face, lips twisted down into a viscous smile and dark eyes glaring holes into her most annoying sister. How she hated her, standing there thinking she was so superior.

”Oh fuck off, Georgiana,” Trisha snapped when she could finally get a word in. ”At least I’m not a robot who’s never been taught how to talk.”

With a muttered “fuck this” she stomped off to further away from her family, grabbing a chair. She pulled out the laptop from her background and proceeded to try ignore everyone as best as possible, while still being in earshot. This whole meeting was far too useless for her to stay there and listen to Georgie’s conceited words or Tansy’s holier than thou speeches. She may as well do something useful with her time.

Tuyen was given a cup of tea, then made to feel guilty for speaking up. She should have just kept her mouth shut. She couldn’t tell at all from the tea giving lady if her tone was serious or sarcastic, but either way the words themselves felt belittling. It made her feel like curling back into her shell or hiding away. She was such a coward.

She didn’t even like tea. If anything it brought back unsavoury memories of far too many family gatherings, forced to sit with relatives she barely knew while drinking tea out of china cups that she’d be punished for weeks if she damaged even slightly. Not to mention that her aunt and uncle had been avid tea drinkers… which meant she disliked it by association. But she still forced it down out of politeness.

The arguing didn’t help her already frayed nerves - Tuyen was starting to really dislike Georgie, and she generally didn’t dislike anyone but herself. Everything that came out of her mouth was pointlessly contradictory to others ideas, making this process take much longer than it should do. She really didn’t want to be here anymore. As the features of the arguing Vanburen’s began to flicker, growing more twisted, she averted her gaze. It was an obvious illusion from her shadow, but unnerving nonetheless.

Things are less effective when you see them everyday and are already worn down.

... "It's unlikely that they know who I am or are aware of the...peculiar connection that I share with you all as James's ward.”...

Blu

"The only problem with that is they're probably on high alert… They would probably see through it, but that's not a risk that I am willing to take."

Justin

"Not to mention that they already knew who we were," Tuyen added softly, glancing at Justin with a smile that just about concealed her nerves. She was a little too relieved that he’d drifted back over to her. Focusing on what was going on, and the security of being near an actual friend, managed to stop her from spiralling more. "And our contact with anyone here was minimal. I don’t think it’s safe to assume they don’t know who you are, or to treat them like idiots. As Justin said, it’s not a risk worth taking."

She tried her best to sound confident even when she didn’t really want to speak anymore in front of this family - but she needed to keep up the impression that she was an expert, not just someone tagging along with Justin (which she kinda was). At least he was doing most of the talking. She would just fuck everything up anyway. She quickly finished off her tea so she could put down the mug, clasping her hands together again. Justin’s idea of luring them and ambushing them was much better… and certainly something she could get behind. It was much easier to psyche herself up for a fight she knew was going to happen.

“I agree with Justin,” Oscar nodded, flashing Blu a reassuring smile. “Not that I don’t trust you can protect yourself, but there’s a lot of them… and they’re powerful. Nobody should be putting themselves in danger when we can work together.”

"If we do try and draw 'em to us, there's a higher chance than I'd like of us fucking it up and those kids making off with the other statue."

Shane

“I think you’re being a bit too pessimistic, Shane,” Oscar laughed lightly after his older, likely much more realistic, brother was done talking. “They weren’t able to get the statue even when they caught us off guard, nevermind if we’re the ones doing it. Surely we can put our differences aside enough to deal with this?”

Probably too much to ask, but Oscar had never understood why everyone was always at each other's throats anyway.

“But I do agree that contacting the healer is a good way to go, cause we can always try to lure them that way.”

“I don’t think they’re organised enough to prepare well enough to beat us if we lure them out,” Tuyen added, looking at Justin as she spoke rather than any of the Vanburen’s - it was much easier to keep calm that way. “And they won’t come after your house. They’re after the Horned God and not whatever else is in there… they had plenty of opportunities to steal when they attacked us this morning.”

“I think she’s right about that,” Oscar nodded. “If the cult wanted our money or other apparitions, they could’ve gotten away with something in all the chaos. If we lure them somewhere it’d mean everything’s on our terms too. Can always throw the statue right in Georgie’s garden as soon as they appear. We’d need somewhere away from other people too…”

He paused, before jokingly saying, “how about a family picnic?”

Recollections: Magnanimous

---

"Have we thought about just giving them the skull? Maybe they'll leave us alone."

Sabrina

"Can't imagine that'd be a good idea."

Shane

“We absolutely can’t give them the skull,” Oscar said at the same time as Shane, before coughing awkwardly. Maybe he’d been a bit too enthusiastic in his response there… But he was sure his siblings were too caught up in the discussion to notice. He let Shane finish before continuing. “I agree with Shane. I’m sorry Sabrina, but allowing an apparition to be released just isn’t a good idea. They were all sealed by dad for a reason and we shouldn’t let them out.”

He quickly found his attention drawn to the skull instead of any conversation. Curiosity almost got the better of him as he took a slight step forward as if to also touch the skull, but he stopped himself. He didn’t need to listen to whatever was sealed within. He’d had enough experience of that.

Oscar shook his head, forcing himself back everything that was being said. A sudden thought came into his head. “Ah, Georgie, you looked through dad’s writings, right? Did he mention anything about the Triple Goddess?” They might as well look closer to home before getting information from another source. “Though talking to this healer is a good idea, I think. It’s always best to have all the information we can and plan accordingly…”

”Oh great, we’ve gone from fighting to attempted diplomacy,” Trisha rolled her eyes again, just as she had when Shane had pointedly looked at her while talking about taking on the cult. She still wasn’t joining in on that. ”At least it’s better than Georgiana’s idea, I’m not staying inside just cause some weirdos want that stupid skull.”

Not that Trisha was about to go along to some chat with one of the cultists. Best case scenario for her was that she went back to her room (thankfully undamaged) and left her more active (and idiotic) siblings to deal with the problem. Ezra was the oldest so it was his job to clean up all the messes. She was already pushing herself by being in the same space as most of the people here.

So she didn't bother saying anymore, folding her arms and looking as disgusted at being there as she could.

Tuyen quietly listened to what everyone was saying, lips twisting into a slight grimace when Justin had gone over to touch the skull. Yeah, she wasn’t going to jump on doing anything like that. She had enough to ignore with her shadow flickering around the corners of her vision.

But she certainly wasn’t in support of the idea of being stuck with the Vanburen’s. It had only been a day, and she was already tired of all the fighting between them.

"If she gave you the skull and we're willing to take the risk. It's worth a try, I suppose."

Shane

“If you can contact the healer, everyone has to be prepared for it to go wrong,” Tuyen decided to speak up after one of the Vanburen’s rightly pointed out that it was a risk. As much as she’d prefer to stand by and watch rather than airing negative opinions, she couldn’t let Justin do all the work. She was already useless enough. She also didn’t particularly like the idea of fighting (coward) but talking depended on trusting the healer… Which she didn’t. “Just because she handed over the Triple Goddess doesn’t mean she can be trusted. For all we know, we’d show up only for their entire cult to be there. I’m not saying I’m against it,” since it wasn’t her job to make the decision, “just that everyone needs to be prepared.”

She took a deep breath, clasping her hands together to stop them shaking. It was intimidating speaking in front of so many people. All of them watching her with disdain. She’d barely spoken to anyone outside of Justin, and the support group, after everything that had happened before they came here.

But she had to pretend to know what she was doing.

“Whatever happens with the cult, we’ll have to deal with the Triple Goddess.” She laughed slightly to cover up her nervousness. “Unless, of course, you want me and Justin to deal with it ourselves.” Which would be much more difficult.

Recollections: Magnanimous

After figuring out where the wiccans were gathering, Oscar hadn’t had time to catch a break - instead he’d got another cab to go find his late dear father’s ward. He wasn’t sure how much the cultists knew, but he didn’t want them going after anyone else. Enough damage had already been done.

So after going home to pick up his car and sending a quick text he headed to the location given to him by Blu: the Dancing Goats Bar and Lounge. Hopefully before any cultists. Just thinking about them rampage in the centre of the city… not something Oscar wanted to happen.

Thankfully for Oscar, he’d massively overestimated the Wiccans and they didn’t go after the one (sort of) Vanburen that wasn’t around at the time of the attack. A quick scout of the place that was already in the process of a show proved that there weren’t any. Well, that was good. But it wouldn’t hurt to explain things to Blu.

So Oscar forgoed going home for a quick rest and instead lounged in his car, texting Blu to say he was waiting outside. Once Blu was done with his show Oscar dragged him in right away, explaining the whole situation with them being attacked and how he thought Blu would be in danger on the way.

Because he didn’t want to be late for the meeting when his family was already unhappy with him bringing the supernatural experts in in the first place. With an explanation on the road they should make it just in time.

---

---

It was even colder with the sun setting.

Tuyen was wrapped up in an oversized, thick winter coat with sleeves almost comically covering most of her gloved hands. It was well worn, a hand me down from her cousin from when she'd stopped growing but he hadn't. Still she was glad she had it because her newer (and less warm) jacket had been drenched in the earlier fight with the weird cultists. Twice. At least it would eventually dry out, unlike her poor phone (maybe the Vanburen's would buy her a new one).

She shivered slightly and stepped closer to Justin as he started speaking, just in case he started radiating heat or decided to set himself on fire. She glanced between the gathered Vanburen's, gaze neutral as she tried to judge their reactions. Most didn't seem experienced at all… but then again nor was their support group before being thrown head first into beating some eldritch abomination. They could probably take on the wiccans just fine, but the triple goddess would pose more of a threat. Tuyen really hoped she could get her shadow to cooperate because she was pretty sure they were still on shaky ground with the Vanburen's in regards to whether they even wanted their help or not.

Not that Tuyen had as much of an investment in that.

She’d just stay quiet for now and observe.

Trisha pulled a face as one of their teenage "supernatural experts" went on about how they had to go take the cult out of the equation or whatever. Yeah, no.

”Are you seriously suggesting we go fight a bunch of weirdos in a forest cause they might be a problem? And that we need to do it through working together or something? No thanks, not my problem. Isn’t it in your job description or whatever to deal with this for us?”

Oscar completely ignored one of their youngest airing her disagreements, nodding thoughtfully as he took in what Justin had said. He’d been one of the last to arrive, slightly out of breath with Blu in tow, but thankfully still in time to hear the full thing. He wouldn’t want to miss any information.

As much as he had no experience in fighting he understood they needed to get rid of the triple goddess, and he didn’t want to constantly worry that he might be attacked again. Apparitions were dangerous nevermind if they ended up with two to deal with. Plus it was an opportunity to see more powers in action. “So you’re saying we need to go to them before they come to us? That does seem like the better option… Yeah, I agree that we should confront them. The best way to ensure it doesn’t go wrong again is to ensure we have a plan.”

Half lost in his own thoughts Oscar pulled out a small notebook from his jacket. He leaned against the patio railing to read the scrawled notes, illegible to anyone else, within. He’d jotted some things down in the cab on the way to investigating, and again on the way back. Everything interesting went in here - he had a good memory, but it was better to have it all written down.

“They can do quite a lot. Control water and fire, summon hellhounds, disguise themselves and open portals. That’s just from what I saw and there were quite a few other cultists running around. It’s a lot for us to deal with, but if we know what each of us can do we can figure out who can best handle what. I know not everyone will be suited to a fight but we should do what we can to stop them coming after us again.”

“There’s also a healer,” Tuyen added quietly before speaking louder, something coming to mind that she’d forgotten after the chaos of the fight (and freezing to death before she could change). “Ah, I think the hellhounds are weak to water. I saw one turn to ashes or something when hit with water they used to attack us.” At least she’d discovered something useful for once.

Trisha seriously couldn’t believe this was even a consideration - sure their ‘experts’ may be all for it but why was Oscar going along with it? Oh yeah, an idiotic pursual of supernatural knowledge. What was the point of being a genius or whatever if you used it for this and were happy to traipse into the woods to fight a bunch of cultists.