FernStone

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

Bout to have Tayla training to be a sniper arc, so she can get him easy

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

Edict

In collaboration with @AtomicEmperor & @silvermist1116

Outside the Lair -> The Drunken Starfish

---

”Yeah, thanks,” Linqian took Tayla’s lighter from her with a nod. She was about to light her cigarette when Edict just popped up in the middle of them. Fuck! Her eye twitched and she stopped mid flick of the lighter. She wasn’t losing another cigarette to his snobby taste. She took the cheap one out of her mouth and shoved it back in her pocket to have later, before reaching out to take one of his. She lit it with Tayla’s lighter, offering that back to her, and took a drag. She held it in for a few moments, before blowing it out in a sigh. It helped relieve the shitstorm in her mind just a little bit. Enough to actually respond to what Edict had said.

”Leon actually got me a new car? Shit, I thought he was going to set up a hit on me after last night,” Linqian half joked, her irritation pushed down beneath the surface now that she was able to smoke - and Lynn was out of her sight. It helped that she’d suddenly gone from having a broken, crappy car to two cars. What did she even do with a second one? She supposed she could give it to her brother when he moved back. She then rolled her eyes. What was the point in Edict talking in ‘code’ if he was just going to bluntly say it afterwards? Whatever, she wanted to get away from the feds (and her ex) as quickly as possible too. ”Yeah, let’s get the fuck out of here. A drink sounds great right now.”

Tayla frowned at Edict. She invited Linqian to a drink. Not this clothe wearing bozo. She sighed, taking her lighter back. She refused Edict's offer of a cigarette. On the bright side, they had a car and wouldn't need public transport. Why Leon got Linqian a car to begin with, she got the feeling she didn't want to know. That's not her business.

Linqian spun on her heel, and started walking towards the park and its attached parking lot - presumably where the car was. Her legs ached when she finally started using them, with scattered burns from her abstraction and tight muscles post tasering. Something she could deal with after they were far away from the feds.

Tayla followed Linqian towards the parking lot.

”Guess I can drive us to that place down by the docks, if you’re still down?” Linqian looked over at Tayla, unsure if the offer was still there with Edict intruding. Either way, she needed a drink and it would be better to have it with someone. That’d stop her from fucking spiraling. She was going to make sure one of them drank with her. She looked back over at Edict. After all that shit she kind of wanted to ask him to get into her mind again, just to shove those worries away for a bit, but not with Tayla around. She’d rather nobody else knew that she’d stooped to letting Edict into her brain. ”You’re coming too, right?”

“Yeah, I'm still down. The place is called the Drunken Starfish. It's a bad as it sounds, but the drinks are cheap and the company is good,” she said, taking a hit of her cigarette. She dumped the ashes on the sidewalk, being careful not to do it in the grass. She's not about to be responsible for a forest fire. The whole city would go up in flames.

“I don't care for you to join us, since it wasn't an open invitation,” she said to Edict, “But whatever it is you did last night that pissed everyone off at Auri's, keep it to yourself. I'm looking to relax after that shit show, not deal with your fuckupedness.”

”He's not so bad when he's not doing the whole mind fucking thing,” Linqian said, before side eyeing Edict. Even if the place was cheap, which was ideal when she didn't have much money, it was worth seeing just how much she could push things. ”Maybe he can pay for all the drinks?”

Edict laughed and smiled.
“Hey, listen… I’m sorry, alright? All this?-” he turned his head to look at the smoke curling up over the neighbourhood, chuckling slightly. “-Usually the pigs scatter at the sight of fire, but what do you know? They’re magic! Fucking PRA. I guess I should’ve figured it, why would they raid the place otherwise?”

“Definitely paying for the drinks.”

Waving the two girls on, he moved forward with them through the park and onto the adjoining lot. The red Camry was parked with, to Edict’s surprise, two fresh new faces clad in black. They couldn’t have been older than twenty, definitely the Hot Topic type. The one with bright red hair spoke up for the two of them.
“Suppose this car is for one of you?-” And then she smiled, pointing at Linqian. “-Gotta be you, saw you last night at the Temple. Here!”

She stepped forward, voice chipper with smiling blue eyes behind fire engine bangs. There was a set of car keys between her fingers which she happily dropped into Linqian’s hands.
“Peace be with you, Sister. We’ll find our way home, enjoy the rest of your day…”
Edict gave Linqian a wide eyed, questioning glance.

Linqian gave the red haired cultist her most fake, customer service smile, and took the keys. ”Sure, thanks, you too.”

Tayla wasn't expecting a stoner girl to hand Linqian car keys. She knew fuck all about what happened last night. She didn't want to know. Too much shifty shit going on. Her instincts told her not to get involved in whatever the hell Linqian got going on with Leon.

As soon as she had the car keys in her hand, and the girl wasn’t right next to her, the smile dropped. She took another drag of her cigarette, and damn the shit Edict rolled was pretty good, before turning to catch his gaze. ”What? Pretty sure I told you this morning that I ended up at Leon’s cu- church last night. Can’t say I was paying attention to who was around. I was not there by choice.”

She’d been way too busy cussing Leon out to even realise that there were a shit ton of people there, and now they’d recognise her. Great. She glanced over the new car, which was incredibly nice. She could’ve never afforded a replacement like this herself… Wow. She’d been certain all she’d done last night was piss Leon off, and now she felt a little bit bad. Just a tiny bit. She spun the keys between her fingers and unlocked it.

”Suppose I’ll have to thank Leon for this later, I haven’t driven a car this nice since my test,” Linqian smiled slightly, opening the driver's door. She leaned against it as she finished off her cigarette and dropped it on the ground, crushing it under her shoe. She then looked back at Edict and Tayla. ”Let’s go get those drinks… no smoking in the car, though.” It wasn’t something she’d normally be fussy about, but if she was going to let her brother use this car she wanted it to be in good condition.

“I call shot gun.” Tayla took one last hit of her cigarette. She'd gotten half way through it on the walk over. The first and last of the day, couldn't even finish it, but not a sacrifice she was going to cry over. She put it out on the ground, stomping it under her shoe, then got in the front passenger seat.

”Guess you’re in the back, Greyson.” Linqian shot him a half teasing smile before getting in the driver’s seat.

”I’m used to sittin’ in the back seat. Usually, the car’s a little longer, but hey who can complain?

---

Linqian knew the way to the docks, and drove them over after adjusting to the new car. With help with directions from Tayla, she managed to find a parking spot near the Drunken Starfish. It took some time and a little bit of swearing (primarily in Chinese) to figure out how to put on the parking break - because it was a fucking button now, because technological advancements and all that. Once she’d finally properly parked and was confident the car was going to start rolling, she turned everything off. Hopefully parking here was safe enough, because she wasn’t exactly going to be able to drive it back… Well, whatever. That was tomorrow Linqian’s problem. Throwing that thought to the back of her mind, she got out of the car.

The bar was single story and had the wear of fifty years on the water. The building had white wooden panelling, dark water stains ran down the front and sides. The sign at the top of the building read DNE SRIH from the blown out bulbs that weren't replaced. It looked like the type of place that would have lead paint and asbestos.

Tayla got out of the car and breathed in the sea salt air. She felt calmer already. Nothing like being near the sea.

A man sitting outside the door smoking a cigarette waved at her.

“Afternoon, Larry. How's the catch today?” she asked.

“Shit the further north you go,” he replied.

She nodded. This time of year did that. It'll be winter soon, and fishing would be rough. Her father would go further south and be away for days at a time. It's during this time she relied on her father's fishing friends, the ones too old to go far in the water, to get to and from the mainland. Her schedule would get a lot more strict this time of year. She couldn't call her father to get her if she was out too late.

Larry got up and opened the door for her. “Good to see you hanging out with some new people. They not trouble are they?”

“Not to me, no.” She couldn't account for the shit they got up to when she wasn't around.

He nodded. “Good.”

She went into the bar. It was just early enough that it was empty save for the local drunks that should be on the water, but were too down the drink to work consistently. It was dark inside, the lighting shitty. Everything made of dark wood. There were tables in the middle. The ones along the walls had booths with torn red leather seats and windows that looked out to the docks. To the back of the bar was a stage and dance area.

“Hey, Tay,” the owner, Ruby, said. “Grab a table.”

She waved at her. She didn't come to this spot often, but anyone that's spent substantial amount of time on the dock knew everyone.

She turned to the others. “I don't care where we sit. All the seats hurt your ass either way.”

”I can deal with my ass hurting if my wallet doesn't,” Linqian shrugged, surveying the bar. It was run down, but she'd seen - and worked in - worse. Clearly everyone here knew each other, which could make for a nicer atmosphere. It also made her feel less bad about the fact she was still covered in tear gas.

She chose one of the tables along the wall, nearer the back. Seemed nicer to be able to look at the docks and she didn't like the idea of sitting right in the middle of the bar. Linqian slid into the booth facing the door, getting right up next to the window so the other two could fight for who sat opposite her and who sat beside her. And if Edict had a problem with her table choice… well he could say, and then she'd tell him to fuck off.

”So, what's good here?” Linqian asked, fiddling with the ring on her right hand as she did. She then lowered her voice and added, with a light laugh, ”well what's least likely to make me want to throw it back up?”

This place wasn’t exactly Edict’s spot; not when his Uncle’s restaurant and bar were like three hundred feet down the road. He’d been in a few times, and hoped that either the people working there didn’t recognize him, or that there were just new people running the place. He had a short Recollection of a night he and his cousin Nicky were tasked with busting the place up because the owner wasn’t interested in making payments.
The owner at the time was still there, working late into the night fixing up the place’s inventory, so when he copped a beating alongside the bottles of booze it was seen as a necessary evil.
As far as Edict knew, it worked at the time. The guy was allowed to continue business despite the Anchor being the big bad wolf of the neighbourhood, and life goes on.

Coming out of the visionary flashback, Edict cleared his throat.
”I’ve got you guys, so just go for the top shelf. If you need to eat or something, mangiare as they say.”
He did have an eye over at the bar, and thankfully the tender wasn’t anyone he recognized. Neither was the old Fisherman outside, so things were looking good. Edict had elected to sit next to Linqian, figuring Tayla would want her own space, so being at the edge he instinctively got up.
”In fact, lemmie get us started. Beer and a shot?” he asked, looking at the both of them from eyes unobstructed by his classic sunglasses. Greyson from ten years ago would’ve never taken them off; not even indoors. Now look at him, the shiny gold frames were tucked into his flannel’s breast pocket like an old man.

Tayla slid into the seat across from Linqian. Seagulls cried out to each other on the dock. She felt at home here. She pointed at Edict when he said get top shelf.

“Bingo. Basically, cocktails, the hard shit, and name brand beer is your go to. They have homemade beer. I don't recommend it. It tastes like dog water.” She turned to Edict. “Ruby knows what I like. Just tell her my usual.” Which was Miller and a basket of fries.

”Just get me whatever you're having, I'm not fussy,” Linqian said to Edict with a smile - not having to pay for booze sure did cheer her up. Once he was out of earshot she turned back to Tayla. ”See, this is why I let him come along - gotta have the guy with all the cash pay for shit so us.”

Tayla snorted and tucked her leg into her chest. “I see. Seriously, though, are you-I don't want to say ‘okay’ cause obviously you wouldn't be. If someone threw James in my face like that, I wouldn't be either. So on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being like shit, and 10 huffing daisies, how are you?”

”A solid two,” Linqian shrugged. What Lynn had said hurt a lot, but it just added to the pain she was already constantly feeling since losing her brother. It was shit. She could pretend it wasn't all she liked, but she was sure Tayla would see through it - she'd experienced it with James after all. ”The slap I got in pushed it up from one, but shit sucks right now. I had to call of work, and I desperately need fucking money, then that bitch went and said that? Yeah, absolute shit. Losing someone fucking sucks without this shit.”

“I get that. I’m just now starting the healing process with James, and it’s been 10 years since he passed. Shit takes a lot of time. How long has it been since Jinhai passed? I don’t think I heard before.”

”Two weeks.” Had it really been two weeks? It both felt like it had been years ago, but also like it was only yesterday. Maybe because she kept seeing the scene in her dreams night after night. ”There was so much shit to sort out. The police, cremation, dealing with my younger brother's feelings, then I had to move back… barely enough time to think or feel anything about it myself. Glad to hear you're starting to heal with James, though, that was awful. I hope things have been alright for you recently, all this shit aside. Was surprised to see you back, honestly.”

“Two weeks? And you’re here dealing with all of this shit?” Two weeks after James’s passing, she started taking oxy. “I don’t think I could hold it together this well.” If James had died a week ago, she’d be an adult and not a child dealing with her grief. It wouldn’t hurt any less, but she wouldn’t be fucked up like she has been.

She shrugged. “I never left here.” She waved her hand around. “Been on the same little island, in the same house more or less. I uh went through a big life change a little over two years ago.” She looked down at the table, smiling. She didn’t do too much of that when she wasn’t with her family. “Had to get my shit together.” She pulled out her phone and showed Linqian her phone screen. It was of her son, Siwan. ”And I refuse to let some asshole with a knife take me away from him. Not after all the hard work I put in.”

”Shit, you have a son?” Linqian's eyes widened, before she smiled at the picture. It was the most genuine Linqian had smiled in a long time… but honestly, she loved children, as surprising as it might be to most that knew her. They reminded her of when her brother was younger and adorable, and she'd always seen them as being part of her future. Whether that would happen now… well, she wouldn't think too hard about that right now. But fuck, no wonder Tayla was back - of course she wanted to live. ”Wow, he's so cute, what's his name? And yeah, fuck that asshole, he's already destroyed enough families. I swear I'll put him in the fucking ground before he takes you away from your son.”

Tayla laughed. “Yeah, I know. I never saw myself having children, but he’s been a fucking life line, honestly. His name is Siwan.” Pronounced Shiwan. “I don’t think I’ve loved anyone more than him in my life and I don’t want him to grow up without me, so we gotta put this asshole in the dirt.” She put her phone away. “He stays between you and me. The only ones that know about him are the people that can keep their mouths shut.” Namely the folks at the docks. Fishermen protect their own, and after the bad way she was in, none of them want her past coming around to stir up trouble.

”He's got a nice name. And don't worry, my lips are sealed.” Linqian meant it. There was plenty she'd tell others about, but something that would affect a kid? Absolutely not. And if anyone deserved a peaceful life, it was Tayla. ”I don't have a kid of my own yet but I practically raised my brother after our parents died… well even before that, so I get it a bit. Sometimes you need someone else to want to keep going.” She sighed softly. If Huanyi wasn't in the picture, she would have given up after Jinhai died. But that was enough depressing thoughts for now, especially when she was so sober… she twisted around to look over at the bar. ”He sure is taking a while to get a couple of drinks.”

Tayla trusted her to keep her word. She wouldn’t have told her about him if she didn’t. “Amen to that.” She’s sure she’d be dead by now if she hadn’t gotten pregnant with Siwan. He’s the reason she’s healing.

“Yah, Dick, what’s taking so long?” she called to Edict. She didn’t have to yell. She projected her voice a little bit.

Edict had been stunted by his own hubris once more; in his thinking everything was going to be fine because he didn’t recognize the bartender, he hadn’t even given a second thought about any of the other patrons. One of the figures at the bar had stopped him.
This someone happened to be from one of his Uncle’s local crews, someone who recognized Edict from the older days. It’d been some time since they’d seen one another, and rather than be rude to someone who very well could’ve earned their badge by now, he smiled and conversed.

Not to mention, he had to wait for a basket of french fries.

But with Tayla calling him over, it was enough for Edict to break the friendly conversation and make it back to the table with a few high end beers, three shots of tequila and a basket of fries.
“Good choice, can’t go wrong with fried ‘tater. Though, I guess the miller is yours? Linqian, Stella. Stella for me. And Jose Platinum. Enjoy ladies.”
He handed everything out, then sat back down in a huff.
“Fucking wiseguy at the bar. One of my Uncle’s guys. Gotta play it nice, you know?”

And then he turned his attention fully to Tayla.
“We didn’t really speak much at the other meeting. It’s nice to see you again, Sis. How’s the troubles with you? When I prodded the other night I noticed that you didn’t have anything up, so… What happened?” he asked frankly.

Tayla rolled her eyes, then shot Linqian a look for letting his bozo come along. At least he’s the one paying out. The least he could do if she had to hear him talk. It’s like listening to a cringe compilation and dying inside at every word. She dug into her fries. She needed something on her stomach before she could drink. “How about you don’t call me, ‘sis.’ That’s weird. And ‘What happened?’ What happened when?”

”Well, your Lux. You let it go. Doesn’t make much sense to me when people like us have the world at their fingers, y’know? I’ve made a good living as a gangster wizard…
Of course, he didn’t exactly care about why or why not. It was more to push things along, see what her reaction would be. And to see if Linqian was going to turn into a rocket over it.

”What the fuck?” Linqian glared at Edict, though there wasn't actually much heat to it… she'd exploded too many times today already, and it wasn't exactly directed at her. She'd already downed her tequila shot, and was knocking back the beer. If he was going to be a dick right off the bat she was going to drink her way through his stacks of cash.

Tayla didn’t react. She wouldn’t give him the luxury of seeing an ounce of the pain she went through for that to happen. “How’d you know I lost it?” She wasn’t going to pretend that she didn’t. No use lying. Not when she’s not the one that offered that information to begin with.

”Yesterday at the flower shop. I gave everyone a nice friendly handshake, and I got no pushback from your Emotional Field. I never would’ve figured you’d just let me in like that, so… I know a bit more than just that you don’t have your Lux.”
He grimaced slightly, shaking his head.
”If it means anything, I’m in recovery too. And I’m sorry.”

”Friendly, my ass,” Linqian rolled her eyes at him. She had no idea what he meant about being in recovery, at least in regards to Tayla - like why she'd had to get her shit together when she had a kid, but Linqian wasn't going to pry with that. ”Nobody wanted you in our heads… you're not going to go on another sob story again, are you?”

”Woah, Miss Negative… I’m just trying to relate, have a human moment for once, shit. I’m always on duty back home, now I’m with people who I called my friends at one point and you’re painting me like I’m some chud. Lemmie apologise and be done with it, eh?” he griped, hands on the move like a classic Italian stereotype.

”Sure, sure,” Linqian held up her own hands, before going back to drinking her beer. She wasn't here to get pissed with anyone, she was here to do the opposite - forget everything that'd pissed her off earlier. She glanced over at Tayla, hoping that she'd be alright to just move past Edict being… Edict. ”Y'know, former friends generally prefer to offer their issues, instead of having it dug out of their heads.”

”Y’know, she’s right. Forget I said anything, drink and eat on my dime. Be merry. It's a reunion among the sad circumstances.”
He grinned in his head. Can’t take back what’s been said… Enjoy the mindfuck. Edict waved the two of them off as if he was a traffic crossing guard waving some kids across the street.

”That's more like it,” Linqian grinned, with her actual lips as opposed to internal ones, and raised her beer. ”Here's to not being the fucks who tried to get the feds number, like Sloane.”
She didn't actually wait for anyone else to raise their own, knocking it back, before leaning towards Tayla. ”Hey, are there any hot fishermen that come to this bar? Or women, yknow, I'm not fussy.” she winked. Perhaps drinking on a near empty stomach wasn't so sensible as it was already going to her head.

Tayla kept her mouth shut. She wouldn’t trust Edict to hold her pen. He’d likely sell it for a stick of gum and a shitty compliment. If the only thing he knew was she lost her Lux and is a recovering addict, then that’s all he’s going to get. She’s spent 8 years of her life with men like Edict. He wouldn’t get to her.

“Riiiiight, I’ll do you one better. How about I just forget you’re even here?” She proceeded to pay attention to Linqian and make like Edict’s a ghost.

“Come to this bar?” She snorted. “Nope. All the hot ones have better places to be and all the women are where they are. I recommend Club 47 on Main if that’s what you’re looking for. Only old people come here. We’re the only ones that’s under the age of 40 to step through those doors in awhile.”

”Damn, guess I'll go there next,” Linqian shrugged, finishing off her beer. Drinking it so quickly wasn't nice to her stomach but fuck, she needed it. Especially with how awkward things had got between Tayla and Edict. Since when was she a peacekeeper? ”The night's still young, after all, and I have nothing planned for the rest of it. I can go pick someone up later… I haven't been round since before I could drink, so I don't know which places are good for what."

Not that it was even night yet, still afternoon at best. So she really had the whole day ahead of her. Alcohol first in this company, then she could consider another kind of company to occupy her mind… and honestly, she still kind of wanted to get her worries magically pushed away by Edict again. She also kind of hated that she did.

”I'm going to need a whole lot more alcohol to deal with this,” she gestured between Edict and Tayla. Honestly, out of the current coven they were probably the two she was most alright with spending time with (well maybe Britney as well)… it was a shame that shit had gotten so awkward with Edict going right in with the shit he'd gotten out of Tayla's mind. Yeah, she needed like five more shots for this. She nudged Edict, who was in the way of her getting out. ”Hey, I'm going to get more shots, you want to give me some cash for them or go up with me?”

Tayla said what she said and pretended like she didn’t know who Linqian was talking about. “Dealing with what? Just two ex-covenmates having a beer and some shots. If the walking, talking ATM isn’t working, then maybe I can convince Ruby to give us those shots at a discount. Besides, I need to stretch my legs anyway.” She put her leg down, stretching out her knee. She liked to sit curled up, but it’s hell on her tailbone when the seats are shit.

”The walking ATM could use with a little ease. I tried to apologise, you don’t wanna hear it fine. I deserve it. But don’t doormat me.”
Edict pushed up from his seat, pulling his beanie off and leaving it at the table as he made way for the bar for a second round. This time he wasn’t content with playing runaround. He made way and hit the head of the bar with a lean.
Coming back, he had the rest of the bar’s bottle of the good Jose, which he slid across the table.
”There, drown your sorrows ladies. I’m happy to listen.

It was awkward, and Linqian wasn’t the only one thinking about it. But Edict loved it. The vague tension, the back and forth. It made drinking far more interesting than some even-handed bitch fest between like minded people. In the end, Edict was going to swallow the entire Coven. It was nice to fuck with them even in their spare time.

Once again she didn’t acknowledge him when he spoke, but she did when he came back to the table. “감사합니다, doormat-님.” She poured a shot for herself and finally took a sip of her beer. Happy to listen her ass. More like blackmail. He’s really bad at being like the disarming charmer she used to date.

”Don’t tempt me with the whole bottle.” Linqian reached for it anyway, pouring a shot then promptly downing it. She did the same with another, and then nursed a third. Having not properly eaten since breakfast, she started to feel a bit light headed - which was just where she wanted to be. She didn’t understand any of what Tayla said, but she laughed at it anyway as if she did. Probably something rude towards Edict. ”My sorrows? Everyone fucking knows them, so what can I even say, hah- But it sure did feel fucking good slapping Lynn earlier.”

“Oh and when she cried. Like bitch, you said what you said. Take it like a champ. Weak bitch behavior.”

”Right? Like what the fuck did she expect? Like hell I was going to just take it. Like, yeah, sure you’re right Lynn, I did deserve to lose my brother.” Linqian rolled her eyes, feeling pissed off about it all over again. She downed another shot. ”Fucking bitch. Wish that fed hadn’t pulled me away so I could’ve given her another one… Really give her something to cry about.”

”Well you heard her try and throw me under the bus too? Like I ever did anything to her she didn’t like. Geeze…” Edict pitched in, just spitballing.

“You're not creditable,” she said, pointing at Edict. “You probably did do something to rightly piss her off.”

”Yeahhhh, you kinda did burn down the church,” Linqian pointed out. She didn’t seem all that pissed about it, because there was a shit ton more to be pissed about than burning down Auri’s shitty little lair. ”Lynn seems pretty fucking touchy, that could’ve set her off.”

“That was you!” Tayla cackled.

”Well, yeah… No way I’m letting some fuckin’ Feds take me without givin’ em a fuckin’ reason. But, I definitely didn’t kill Kali as happy as I am that he’s gone. That’s a magical Fed we really didn’t need working our case. That I promise.

”Oh yeah, he was crazy… I’m fucking surprised he was actually a fed. What the fuck are their hiring requirements? Do they require you to be batshit?” Linqian snorted, before pouring herself another shot. She considered it for a moment before deciding not to drink it right away. ”Well, they did hire my fucking ex, so…”

Tayla snorted.

”Speaking of that,-” Edict interrupted, narrowing his eyes slightly. ”You probably don’t need to worry about getting info out of her anymore… Unless you really wanna get paid for it, I mean I won’t stop you from prying Linqian.”

”What, you scared of them now that they tased you a couple of times?” Linqian rolled her eyes, before glancing over at Tayla. Whatever, cat was out of the bag anyway. If Tayla had any comments about her taking money from Edict, she’d deal with it like she did anything she didn’t care to hear. ”I need the fucking money and I already agreed to meet with her before they tear gassed us and I threw a bible at her face. If she turns up, I’ll get info out of her.”

Tayla's eyebrows shot up. “You're talking to the Feds?” She took a longer pull from her drink. The beer warmed her insides, and in a few minutes it'll make her head a little woozy. She pointed at them. “This is what I wanted to talk about. We need to avoid them at all cost, but since you're already meeting with one here's the deal. Find out whatever you can, but under no circumstances do you make a deal of any kind. You'll be doing favors for them for the rest of your life or become their scapegoat when shit hits the fan,” she said completely serious. No room for doubt.

”I don’t think she’s that stupid, Tayla…” Edict barked, waving his hand in vague frustration.

”Yeah, I’ve got standards.” Linqian glanced at Edict, who yeah… Better option than the Feds. He actually paid. At least Tayla seemed to have missed that point, or glossed over it. All good. The alcohol was definitely working it’s magic now, loosening her up and helping her not get pissed about what was essentially a lecture from Tayla. ”That includes never taking a deal with the fucking feds. I’m only seeing her to get info outta her, and maybe curse her out a bit. Honestly, Bianca being with the feds makes me hate them even more. Fucking bitch.”

“Great. Now what the hell we gonna do when the rest are getting butt fucked by the Feds? Cause what's her face was talking to them when we left, and I don't doubt for a second some aren't going to reach out considering how many voted to work closely with Kali last night.”

”Listen, it’s not that complicated. We wiggle a little worm into the Federal operation, we keep an ear out for what they know and what their movements are, and we put this Father Wolf bullshit to bed before they have a chance to make our lives any more miserable. Right? I mean why else would they be here, fuck knows the Temple’s been here for years and they’ve not done anything to them, right!?”
Edict was doing his best to nudge without pushing. They could get pissy at him all they wanted, but in the end he had an idea about what to do that nobody else had mentioned yet. And he wasn’t gonna tell them either. Just sit on it, play it by ear.

”Oh right, let me just get Father Wolf’s location right now so we can kill him- oh wait. We have no fucking idea where he is.” Linqian sneered, downing another shot. Fuck, that burned. ”You sure do make it sound easy, Greyson, like- fuck- maybe the Temple wasn’t starting gunfights and punching agents? They didn’t seem to care ‘bout Father Wolf. Maybe they just suck.”
Linqian half lost her trail of thought, waving a hand in the air as if that would explain everything she said.

Tayla didn't know what the fuck the Temple was and she didn't want to know. Emo stoner chicks were fucking crazy. She wasn't touching any of it. “You're fucking batshit,” she said to Edict. “You want to bug the Feds? The fucking Feds? I've avoided charges for a reason and I'm not letting you get me caught up in some bullshit.” She looked to Linqian. “Our best bet is figuring out what Auri's hunches are, then following through. Cause you're right, they don't know anything about Father Wolf and don't seem to care.”

”Nobody is asking you to get involved in anything, Third-Eye. What’re you gonna do, get blasted by some fucking goon?”
It was important to note that Edict hadn’t touched his shot or his beer. He was stone sober. Typical Eat-A-Dick behaviour.

“Considering all our asses were on the chopping block today, Dick, you fucking around can get us arrested by association. We might not get charged when evidence leads back to you, but I'm not spending any time in prison for you either.” She'll sooner rat his ass out to avoid jail. She's no snitch but like hell she's going to prison for him of all people.

”Oh, c’mon,” Linqian rolled her eyes at both of them, before pointing at Edict - arm shaking slightly. ”If they’d wanted him in jail they’d’ve done it. Shit, they hacked into our phones, right. Well, I bet he has burners- whatever! If they haven’t digged it up now, they won’t later. Probably.”

”Oh yeah because ‘Magical Loki Brain Trickster’ is admissible in Court, right? Jail means nothing to me. I’ll take the burns, I’ll take the pain of casting without a Channeler. But whatever prison I eventually end up in, it’ll be my fuckin’ domain. So rat me out. But that ain’t gonna help with Father Wolf. You wanna make me out to be a bad guy, that’s your prerogative. Not mine.”
Apply the gas, then the breaks, then some more gas. Turn the wheel in a new direction, take a new street, have an adventure. But don’t ever let the cameras be turned onto yourself. Always redirect.

”Oh yeah, I’m sure it’ll be your domain,” Linqian sniggered, looking not so subtly looking down Edict’s body. Oh yeah, those shots were definitely going to her head. Shit, whatever. She wasn’t quite drunk yet. Just heavily tipsy, and with the little inhibitions she’d had gone. ”If you dont drop any soap- haha.”

“Wow. You're both dumb fucks. You think they won't stick you on false charges. They do it all the time. You know how many innocent people are in jail right now? A fuck ton. No you though,” she said to Edict. “They'll get you on something creditable, because you're a thug. Bet you still think Lee Harvey Oswald killed MLK and JFK's assassination wasn't an inside job, but okay. Also, get the fuck out of my head cause I haven't said anything about ratting you out. If you're going to act like that, then I'm going to walk.”

”Did I not just say it was important to know what the Feds know? Is that not all I started this with? And don’t bullshit me about being in your head because I don’t even have my fuckin’ glasses on. That’s just what everyone thinks when they deal with people like me ‘cuz it’s the easiest thing to imagine for their own peace of mind.

“If you weren't a fucking snake and a manipulator, then no one would need to worry about their peace of mind.”

Edict huffed, waving his hand about in frustration.
”This is typical prejudice toward Italian Americans. Happens all the time, I talk with an accent all of a sudden I’m a fucking thug. Real nice.”

Linqian leaned back, sipping on her tequila much like a spectator to a show. Shit, this was the best entertainment she’d got in weeks. She really wished she had popcorn right now.

Tayla picked up her beer and splashed it on Edict. “And you're a racist piece of shit. You can take a walk and don't come back, white man.”

Edict’s face twisted into a smile. A grim, long smile.
”I could say a lot right now, but out of respect for you, I’ll leave. Rather than dignify myself with this. Enjoy the bottle and the fries. Linqian, you know how to reach me. I’ll be down the street at a bar with better liquor.
He stood, reaching into his pocket for the classic; he split off four or five hundred dollars and slapped it on the table, licking the beer still dripping off his face.

“I bet you fucking could. You'll say more shit to get under my skin. Talk us in circles. Continue hide who you really are like the slithering slimeball you are. You're nothing but evil and you know it. Have a good fucking day. Hope Father Wolf doesn't knife you on the street.”

”I hope the same… For the sake of that baby you got at home, I hope Mommy doesn’t take a fall and hit her face off a bottle of oxies.”
He cracked his neck gently and spun on his heels, stuffing his hand in his pocket and waltzing toward the door.

Tayla didn't let him get far, before she grabbed the liquor bottle and brought it down towards him.

”Oh fuck no,” Linqian shot up, stumbled, and tried to grab Tayla’s wrist before she managed to bottle Edict. She didn’t want Tayla ending up dead from beating a mobster, and she didn’t want Edict losing his brains and not paying her. Worst case scenario!

It's Tayla's reaction that got the regulars and the owner quiet, watching, then getting up to defend her. Tayla wasn't a violent person. No one's ever seen her try to hurt someone before. Ruby pulled a shot gun from behind the counter and pulled it on Edict.

“Seems we have a problem here. You wanna tell me what you do to her?” Ruby asked, nodding at Tayla.

Tayla pulled her arm out of Linqian's grip. Not that hard when Linqian had too much to drink. “He threatened my baby.” Was all she needed to say.

”Woah, woah, who was threatening anything!? Guns do not need to be involved in this fucking situation!” Edict barked, looking around with wide eyes as the situation turned on him in a fairly bad way.

”Yeah, let’s keep fucking guns out of it!” Linqian couldn’t believe she was half defending Edict. He was a piece of shit. But he was a piece of shit that was paying her a shit ton. She needed that money more than she needed solidarity with Tayla. As she said this, the temperature in the room started to drop. It went from comfortable to cold, to damn near freezing for anyone without emotional fields which was… Almost anyone in the room. For Edict, it would be fucking cold, but not so damaging.

Ruby took a shot near Edict, blowing the floor boards up. “You come in here and threaten one of ours?” Her teeth chattered, her aim shakey from the sudden freezing cold.

It went right through Tayla too. She needed to move. She's not gonna be in range of a gun owner with shaky aim, and she fucking freezing. She got out of the booth, grabbing her bag, bottle still in hand. She poured the rest of it on Edict's head. “Good luck, ass wipe.” She passed him going for the door.

Edict stood there, letting the alcohol pour down his face. His smile didn’t break, and his eyes followed Tayla as she made way for the door. Slowly, carefully, his hand reached for his sunglasses in his pocket. He didn’t need to wear them, just holding them was enough.
”Hey, Tayla… Take It Easy.”
The ethereal pink tendril split the air in a way nobody but the trained could perceive, and like a thick tongue with a tab of acid, it licked and stuck the words on her brain. “Take it easy.” A slow bomb of catharsis. He knew she’d feel better about the situation later… Why not get her hooked for another argument?

And then his attention turned to the Blind bartender. Ruby. With the shotgun. He didn’t even speak, rather letting his power build for a moment as he stared. Slowly, quietly, he mouthed the command.
”Stand Down.”
For a second, her body seemed to struggle between the initial desire to shoot him square between the eyes, and the new command running rampant in her brain that told her to let the gun down.

Hands still up, glasses in one, he grinned at Linqian.
”The night’s still young. Wanna hit my place so I can change?”

Linqian looked half mournfully at the empty bottle, and then at Edict. This shit had sobered her up a bit, which meant she needed another drink. Or something. Sorry Tayla. She’d make it up to her later. The temperature rose back to normal. ”Yeah, let’s go. You owe me like twenty more drinks for this shit.”

Tayla didn't turn around at first when Edict called her name, but the moment he said ‘Take it easy’ she knew she fucked up. She shouldn't have ever turned her back on him. His pink Lux hit her and planted those words in her mind. They didn't assuage her angry yet, but they would later. She was familiar with how pink Lux worked, which is why when she walked outside the bar she pulled out her phone and made two notes to herself. One in her notepad app about Edict manipulating her emotions, so she's not angry with him later. Then another one she spoke into a voice recording on her way from the docks. “Fucking piece of shit, like all the other men I've ever dealt with. Controlling me to get their way. If he ends up dead, it may not be Father Wolf this time. Whatever to protect my boy. He’s a threat.” Her current anger came through clear. She'll hold onto that.

Edict was slow to begin moving, looking over at Ruby struggle as she finally let the gun down completely. The blank look on her face told Edict that the scrub down had been a rousing success. He waved Linqian forward. For a short moment he thought about the fact that his car was still in the Temple parking lot, but it wasn’t that big a deal. He’d get brought back there tomorrow, he’d pick it up, no problem. For now, he had a date(?). Or something.
”Come on, my Uncle’s bar is down the road. We’ll get a cap, have him drive us back to my place, since you’re not driving with all that booze in your system.”

”Sure,” Linqian shrugged. Whatever was good with her right now, so long as it involved getting out of here (and some more booze). ”I’m not stupid enough to drive anyway.”

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

Outside The Lair > Luca’s Place

“I did not mean…I don’t think… I,” Lynn paused as her head lowered as Jack grilled her on what she said. She knew she had fucked up royally. Yet that same anger that ignited this whole inferno once again flickered in her eyes. Why was she the only one being targeted here? Sure, she said the worst thing she could’ve said but Linqian started it. The anger lingered in her eyes for a brief moment longer but it dissipated as yet another tear fell across the burned section of her face, pulling her back from her feelings and back to the present. “Jack, I fucked up. With everyone one dying, the PRA raid, I…I,” she could no longer keep the sentence going as she simply let her eyes fall to the ground below defeated and ashamed of what she said. Yet, despite this, she was not upset at how those words made Linqian feel. If anything, she felt good that she had managed to cut deep and make her feel the same thing she felt.

It was clear to Luca that nothing else was going to come from this meeting. Everyone was hurt, the government agents were still here and Lynn and Linqian had just gotten into a full blown fight… he winced. Of the two he knew Lynn better, and was much closer to her, but what she’d said was out of line. What they’d both said was out of line.

He should go home. There was only so much pain he could handle in public, and he’d left his stronger painkillers in his apartment today. But… he didn’t want to just leave. He’d barely caught up with anyone.

Slowly, he pushed himself to his feet. He still felt incredibly weak, but his legs were functioning again at least. It would be enough to get him home. Luca grimaced and pressed his hand against his head as it aching, eyes squeezing shut to push through the dizziness from getting up. It passed, and he approached Lila, Lynn and Jasper - stopping a short bit away so he wouldn’t hurt any of them.

”Hey guys,” he said quietly, looking at Lynn with eyes full of sympathy. He hated seeing anyone he cared about hurting, no matter how it had happened. ”I’m thinking of leaving… Want to come with me? We could go back to my place, catch up a bit. I have loads of stuff to treat wounds, and plenty of painkillers too.”

Lila looked over at Jasper, and then at Lynn, before back to Luca. “Yeah, let’s get out of here.” She paused as she leaned down into Lynn’s face and smiled, “Let’s get out of here. We can talk about this all later over a drink, yeah?” Lynn simply nodded in return.

”Luca, you are amazing. Thank you for the help here,” Jasper said as he flashed a big smile, ” This day has been a complete waste so far, like what the fuck.” As he finished, he walked over and grabbed his painting off the ground. He carried it back to the group and in his mind, he began to think of the steps to restore it.

”Yeah, just like yesterday was,” Luca laughed. ”A drink sounds good… Any of you got a car? Otherwise, we gotta walk a bit to get a bus.”

“We took an Uber this morning,” Lila said sheepishly.

”I do,” Jasper waved towards the group to follow him, ”I parked back by the park so we got a small walk ahead of us at least. Thankfully I cleaned it out yesterday so there is plenty of room.”

”Perfect, cars are much safer for me,” Luca grinned. He glanced around everyone else… who all seemed to be heading their own ways anyway. With a half wave he started slowly walking back towards the park (because if he walked too quickly, he’d probably end up tripping over his own feet) behind Jasper. ”Uh, my place is a bit bare, just as a warning. There’s enough seats, though! You guys will just have to grab them from Olivia’s old room, all the good furniture is in there.”

Now that they were far enough away to be out of earshot of everyone else, he looked over at Lynn. ”Lynn, are you alright? Well obviously you aren’t alright… But y’know, if you ever need to talk about any of that stuff I’m always here for you. If not, we can do something fun at my place.” He smiled sheepishly. ”I have a few things to tell you guys too.”

Lynn raised her eyes slowly and rested them on Luca’s and offered a weak, but warm, smile in return. “Thank you,” she paused as she lowered her eyes down once again. In truth, she had no desire to talk about any of that stuff, at least not quite yet. She knew that if she talked, she would show a side of herself that she kept hidden for a reason. Lynn had to be this perfectly happy version of herself at all times, she had to keep up the illusion even if everyone had just got a glimpse of the sadness that lurked beneath. If she talked about her family like she needed to it would only speak to the fact that she will more than likely meet a similar fate before long. And that was not something she was ready to face. That was something she couldn’t face while she was sober. “I can’t….I can’t… something.. Something fun sounds nice..” her voice was weak, defeated, and above all else it finished with a tone that she hoped would keep the questions at bay.

"We can do something fun!" Luca nodded - he wasn't going to push. He understood wanting to keep stuff to yourself more than anyone.

”A few things to tell us, eh?” Jasper started as his eyes shifted from Lynn to Luca. He knew all about Lynn’s past, and if it was anyone else who said what she said he’d never talk to them again and would’ve been in line behind Linqian. ”Don’t keep us waiting,” Jasper smiled wide once more.

"Hey, hey, it's nothing exciting," Luca laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. "The fun part is some stuff I got for you guys, you gotta wait till we're at mine.. The rest is kinda the opposite. You remember Olivia? She and I kept in touch past ten years… well we lived together til a year or two ago. I haven't heard from her for a week."

He looked away to hide the way his smile wavered. "Just wanted to let you guys know. The rest I'd rather say when we're at mine!"

Lila looked over to Lila, and saw that Lila was already looking at her. This was the second time the two of them had heard Luca say that Olivia was missing in as many days. Lila could tell that Olivia being missing was stressing Luca out and now, with everything else that had happened since the Dairy Queen, Lila was beginning to stress out about it too. “Oklahoma, right,” Lila asked as she looked over to Luca once again. “Listen, fuck the PRA and fuck the coven, if you need help finding her all you have to do is ask”, Lila paused as she pulled out her phone and typed an address into her GPS, “it’d be a drive, a long drive, but we could go if you ever wanted to.”

"I appreciate it," Luca looked back over at Lila with a smile. It had slipped his mind he'd told them yesterday too - as many things did nowadays, with his memory deteriorating. He often struggled with that more than he did his physical ones. Of course he was incredibly worried about Olivia… but he hadn't meant to make it such a stressful thing. "But I actually called her family a few days after, and she isn't there… Maybe I'll call again. Just worrying with Father Wolf, but no news is good news, right?" Because they hadn't found her body. "Sorry, I didn't mean to worry you guys too much with it! I'm sure she's fine and just on a work trip or something. That's what her mum said it might be… a sudden work trip she forgot to tell them about."

It sounded ridiculous even as he said it, and had done when Olivia's mum told him that over the phone. But he was trying to stay positive. "Forgetting things leads into the second thing, heh… sorry, I forgot I told you both yesterday." He smiled at Lila and Lynn. "My memory isn't as good as it used to be. A lot of me isn't, really. I can't really hide this after how I reacted to the tear gas, but…" Luca paused, trying to figure out how to word things. He'd said he'd wait till they were at his place, but he'd given himself an in, so he wouldn't back out and not say anything. He had to force himself to say something now, even if it wasn't the whole truth. He couldn't tell anyone the whole truth. "Well it's pretty obvious I'm ill. I'm seeing doctors and it's stable! I don't want to worry anyone, but it might make some stuff more difficult for me, so I at least wanted you guys to know."

Him being stable was completely false, but he said it all with a calm expression and smile that it would be near impossible to tell any of it was a lie.

Jasper listened as Luca talked and sighed at the final reveal that he was fine. Today was a day of many unexpected sights and feelings and experiences, and Jasper was at least thankful that he did not have to worry about losing a good person like Luca. But that made Jasper think. Luca has been stuck in this condition for nearly ten years. Ten years of rot, and decay, and not much else that could be considered a life in-between. ”Say Luca, I am very glad that you are doing okay. But that begs the question,” he paused as he turned towards the rest of the group with a grin across his face, ”how much living have you done over the past ten years” he paused as moved a little closer. It dawned on him for the first time that Luca was that much shorter than him. ”we have the Halloween festival coming up in a week, what if we all went to that together? Did a..”

“Group costume?” Lynn whispered as the faint glimmer of excitement entered her eyes, replacing the sadness that consumed them. Halloween was her favorite time of year, and dressing up was the best part.

” Group costume,” he finished with the biggest smile yet.

”A group costume?” Luca’s slight smile widened into a grin, his eyes shining. The past few days were the most he’d been out for months, and going to a halloween festival… He hadn’t done anything like that in years. It was still risky, especially if there were people without magic around, but at least if he wasn’t alone there’d be a bit of a person buffer. He didn’t want to cause pain but he couldn’t actually hurt these three without touching them. Just the thought of going to something like this, dressed up with friends, was so exciting he didn’t want to dwell on the logistics of it. ”Absolutely! I haven’t been to the halloween festival since I was a teen… You’re right, I haven’t been living much at all. What should we do? Oh, we could all be witches? Nah, that’s too boring… I don’t know, what do you guys think?”

”No,” Lila started as she began to think. ” We got to do something fun, flashy, and on the nose but also subtle?”

“We can talk about it,” Lynn paused as she lowered her eyes once more, but raised them up again a second later. “What about something like the Powerpuff Girls? Lila and I can go as the girls, and you and Jasper can go as the masculine Powerpuff girls.”

” Like, in a dress and thigh-highs,” Jasper paused as he flexed his legs, ”I am always down to show off my legs”

”Heyyy,” Luca jokingly glared at Jasper. ”Stop bragging! Some of us don’t have long legs to show off.”

Thankfully he was comfortable enough in his masculinity now to do something like this… Even if just the image of him, small as he was, beside Jasper as masculine powerpuff girls was hilarious. ”I’m so down, I think we’d really pull off the powerpuff girls.”

”Let’s talk about it more in the car,” Jasper said as he clicked the unlock button on his key fob, His car was a relatively new SUV. He knew that Luca would do a bit of damage, but he knew a person who was handy with threads that could repair the damage like nothing had happened if Luca couldn’t suppress it for the whole time. ”Luca, you get the first pick for seats.”

”Lucky me,” Luca grinned - glad that Jasper had quite a spacious car. He took the back seat on the right, focusing on suppressing his rotting touch as he pulled over a seatbelt, shifting to try touch as little as possible with his bare skin. His aura might touch whoever was in front of him and cause a prickling, eventually worsening, pain against their skin - but it should be avoidable. And at least he shouldn’t get Jasper in the driver seat. ”My place isn’t too far by car, maybe ten or fifteen minutes, so I shouldn’t do too much damage…”

Lila was the next one into the car. She took the spot in the back, opposite side, to Luca and buckled herself into place in one quick motion. The *caw*’s from outside took her by surprise once again, and she once again came face to face with a crow trying to enter the car. Lila fought with the bird for a moment before she was able to force the crow out, and force the door close. Lynn got into the front seat and felt the prickling sensation immediately but she did not shift or move from her seat. Jasper looked over everyone, checking that they were buckled in, before he put the car into motion and began to drive off toward Luca’s place.

”So,” Jasper paused as he raised three fingers. ”We have Bubbles, Buttercup, and Blossom. Who’s going to be who?”

“We should match,” Lynn spoke as she looked back at Lila and then Luca. “You two could go as Buttercup, and Jasper and I as Blossom, that way we have room for another pair if,” she paused as she turned back around and sunk down into her seat, “If anyone else would even want to join us after,” she paused again as she reached into her bag and fumbled around for her flask. She paused as she couldn’t find it, and eventually just stopped the thought entirely as she looked out the window.

"Hell yeah I'm happy with Buttercup!" Luca nodded. He'd make a great masculine Buttercup, green was definitely his colour. He held back a wince when Lynn's mood visibly dropped. He quickly tried to think of a way to cheer her up. "Hey, if nobody else wants to join it's their loss, we'll look great… and someone might. Even if they don't, who needs a bubbles anyway? Bet we'll be the best dressed of the coven."

He quickly thought through everyone else in the coven… the only one he could see possibly joining their group was Adora. If Lisa had been around she definitely would have- no, let's not go there.

"Oh if you want anything that isn't water, herbal tea, or some really old wine Olivia left behind that I'm pretty sure I accidentally fermented, we should drop in at a shop on the way. Well, I can't really go in, but you guys should."

“True,” Lynn said as she flashed a weak smile in return, “We’ll probably look the best.”

Jasper looked over from the driver's seat and saw Lynn slink back into her dark place. He knew she wanted to drink, and he wanted to try and help pull her out without the alcohol, at least at the start. ”I may know someone who has a pretty nifty abstraction over at 317,”” Jasper paused as she flashed a smile, ”makes them real good with making clothes,” he paused as he returned his gaze to the road, ”I am not saying that they can make us the perfect costumes, but they will make it as close to perfect as possible. You’d look better than Linqian, Anya,”

”Yeah,” Lynn said as she shifted back upright into her seat and pushed forward away from the decaying aura, ”that would make me very happy.”

”Good point Luca, we can stop once we get close, we can put it on my ‘tab’”

"Whoa, you've got all the connections, Jasper," Luca grinned, flashing him a thumbs up… that he couldn't see because he was (hopefully) looking at the road. "I'll have to make sure to wear loads of layers underneath to not ruin it… but damn, bet we'll be the only ones with literally magical costumes."

Assuming anyone else went… well they surely would, it was the Halloween festival! Though he couldn't even imagine Sloane and Anya dressed up in costumes.

"Oh yeah, there's a small place near my apartment, so should be able to drop in there before going in."

A few minutes later Jasper pulled the car into a local convenience store. He watched as everyone got out of the car. ” Alright, Lynn, Lila, you two get started. Find what you want, my treat,” he paused as he turned to Luca, “Luca what are you wanting?”

Luca thought about it for a moment. There were certain foods he couldn't have without rotting them away, but thankfully processed foods like snacks were mostly safe… though sadly he couldn't drink. "A bar of Hershey's, some popcorn, lemonade… oh, and a bigggg tub of ice cream." He lowered his voice even though Lynn had gone towards the store. "Always good after anyone's cried."

”Good point,” Jasper paused as he made a mental note of the list as he turned around and ran into the store, ”hold down the fort while we’re gone!”

As the group entered the store the murder of crows that had been trailing their car began to land on the trees, the buildings, and even on top of the car once more. Thousands of crows began to descend on the area around Luca, and they all had their eyes on the door of the convenience store.

Luca eyed the crows in confusion - didn’t Lila say she’d sealed the maiden? Why were there still so many fucking crows everywhere. He took a few steps away from the door, so he wouldn’t be in the way of anyone, before rummaging in his pockets. Eventually he pulled out a packet of hard biscuits he’d been saving for if the meeting took too long.

”Hey, do you want some of this?” He called out to the crows. Because they couldn’t actually respond he broke off a bit of a biscuit and threw it onto the ground far enough away from him that it wouldn’t hurt them. If they wanted it they’d eat it, if not… well he’d just thrown a biscuit on the floor.

The crows tilted their heads at the question. They looked down at the biscuit, back up to Luca, and back down to the biscuit. In unison the crows *caw*ed and began flapping their wings. It was as if they understood Luca’s question, and understood he made an offering, but there was something that they did not like about the request. They left the ground, and the surrounding area at once and retreated to a further distance and took up a roost in the nearby trees. This time, however, their eyes were on Luca. A thousand beady eyes focused in on one, sickly man.

A few minutes later, the door to the store opened once more and Lynn and Lila walked out without bags in hand. A second later, Jasper stepped out with several bags attached to both arms. He struggled as he walked across the parking lot as he made his way to the trunk of his car. He used his foot to trigger the sensor, and then once it was open he placed the bags inside.

”Holy shit,” Luca whisper shouted, unable to take his eyes off the thousands of crows giving him a death stare for offering them a biscuit. Was he about to get his eyes pecked out? He needed those! Luca gestured to Lila - well tried to, he didn’t want to take his eyes off the possibly murderous crows. ”I think I pissed off a whole bunch of crows, Lila, what do I do?!”

“They’ll forget about it, trust me,” Lila chuckled for a second before she caught the size of the murderer around them. Thousands upon thousands. Lila raised an eyebrow as she looked around, in a circle, and saw them in every direction she looked. The Maiden was sealed. She did not have access to the crows. The Maiden was sealed. She calmed her thoughts and she pushed away the thoughts of any failure. “They were very picky about food when I had my abstraction, and if I gave them something that they did not like they would throw a fit. But given that it was your first offense they will forget, just be sure to give them something better the next time”, she finished with a wink.

”Oh thank god,” Luca let out a sigh of relief, slowly walking towards Jasper’s car - and keeping an eye on the crows in case they decided to swoop at him. ”Don’t give them cheap biscuits, got it.”

”Let’s get going,” Jasper spoke to the group. He shot a look to Lynn and Lynn had already gave him her ‘what the fuck’ expression as the two looked around at the murder in full. Lila said The Maiden was sealed, Lynn said she was there, yet why was the murder following Lila around just like before? And why was there more of them? Jasper waited for everyone to get into the car before he put the car in motion once more, and began the short trek over to Luca’s apartment. ” Alright gang, we’re here… I think.”

”Yup, we are! Follow me!” Luca got out of the car and led them to an apartment building just a short walk away.

He rummaged in his pocket for his keys, making sure to hold the plastic cover rather than the key itself, and opening the main door. He led them through the small corridor and hit the elevator button with his elbow. It didn’t take long to get there, and was thankfully big enough that he wouldn’t risk touching any of them inside. Luca crammed himself right in the corner. ”It’s just four floors up, but I don’t want to walk..”

On good days, he still could, but on most? Wasn’t worth it.

After a brief elevator ride they reached the fourth floor. Luca got out last, squeezing past them to the nearest flat.

”Welcome to my humble abode,” he dramatically gestured for them to all go in once the door was open.

A short corridor led into an open plan living room and kitchen, with three more doors off of it. The whole floor was lined with black, plastic vinyl - a few of the edges were worn away, and it had clearly been put down unprofessionally. The living room itself was rather bare, with a tattered, blue couch in one corner near a large window. Opposite it, some distance away, was a large screen plugged into a desktop computer. The wallpaper was half peeling off, an unpleasant dark cream colour that it probably hadn’t been when Luca first moved in. There were a few wooden chairs next to the breakfast bar that separated the kitchen from the living room. They all looked like they were on their last legs, discoloured and rotting.

”Sorry it’s not much,” Luca ran a hand through his hair with a light laugh, hurrying into the room so the rest of them could get in behind him. He stopped just in front of the near destroyed couch, gesturing to the first door off of the living room. ”That’s Olivia’s old room, there’s a couple of chairs you can get from there if you’d like! I haven’t been in much since she moved out, so everything in there is… undecayed. She made sure it was all set up in case anyone ever stayed over and the like. Also, feel free to put stuff in the fridge or freezer!”

Thankfully his kitchen was also mostly alright, thanks to him covering what he could in plastic and using mostly plastic utensils. It still needed replaced every now and then, but it was much more resistant to decay than other materials.

”Love the place man,” Jasper’s voice broke as he carried all the bags through the doorway. He was quickly followed by Lila, and then Lynn. Jasper moved to the kitchen quickly and placed the bags into any space he could find. He rolled up his sleeves and looked at the red lines that had dotted his arms. Oh, the joy of being helpful. He quickly ruffled through the bags, grabbing a bag of Doritos and a Coke, before he picked up the bag itself and brought it toward Luca. ”Where do you want the bag,” he paused as he leaned in close, ”I think the ice cream was a fantastic call” he finished as his eyes shifted to the side, and watched as Lynn tore through the bag and pulled out a large tub of cookies and cream. She grabbed a bowl and started to scoop the ice cream. ”I’ll go grab the chairs in a second!”

”I’ll take it, just throw it to me,” Luca held out his hands, before grinning and glancing over at Lynn. ”I know, ice cream is always a necessity when hanging out, especially after a bad time.”

While Jasper talked with Luca, Lila walked around the room. Looking at the signs of decay around them. She had figured that his condition would make living in a place somewhat problematic.

Lynn meanwhile found one of the stools and sat down ontop of it, curling her legs up to the edge of the seat itself. She had a full bowl of ice cream and she looked down at it with a sad look. She knew she fucked up. She knew she said something that she would never, ever be able to take back. And she knew that she could never truly explain why she said it. Linqian deserved to be cut that way, and Linqian deserved to be hurt in the way that she had hurt Lynn. But she did not deserve to inflict that pain on the coven. She knew that Jinhai was a beloved member of the coven, and Lynn really liked him back during their teenage years. And she said she was glad he was dead. The coven as a whole would never look at her the same. All because she could not talk about her past the way she needed. A single tear began to slide down her face, and then a second, and then a third. And yet she still had friends who were willing to overlook that mistake. A fourth tear and then a fifth,

“I am sorry guys,” Lynn started as she stared at the ice cream in her hands, “I fucked up.” A few tears landed in the bowl as her hands began to tremble holding it.

Lila walked to the kitchen, ruffled through a bag, and pulled out two bottles of beer. She grabbed her key chain and used the bottle opener on it to pull open the tabs. She walked over next to Lila and pulled up a stool next to her, put the beers on that, and pulled another stool out, and sat down on that one. “Yeah, yeah you did but fuck Linqian for saying that,” Lila paused as she looked down at Lynnm “Mind if I fill Luca in,” she paused and got a single nod in response. “Okay,” Lila paused as she turned towards Luca. “So long story short, whatever aberration or whatever gave Lila her power has been.. Ever present in her family. The gift of foresight,”

”The curse of misfortune,” Lynn added as she took a big drink of the beer. ”Death is an old friend of the family,” she tried to joke but it just brought more tears.

”She told me about it before the final battle with the snake, her power coming online finally made everything make sense, you know? Her parents had just died, her brother died the year before,”, she paused as she shook her head, ” the only reason she hasn’t been to more funerals over the past decade is she doesn’t have anyone left to lose, they’re all dead. Whatever gave her this power also gave her, and everyone else in her family, bad luck and it has resulted in the death of everyone she called family.”

”No wonder,” Luca breathed out. He knew that Lynn had lost a lot, because even in the week he’d been there before sealing the snake she’d gone to a funeral or two. He couldn’t imagine what that was like. While he no longer saw his family for their own safety, they were still alive. If one day he got rid of the rot he would be able to see them again. Lynn couldn’t. No wonder she’d been so upset… Her and Linqian should be empathising with each other, not fighting. ”I’m so sorry, Lynn. I know it doesn’t change anything, but I am.”

The bag that Luca had just gotten from Jasper started to crumble in his fingers, slowly but surely. ”Does that mean that… You could die from it too?”

Lynn’s eyes darted quickly and matched Luca’s gaze. “Yes. Things just,” she paused as her eyes slowly drifted out of focus, ” tend to go wrong for me. Whether it’s an airdropped brace, a falling piece of concrete, or a blow that would normally miss, things are drawn to hurt me. She paused as she downed the rest of the beer she had, ”And one day the bad luck will catch up to me I think.”

“Let me grab you a different chair,” Lila said as she moved to the guest room, returning a moment later with the new one. After Lynn switched seats, she moved the old one out of the way and went back to the kitchen, coming back with another beer and a bag of Skittles.

Luca bit his lip, heart sinking. It was one thing to come to terms with his own impending death, and another for a friend’s. It was something they shared, though different at the same time - his was slow and definite, whereas Lynn’s could come out of nowhere at any time. Maybe he should tell her… No. That would cause everyone more pain. There was a hint of understanding in his gaze that he quickly hid away. ”Shit. And there’s no way to get rid of it?”

It was a stupid question. Luca knew as well as anyone how difficult it was to get rid of an abstraction you didn’t want. Frowning, he finally sat down on the worn couch. He wanted to go get some ice cream too, but he’d just start to destroy its container like this. ”That must be difficult. Damn, I should’ve bad luck proofed the place before I invited you guys over!” He shook his head. How would he even do that? ”Hopefully… well, hopefully it won’t catch up to you. It isn’t much, but I’ll just make sure I’m ready to jump in the way and erode any concrete coming for you.” He flashed Lynn a smile.

Lynn laughed. She laughed a bit too hard and nearly fell over the chair, but with a near-comical windmill motion with her arms, she was able to keep herself sitting strong. “It’ll curve around you, just you watch,” he paused as she laughed again. The tears still continued to fall but the sight of that happening.. Again, filled her with a joy she hadn’t felt in a minute. Linqian began to fade from Lynn’s mind finally. However, the burning sensation on her cheek quickly drew her focus back to it. She touched it gently and it hurt like hell. She raised the bowl of ice cream and placed it on the burned hand print, before let out an audible “ahhhh” as the cold of the bowl brought some relief to the pain she was feeling.

“I try not to think too much about it,” Lynn started as she flashed a smile back to Luca, “and I try to avoid any unnecessary danger.

”Hey, if I get super buff it won’t be able to get around me!” Luca flexed his arms… Which were really lacking in any muscle at all, and laughed. At least Lynn seemed to be feeling a bit better. ”Not thinking about it seems for the best… Wait, shit, I should get you some medication for that.”

Luca jumped up, immediately regretting it as he swayed and had to shoot out a hand to grab the arm of the couch. Once the dizziness had gone he disappeared into the door nearest him - his bedroom - and came back out with a plastic box filled with medical supplies. It didn’t have any of his stronger painkillers, which he kept in separate prescription bottles, but it had all the over the counter stuff - along with stuff that should help with burns. Sometimes it soothed his rotting skin. He put it down near Lynn.

”Everything you need should be in there!”

Lila laughed again at Luca flexing. He was a good man, probably one of the best in the coven, and his antics were enough to keep her spirits lifting upwards. “Thank you, Luca”, Lynn paused as she reached down and grabbed the medical supplies that she could use on the burn, and began to rub the ointment on it. It hurt. It hurt like hell, but it would be enough to avoid lasting damage and scarring.

“So, now that we are away from that craziness, and from the rest of the coven,” she paused as she returned her focus to her ice cream. She finally thought about how she truly made Linqian feel, and she felt awful. Not because she made her feel bad, but the fact that she made her feel the same things Lynn had always felt She was holding herself together by a thin margin, but she needed to add more distractions to keep it together, “can I just say that Sloane and Anya are still cunts?”

”You’re right,” Luca burst out laughing, eyes creasing slightly. ”I can’t believe Anya tried to become leader! Well I can, but still… I thought she was smarter than that.”

He shook his head half in disbelief. Anya was one of the few people Luca actively disliked, outside of a few 8th Street members. ”But hey, Sloane isn’t actually that bad… Well, uh, she did basically imply that Jade’s death was Drake’s fault before he punched her. But she was clearly hurting too!”

“We’re all hurting,” Lynn said as tears threatened to well again. She dug her thumb nail into the underside of her middle finger, hiding it from the group. She pulled her finger and returned to her ice cream.

“I think you and Jasper need to actually spend some time around Sloane,” she paused as she took a drink from her beer, “fuck Anya though” she paused as she looked around the room again. Luca was alone here. She did not like that. Lila knew that father wolf only targeted those who were alone and the realization that Luca was in danger made her also realize that Jasper was as well. “Hey,” she paused as she pointed between Jasper and Luca, “with father wolf on the prowl y’all shouldn’t be sleeping alone”

”Oh, you’re right.” Luca honestly hadn’t even thought about it. When Auri had suggested pairing up, he’d agreed it was a good idea for everyone else. But he couldn’t exactly move in somewhere else and risk ruining a shit ton of furniture, or hurting others. He was dying anyway, so if it happened to him earlier, so what? But he’d forgotten he had friends that would actually care about him… He turned to Jasper with a grin. ”You’d be welcome to sleep here, if you want? Olivia’s room’s been free since she left, but the beds pretty good - she picked it out herself and she had much better taste than me!”

”Fuck yeah bro, slumber party,” Jasper responded as he tossed a popcorn piece into the air and catching it in his mouth as it fell. ” I’d need to stop by mine to grab some stuff but you’re much more central to stuff here, I’m out on the outskirts of town.”. He paused as he shifted his eyes over to the girls. ”once they’re heading home we can head over, I’ll give you the VIP tour,” he finished with a wink as he tossed another piece of popcorn into his mouth.

”Sounds great,” Luca grinned. He got up again and went into the kitchen, finally grabbing himself a bowl of ice cream. He then rummaged through a few cupboards to find the bottle of painkillers he kept in there (just in case) and popped one back with a drink of water. ”I’ve never had a boy’s slumber party. What do you do during them? No demon summoning, I hope.”

“We summoned a demon” Lynn said as she shoved another scoop of ice cream into her mouth.

“Yeah,” Lila sighed, “we did, last night, it was a big one too. I hope it’s not causing too much trouble, it got away”

Jaspers eyes went wide, and shifted from surprise, to concern, to a just tired of this look. How could they summon a demon, again. ” No demon summons,” he paused as he pointed towards the ladies, ” because unlike some people we’ll be mature adults.”. He chuckled as he looked back towards Luca. ”Seriously though, thanks for offering up your place. A boys slumber party is a magical experience, we’ll watch movies, do arts and crafts, I’ll cook us dinner, and,” he paused as he looked towards Lynn, then Lila, ” No demons”

”Holy shit… Well, if a demon turns up tonight, we’ll know why,” Luca shook his head in shock. How did you even summon a demon? Was it some kind of girl magic they weren’t privy to learning? Quickly getting over his shock, he grinned at Jasper again. ”Helly yeah, I haven’t had a properly cooked dinner in a while… Not cause I can’t cook! It’s just a bit difficult. Oh- speaking of arts and crafts, one minute.”

Luca jumped up, stumbling slightly but not letting that deter him from going into his room. He came back moments later with a few things in his hands. He concentrated hard on not rotting them away, which would ruin his hard work, and looked at the three of them with a grin. He could just throw them each theirs- wait, no. Lynn would definitely end up hit in the face.

”Here, I made these for you,” he placed them on the floor and nudged one towards each of them. For Lila it was a carved, wooden crow roughly painted in pink, blue and white (Luca wasn’t so good at the painting part). For Jasper, a wooden paintbrush with a splattering of colour at the tip. And for Lynn a small wooden heart looped on a thin metal chain with a clasp at the back. They were all imperfect, with small bits missing from when Luca didn’t quite keep his abstraction under control while making them, but clearly a labour of love. ”I was making some for the people in 8th, then my old friends like you guys… I’m glad I was able to see you all and give you them.”

Lila and Lynn both made an ”aww” sound in unison. Lila looked it over, and she immediately was in love with the design and the paint pattern. This is a gift that she’ll proudly display at work, and make it a fixture on her social media presence. Lynn pulled it in close and practically hugged her gift. Both spoke a quick and loud ‘thank you’ as they began to show each other their gifts.

Jasper, though, shifted his gaze between the gifted paint brush and Luca. Did he have this gift ready not knowing if Jasper would be around with the coven? Jasper remembered Luca was the beacon of kindness, and thoughtfulness, and this was not that far out of what Jasper expected. But it still shocked him all the same. ”Bro,” he chuckled as he looked back to Luca, ” when did you do this? This is too kind, now I have to give you something in return.”

”I’m glad you both like them,” Luca smiled at Lila and Lynn, eyes shining. Their happiness at getting the gifts brought him so much joy too. He then turned to Jasper, waving his hands in front of him. ”You really don’t have to! It’s just something I’ve been working on the past few years… Wood carving is one of the few things I’ve been able to keep up, even if my progress is pretty slow.”

He couldn’t exactly tell him that he’d made them while writing them letters to send out on his death. If he had never seen them all again, he would have made sure they got them then. But it was nicer this way. Something to remember him by.

”You should’ve seen Olivia’s suitcase when she left, it was filled with them! If we hadn’t met up again I would’ve found out your addresses and sent them to you all… But I’m glad I was able to give them to you in person.” His smile widened. ”I’m really happy you like them.”

Hours flew by in what felt like minutes for Jasper. He watched as Lynn pulled herself out of the dark place she was. The sadness lingered in her eyes, and Jasper knew that she would be the subject of much discussion among the coven, and he knew that what Linqian said would be a footnote to it. You don’t say something like that and come out of it a victim, and Jasper knew he’d have to both hold Lynn accountable while also being there to support her. She does not often show her emotional side, and as the whole coven saw it was not pretty.

After a while Jasper loaded them all back into his car and drove them back home. It was nice seeing Lila’s house again. He had spent so much time there before and after the fight with the snake. Lynn was already tipsy, and he could only imagine how drunk she would be by the end of the night, and Lila was well on her way to the same fate.

”Ladies,” Jasper spoke as his window rolled down the rest of the way. He rested his arms on top of the door, and laid his head down on top of his arms. ”I want you both to be safe tonight, if you need anything call me. Okay?”

”Yeah! Don’t go too wild,” Luca piped up from the back, before putting on a jokingly stern expression and pointing at them both. ”No demon summoning tonight, alright. If our slumber party is interrupted by a demon I’m gonna be real pissed!”

”Yes,” Jasper shot a finger out and pointed it towards Lila. He leaned back into his seat and began to roll up his window. ” No demons” he shouted as the window closed, before he put his car in motion once more and gave his friends one final wave.

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

@FernStone Ewww another Vanburen, and Petty Patty at that. I'm gagging. Lol

@silvermist1116

And now she's got BEES!! Georgie better watch out when Magnanimous reboots

Sycamore Tree Relationship's [Fern]

NPCs

Luca’s Letters To People He Knows (Unsent)

Emily.G.Reed
"If I never had to talk to Emily again I’d be happy." _______________________________________________ ...................................................................	Look, I never liked you, Emily. You bullied so many of my friends, and you never really matured past that. But I’m glad you formed 8th Street, because after Sycamore Tree ended I had nowhere else to go. 8th Street felt like home. Of course, you ruined that too- but it’s alright! I’ve moved on. I really, really hope you stop antagonising everyone and stealing shit. If you’re going to steal shit, at least make sure it’s from rich people? And keep it safe? Maybe keep an eye on some of the shittier members of the group too? And please, actually help those that need it. Carol and Anabelle deserve better. But honestly, you’re a real bitch… I can’t believe I wrote that. Wow. Feels nice to write down. Sorry if you thought I was gonna be nice in this! But it’s my last letter to you, so. Might as well get it all out. Also, cause I didn’t like you, I’m not leaving you anything when I die. You probably don’t need it anyway.
Vashti.Nour
"We could have been friends, if it weren’t for Emily." _______________________________________________ ...................................................................	Heyyyy Vashti, you kind of terrify me. You used to be so nice… not to say you aren’t still! You’re just as toxic as Emily. We had some fun times in 8th Street, to be honest. Your excitement about magic is so cool, and I really thought we could all learn more about magic together. You really seemed down for that! And I totally get the still hating Britney thing, what she did to all of us sucked. Like big time. She did help you seal yours, though! I think it still controls you. I hope that you can regain that spark you used to have, for learning magic and helping others going through what we did. That’s my dying wish to you. Also, because you’re not as bad as Emily, I made you a small wood carving. It’s damaged in a few places, but I put a lot of effort into it.
Jacqueline.Reed
"Hey, want to learn wood carving? I swear it can be practical too! I only ever use dead pieces of wood too!" _______________________________________________ ...................................................................	Jacqueline… I know you’re not like the rest of the coven. Wait, that’s mean to them. Anyway, I know you’re just pretending to be ruthless. I knew you before everything turned to theft and murder! (Well the nazi murdering was fair enough). I wish we could’ve spent more time together, I would’ve loved to explore the woods with you… I used to love going there with my family. I can’t now, because of the rot, but maybe if I’m ever free of it. Though I won’t be sending the letter then- Anyway! Please don’t let everyone in 8th Street turn you into someone else. Don’t let Emily do that to you. I know she’s your sister, but that doesn’t mean you have to go along with everything she does. I’ll leave you my favourite button down shirt. I don’t wear it anymore, so it’s intact. I think it’ll suit you.
Miranda.Reed
"Miranda’s the best of them all. I hope she knows that." _______________________________________________ ...................................................................	Miranda, I hope you knew I was always there if you needed someone outside of 8th Street to talk to. You’ll get through to everyone else I’m sure, but it must be hard having to watch the coven turn from just trying to learn to being so ruthless. You’re stronger than I am, sticking it out and trying to change things. I left as soon as it got rough. I regret it. I’m sure things will get better! Not everyone in the coven is bad… Well, nobody’s truly bad. But most of them are just following along with Emily. I’m sure things could go back to how they were. I’d like to believe that, even if I can’t be there to see it. You can have my book collection when I die. It’s not much, and they’re mostly from when I was a teenager, but maybe there’s something in there you’ll like. Feel free to share it with Jacqueline too!
”Greta”.Faust
"If you ever need a willing test subject, you can use me. Not like things can get any worse, right?" _______________________________________________ ...................................................................	Look, Greta, I’m sorry I left before you could help me. I know you were working on something. But I just can’t sacrifice others to save myself. I had a good life, and you helped with that when I was in 8th Street. But I can’t hurt other people, and I can’t sit around and watch others do that too. Just being around me causes enough pain for others… But that’s beside the point. I didn’t write this letter to go on some moral rant, haha! I wanted to thank you. You were a good friend. Yeah, you almost exploded me with a potion once, but that’s in the past! And it was a mistake, I was in the wrong place. It’s a funny story to tell now. Even if you weren’t able to help me, I hope that you can help all of the others. I’m sure you’ll figure something out. I don’t think I have anything you’d be interested in that I could leave you, but there might be some funky mushrooms growing in my apartment thanks to some rotting wood… Feel free to take those! Or anything else, really. Also, if no one else does, can you please make sure the rot is sealed when I die? I don’t want to do anymore damage, even when I’m gone.
Phoebe.Carmicheal
"I’ve never been able to beat Phoebe at a game, and I play a lot." _______________________________________________ ...................................................................	Just so you know, Phoebe, that Kimberley girl has nothing on you. I watched a couple of her streams and they were kind of boring. Maybe it’s because I’ve already seen wayyyy too many ghosts in my lifetime - I’m attached to one! But your gaming streams were way cooler. I watched a couple of them, when I couldn’t really go outside. Well, I still can’t. Honestly I think you’re really cool. I’d have liked to game with you one last time, but I guess it wasn’t meant to be… But also, I saw you naked way too many times for my liking. If I have a last wish, it’s that you don’t keep getting naked with Maya around others. Please. For everyone. You can have all the spare mice and keyboards I have lying around, assuming I haven’t destroyed them all. They’re pretty decent! Maybe you can do a giveaway if you start streaming again.
Brianna.Conquest
"Please don’t shine that light in my eyes!" _______________________________________________ ...................................................................	We hardly knew each other, Brianna, but you joined 8th Street just before I left so I figured I’d leave you a letter. Plus you were part of Sycamore Tree, even if you didn’t stick around. I don’t really get why you’re with 8th Street. But I hope you get whatever you’re there for. I’m sure you will! I can’t say I like that you joined right when Emily’s started ramping things up and stayed but hey… Not my place to judge. You can have all my spare phones, if you want. Maybe you can use them to reflect your teleportation beam thing.
Cynthia
"Cynthia took a bite out of me once… Then she never wanted to again. Probably tasted rotten. Oh, I’m fine, I got healed after." _______________________________________________ ...................................................................	Uh, if you can’t read this, Cynthia, ask Emily to read it out for you. Wait if you can't, you won’t be able to read that either… Well, whatever! I don’t have much to say to you and I’m sure you won’t really understand this letter, but I hope you’ll try not to eat any of my friends. That includes most of Sycamore Tree coven. I’d really appreciate it! I really didn’t like you, but I know you’re just following your nature. Seeing you eat people was terrifying. Also, you can have my body if you really want. If there’s anything left.
”Lee”.Evans
"I really hope he realises that Emily’s just using him." _______________________________________________ ...................................................................	Lee, you know you don’t have to stick around with Emily, right? I know you felt lost when you first came into our universe but you’ve been here a while now! And I don’t think it’s really much different. None of us really know what we’re doing anyway. I’ll be brutally honest, which I try not to be, but she’s not going to help you. That sucks, but there’s loads of good to life! I’m sure you’ll find it. You’re a nice guy, and we got on when you weren’t going on about that hero shtick… So I’m sure you’ll figure it out. Look, to help you out, you’re welcome to my apartment if you want. Sure I don’t own it, but the rents pretty cheap!
Nadine.King
"Oh man, Nadine is such a spooky bitch." _______________________________________________ ...................................................................	Nadine, I really want to like you. You know so much about the supernatural and helped me out a bit while I was in 8th… But I also remember when you first came to St Portwell, while Sycamore Tree was still around. I don’t think you’ve changed. Why would you, when you’re around Emily? I also never got a chance to get to know you because you hardly talked. I just know you’re fucking spooky. I’m not leaving you anything, because I’m sure you’ll use my bones no matter what.
George.Nelson
"If you want to fight anyone, you can fight me. What, scared you’ll rot away?" _______________________________________________ ...................................................................	George, I’m sure you’re not as awful as you seem. Maybe Britney forcefully adjoining you affected you more than you thought. You know what, fuck it. I wanted to be kind of nice in this dying letter to you, but I can’t. Might as well take the opportunity to tell you how I really feel! Not like I’ll be around to suffer for it. You’re an absolute dick. You bullied people I was friends with before we all got abstractions, and you continued to after. There’s no reason for it. You find it fun! Honestly, sometimes I think you’re worse than Emily. At least she seems to have her reasons! And you want to kill Britney! Can’t you see why that’s wrong? I don't even want to, and I’m the one dying! Well, dead if you get this letter. Funny that. Anyway, I know this won’t change anything, but this is for everyone you bullied - fuck you. Also you’re not getting anything. Obviously.
Carol.Doyle
"She thinks I’m a real motherfucker… What does that even mean? I can’t get near any mothers." _______________________________________________ ...................................................................	Hey, hey, before you start thinking ‘Luca, writing a letter is so lame’, just think about it. Isn’t it kind of touching? I had to suppress my abstraction the whole time to write this thing. Cool, right? You’re calling me a motherfucker in your head right now, aren’t you? Heh, it’s alright. You can do that one last time. You know, for all you were kinda mean and aggressive I know deep down you care. Like, you always looked out for me in your own way. We were friends. I’m sorry I left 8th Street, if only cause I missed you and a few others. We both had some rough shit to deal with, even if our abstractions kinda caused the opposite problems… I hope by the time you read this letter you’ve managed to get rid of yours. You deserve to have a normal life! Then you won’t have to worry about turning anyone into babies accidentally, cause that’s a real pain. Babies are annoying. Anyway, honestly Carol, outside of Olivia you were one of my closest friends for years. You may not think so, but it’s true. Don’t feel too bad that you weren’t able to help me. Just remember all the good times, and live your best life. Also, Carol, I leave you my fortnite account. It’s diamond rank, and worth a lot. Sell it or play it, I don’t mind. Actually, just take my whole desktop. I always keep far enough away from it to not cause any damage.
Maya.Choi
"I really hope Maya’s learned to keep her clothes on." _______________________________________________ ...................................................................	Hey Maya, we weren’t close by any means, but I did see you naked a couple of times so really that doesn’t matter. When I first met you I thought you might be alright, because you disagreed with Emily a lot… But you always seem to end up agreeing with her anyway. Why? You caused me way too many headaches, and I’m still finding sand in my shoes. But you were also fun to be around, sometimes. Like everyone in 8th Street, I suppose. I can’t say I liked you, but you weren’t the worst. I’ll leave you all my shoes, so you can put sand in those rather than living people’s.

Sycamore Tree Relationship's [Fern]

NPCs

Linqian’s NPC Relationships

Bianca.Manalo
"I’ll throw another fucking bible at you." _______________________________________________ ...................................................................	Ten years ago, Linqian and Bianca were practically inseparable. Linqian was infatuated with her, and she truly loved her. They spent all of their free time together, worked well together in fights and even started planning a future. So it was an incredible shock for Linqian when Bianca, who’d been the most supportive person of hers after Jinhai, suddenly broke up with her. Love flipped to hate, and the last time they saw each other was awful - Linqian tried to hurt Bianca, and left the coven immediately after. If asked, Linqian would still say she doesn’t like Bianca. She’d held a deep, seething resentment for what she did for her at an already difficult time. Bianca reached out a couple of times in the years that followed and Linqian always ignored it. She’d considered blocking her everywhere, but decided against it… Out of spite, is what Linqian told herself. But deep down, she still has feelings towards Bianca. Instead of dealing with and getting over them ten years ago, she just ignored and buried them. She still hasn’t moved on. Having met Bianca again, all of these feelings are being forced to the surface - positive and negative. Linqian is still incredibly pissed at Bianca, but also wants to get close to her again. Its a contradiction that Linqian is struggling with internally, while externally pretending she doesn’t give a fuck and is just annoyed at her ex.
Lynette.Richoux
"Hey, Leon, your mom’s hot as fuck!" _______________________________________________ ...................................................................	Aside from being a sexy Morticia Addams lookalike, Linqian found Lynette incredibly creepy when she first met her. Something about her was just… odd. Outside of running a cult. She can see why Leon’s happy to do whatever his mom says, though, with how she looks… But Linqian also hopes to never see her again. She’d like that cult kept far far away from her.

Sycamore Tree Relationship's [Fern]

Extra space due to character limit on the character post

FernStone's Character Archive

Recollections, Who Is Eleanor Black (Previous)

Charlie Martin

“Look, I won’t let anyone tell me what I can’t do.”

_______________________________________________ Charlotte “Charlie” Martin _______________________________________________ She/They | 22 | Afro-British | 5’6” | 189lb _______________________________________________ Tireless _______________________________________________ Skills & Talents "I ain’t naturally gifted, but hard work is a talent, right?” ___________________________________ [+] Hard Worker ⫻ Charlie’s strongest talent. She’s not naturally good at much but she works herself to the bone at anything she focuses on. She focuses all her energy into whatever it is and rarely gives up. Keeping Calm ⫻ As a nursing associate, training to be a full nurse, Charlie has dealt with her fair share of stress and emergencies. She can keep calm and focused in most situations. First Aid ⫻ Charlie is trained in first aid, something she did as a teenager that’s handy for her job.

Appearance ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "Try working twelve hour shifts without getting dark bags under your eyes." Charlie would describe herself as average if asked. She’s downplaying her looks, but it’s difficult not to when she grew up with an objectively stunning mum. She stands just a bit taller than average, with a pear shaped body where most of her weight goes towards her hips and thighs. She’s fit thanks to a demanding job which has her on her feet most of the day, and healthier eating cause vegetables are just cheaper. Overall Charlie takes more after her dad than her mum, inheriting his coily hair and dark brown eyes. Her hair falls to her shoulders and she likes to style it in various ways - buns, half up half down, braids and protective hairstyles that she learned from her grandmother (but hasn’t had time to do in a while). When she’s not feeling like putting in the effort she’ll normally just pull it back into a simple ponytail or bun, especially for work. Her hair frames a soft, heart shaped face. She has thick, slightly darker lips and a wide, relatively undefined nose. Her dark eyes are always brimming with energy even though she has dark bags under them more often than not from lack of sleep. Her warm brown skin doesn’t have many marks, just a few scars here and there, and she only has the most basic of lobe piercings. Style wise, Charlie wears a variety of clothes. She isn’t afraid to show off some skin, often found in crop tops with skinny jeans or leggings. She wears a mixture of colours - sometimes more low key with just black and denim, sometimes brighter colours. She especially likes reds, yellows and oranges and owns a lot of patterned tops in those colours. She normally has at least a light coating of makeup on, putting in more effort with eyeliner and brighter lip colours when she has the time.

_{Psychology
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"Yeah, I worked night shift last night, should I be tired? But there’s so much to do, how can I just sleep?"

MAIN GOAL ⫻ Charlie’s main goal is to become a qualified nurse. Her secondary goal is to make enough to support herself and her dad so he can work less… but that’s much more far fetched.

PHILOSOPHY ⫻ Charlie believes in hard work and not giving up - with enough effort you can get where you want to be, even if you don’t have the natural talent. Even if you have to push yourself past your limit you should to reach your goals.

SECRETS ⫻ Her resentment towards her mum for leaving, and for her dad for being too stubborn to compromise. She’s resentful that her mum barely made an effort to see her, but she’s repressed the feeling so much she hardly even accepts it. She also struggles with inferiority towards her mum and her talents, something she’d never tell anyone. She also has a newly discovered fear of flying.

SEXUALITY ⫻ Pan. Charlie figured out her attraction isn’t really affected by gender in late highschool, and has gotten with various people. She hasn’t had a serious relationship, though.

FEARS ⫻ Abandonment. Though she pretended everything was fine, Charlie felt abandoned by her mum at a young age. She clings onto the infrequent relationship they have left and fears it happening in other relationships.

WHO IS ELEANOR BLACK TO YOU? ⫻ Eleanor Black is Charlie’s mother. She is very much a hands off parent, and not the custodial one of Charlie . They saw each other about four times a year from when Charlie turned 5. Nonetheless, Charlie is very attached to her.

FLAWS ⫻ Charlie has a bad habit of completely ignoring her own needs in favour of others. Mostly just because she doesn’t pay attention to herself, and she’s gotten a bit used to it. She just sometimes kinda forgets to look after herself too. She is almost too hard working and just doesn’t know when to give herself a break. Her seemingly constant energy and socialness can often be annoying, especially to introverts. She can be a lot. Also she tends to cover up her negative feelings, completely disregarding them and forcing herself to be positive about it all. She can also be pretty stubborn and headstrong.

_{Backstory
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"Thought I had a pretty standard life till my mum fucking disappeared."

Charlie’s story starts with her parents - Eleanor Black and Andre Martin. They were opposites in many ways, with Eleanor being a loud, energetic artist and Andre a hard working nurse who liked to keep to himself. They met by chance when Eleanor ended up in the hospital where Andre worked in Newcastle. Their connection sparked instantly and they started dating a few weeks after Eleanor was discharged.

Just over half a year later Eleanor found out she was pregnant. After fighting, crying and making up they decided to keep the baby and to marry - it seemed the best idea for their future, unborn child. That was how Charlie came into the world. At first life was happy, if not perfect. It was difficult for the newlyweds to support themselves and a new baby off just a nurse’s salary and what Eleanor made from selling art. But they made it work.

It didn’t last. Charlie was only four when her parents started fighting every week, and five when they started the process of a divorce. Her mother didn’t want to be tied down to one place. She’d been in an artistic slump since Charlie was born and she needed to see the world to help with that. Andre stubbornly refused to move - Charlie was still young, and they’d built a life here. They were both too different. They didn’t get anywhere so they divorced.

Eleanor moved out of their small home, staying in Newcastle for only a month before jetting away. Andre had full custody of Charlie at Eleanor’s request, though Eleanor had visiting rights. Young as she was, Charlie couldn’t understand why her mum was abandoning her. It didn’t take long for the happy memories of the three of them to seem like nothing more than a dream.

From then on Charlie saw her mum maybe four times a year at most, because Eleanor very quickly became an incredibly successful and prolific artist. She started school without her there to see her off. Her dad tried his hardest to take her from and to school, to fill in the shoes of two parents at once but it was difficult when his job had such long, awkwardly timed hours. There were weeks when she hardly saw him either, staying with her grandmother (his mother) who thankfully lived in the area. From then on she was self-sufficient because she saw how much her dad struggled. She resented, even hated, her mum for not being there.

The rest of Charlie’s childhood itself was relatively normal aside from the divorce, in her eyes. She went to school, got average grades and made a few alright friends. As she got older she pushed the resentment she had towards her mum deep down, somewhere she wouldn’t touch, and kept moving forward with her life. She just couldn’t hate her. Young as she was Charlie was very attached to her mum, and any anger she had about the situation was directed at her dad - the one always there.

Eleanor was there for some of Charlie’s important moments - when her exam grades came out, comforting Charlie over her first breakup, when she finished highschool. She just wasn’t there for all of them. But that was fine. Charlie had her dad after all.

She looked forward to whenever her mum would visit, listening to her amazing tales about the places she’d visited and looking at her paintings in awe. Spending time with Eleanor was always fun, a breath of fresh air from the monotony of her life with a somewhat boring dad (that she loved much more than her mum). She had so much to talk about, telling Charlie about a world she hadn’t seen because they couldn’t afford to travel. Sometimes Eleanor would even talk about her hometown, a swamp filled place so different from the grey streets of Newcastle. Charlie would ask about her family too, but Eleanor would always sidestep the question. It wasn’t a pleasant place to visit, she said, but maybe I’ll take you one day.

Of course she didn’t, because Eleanor only spent a week at a time with Charlie before jetting off. Charlie continued through life and finished highschool. She applied for nursing courses at University, wanting to follow in her dad’s footsteps. He took her to all the university open days, helped with the forms and applications. When Charlie didn’t get into any because her grades weren’t good enough he comforted her. Eleanor just told her it wasn’t meant to be over the phone. She just didn’t have the talent.

Charlie didn’t believe that. She didn’t have the natural talent for what she wanted to do like Eleanor had, but she had the work ethic - her dad had taught her that, and the energy she’d inherited from Eleanor allowed her to push herself to work harder than ever. So she found an alternative route, getting a job as a nursing associate at the same hospital Andre worked at. It was hard, but rewarding. Charlie loved working with people.

At this point Charlie hadn’t seen Eleanor since she was in highschool - she’d almost given up on seeing her again, assuming her mum was just too busy with her burgeoning fame. When she got a text that Eleanor was visiting the UK in a month, and would be staying a few weeks, she was over the moon. She rushed to get a bit of time off work, helping Eleanor find a place to stay and planning what they could do. It had been almost two years since she’d last seen her… she couldn’t wait to hear all of Eleanor’s stories, to hug her and tell all her own. She hoped Eleanor was proud of her.

When Charlie opened the door expecting her mum she found a stranger. She must have the wrong, Charlie thought, before the stranger greeted her as if they knew each other. The stranger didn’t even ask before walking right into her home, as if she’d been there plenty of times before. Charlie followed awkwardly, not sure whether to kick the woman out or call the police. But she found her dad talking to her amicably - Sophia was her name. A friend of his, then? But Charlie had never heard of or seen this woman and it wasn’t like Andre could just sneak someone into their house. Then he said something that completely confused her.

“Charlie, why don’t you get your mum a cup of tea?”

What the fuck. Charlie was certain she was hallucinating, it must be from overworking and not sleeping. Her dad was here treating this Sophia - this stranger - as someone he knew well, and as her mum. Charlie had never seen this person before. She spent the next week feeling as if she wasn’t there, relieved when Sophia left. But with her leaving Charlie was left with a feeling of emptiness and disconcertment. Where was her real mum, Eleanor Black? How come her dad thought Sophia was her mum, and Sophia was somehow texting from Eleanor’s phone.

In a fit of what felt like madness Charlie dug through her dads files for her birth certificate. It had two names on it - Andre Martin, and Sophia Blake. Then she turned to the internet, because her mum was a well known artist. But every single painting she’d done, every gallery and article about her, was attributed to Sophia. There wasn’t a sign of Eleanor Black anywhere. It was as if she’d just vanished and only Charlie remembered her. She’d never felt so unsettled. She tried talking to her dad, but all she got in return was concern that she wasn’t looking after herself.

Even her dad, the man who had both loved and hated Eleanor, didn’t remember her.

Charlie tried to put it to the back of her mind for a couple of months, working as if nothing had happened and pretending everything was ok. But it was always at the back of her mind, a niggling fear and horrible feeling that her entire life had been a lie. It just didn’t make sense. She checked online semi-regularly just in case something new came up - and it did. A whole forum of people looking for her mum… Well, looking for someone called Eleanor Black. Everyone’s stories were wildly different. It was as if Eleanor had been so many different people… Charlie couldn’t quite believe it. Must be a prank. But she kept reading because there were similarities. The fact that Eleanor Black was from Quintin, Louisiana for one. Her mum had told her about that town, the place she was born, but had never given any details.

If people were going to Quintin to find out what had happened, then she had to as well.

She scraped together her savings, took long term leave from work and got on the next plane that got her as close to Quintin as possible.

_{Paranormal-Abilities
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"Nah, you’re gonna have to show me proof of that. Magic ain’t real."

Charlie is blind.

^{Other
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"I've always wanted to go to America, but I thought it would be with my mum, not like... this."

This was Charlie’s first time leaving the country, before the farthest she’d gone was London once. It was also her first time on a plane. She didn’t like the experience.

FernStone's Character Archive

Recollections, Sycamore Tree

Anya Baksh

"I’m here to keep myself safe, by any means necessary."

_______________________________________________ Anya Sunita Baksh She/Her | 27 | Indo-Caribbean | 5’2” | 124lbs _______________________________________________ Superiority _______________________________________________ Skills & Talents "Yes, I’m better at that than you. Perhaps you should try harder." ___________________________________ [+] Academics ⫻Anya is academically gifted, and had no choice to be anything else growing up. She was a straight A student, and got the highest degree grade possible. She doesn’t actually use her degree. She’s intelligent, but mainly in an academic rather than practical sense. Musical Instruments ⫻From a young age Anya learned the piano and violin, and is skilled in playing both. This was something that came more from hard work than natural talent. Imagination ⫻Anya has always been imaginative - in fact, as a child she was more interested in reading and writing than school. Her parents tried to stomp this out, but she was eventually able to channel it through a different medium - magic. Spell Creation & Development ⫻It took Anya a while to truly discover what her affinity was, and since she’s been actively developing spells and improving those she already has. She’d count it as a skill, because she’s clearly better at it than everyone else. Subtle Scamming (“Business Acumen”) ⫻ Anya’s business is partly a scam, as she offers to get rid of people’s bad dreams or aid their sleeping when she really only does it for one night - and uses it to manipulate and dig up information on people. She’s very good at selling it, ahd the fact that it’s a scam at all is well hidden.

Appearance ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "It’s not my fault that I have everything - good looks, intelligence, and strong powers. You should blame my parents." With clear confidence in her appearance, Anya stands out even with her petite stature. She’s slim with long legs, but a bit of fat around her stomach from focusing more on books than exercising. Anya always dresses to look her best, with a preference for nice tops and skirts of varying lengths - from barely covering everything to well past her knees depending on her audience. She enjoys dressing up and has a large wardrobe, allowing her to vary from the normal with pretty dresses or turtleneck jumpers for the winter. The colours vary depending on what she’s feeling - muted greyscales to soft pastels to dark reds. Anya has enough of an interest in fashion to pick out nice outfits each day, specifically tailored to customers or the people she thinks she’ll be interacting with. Most of the time she’ll wear high heels, helping boost her height. Anya has medium brown skin in a cooler, more reddish tone. She takes good care of it and is rarely found without makeup, another weapon in her repertoire to make an impression. Compared to her teen years of bright eyeshadows and long wings she goes for the more subtle looks now - a variety of brown eyeshadows with the occasional purple and champagne highlights along with minimal eye lining or subtle dark brown wings. Her sizeable lips are normally done in a two tone style, with a brown upper lip and edges and more pink shade to the lower lip. Sometimes she will change this to a more intense maroon and red. Her eyes are a medium brown with subtle green hints, looking almost hazel in the sunlight. Her black hair is incredibly thick and falls in waves down to her waist. She wears it in a variety of styles - loose, ponytails, loose buns and twin braids if she wants to change things up. Anya has two lobe piercings, always adorned with earrings although they’re often covered by her thick hair. She used to have a septum piercing, which she got at sixteen, but she stopped wearing it in her early twenties so it’s mostly healed over.

_{Psychology
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"I'm the most important person in my own life. Everyone else is inconsequential.”

MAIN GOAL ⫻ Anya has two primary goals. To get rich, and to become a master adept. She is consistently working towards both through her business, and constantly improving her core spells while developing new ones. She wants to prove to her parents that she can make it without their help, and just how strong she is individually. Deep down, she also wants their love - genuine and without any requirements.

PHILOSOPHY ⫻ The strong and smart make it in life, and the weak are left behind. She believes in prioritising yourself above all others and making selfish decisions to save your own skin. Those with power deserve prestige and to be in charge, while those who can’t make it on their own don’t deserve to at all.

SECRETS ⫻ The fact that she’s running a less than legitimate business. While more legitimate than most “spiritual” businesses due to her abstraction, she doesn’t actually deliver the full service she claims to. She also, throughout the years, would visit the dreams of old Sycamore Tree coven members - observing only, but still intruding on their privacy. She also keeps hidden her constant fear of not being good enough, and insecurities that fuel her superiority complex, caused by her parents high expectations.

SEXUALITY ⫻ Grey aromantic heterosexual. Anya very rarely feels any romantic and has never wanted to pursue a relationship. She’s open to more casual relationships, and had one or two queer platonic ones during university. They didn’t last long.

FEARS ⫻ Losing everything she’s built. Being severed from her lux. Being beaten by other people and proven to be inferior. Not meeting the high expectations of her. Getting stuck in the dream world and never being able to escape.

REPUTATION IN OLD COVEN ⫻ Smart but arrogant. Anya came with a large amount of paranormal knowledge that she was willing to share, particularly about developing spells, but also arrogance about her own abilities. After all, she’d been doing this for years, so many of them were just beginners in her eyes. Anya’s arrogance clashed with a lot of other coven members, and while she was generally tolerable not many actually liked her.

ROLE IN THE BATTLE AGAINST THE STYGIAN SNAKE ⫻ Anya was not particularly useful in the battle against the Stygian Snake itself, something she’d vehemently deny. It was through joining the coven that she discovered her affinity with dream based spells. Before she only had spells she’d learned from family members which she had some affinity to, but it didn’t really match her. Her main use came later on when she was able to manipulating dreams, helping people who wanted to train in their dreams by changing their dreams to simulate battles against the Stygian Snake or apparitions. She also helped with strategy.

FLAWS ⫻ Anya feels superior to others. She went through her kindling event at only ten, and then went through intensive teaching of magic from her parents (even through her rebellious stage, she was training herself). She’s been improving and developing spells for seventeen years and thus thinks better than anyone who hasn’t. There are very few people she respects. Her people skills leave much to be desired when it comes to genuine connections. She’s incredibly analytical when it comes to people and relationships, and this can be her downfall when she tends to look at things much more logically than emotionally. A lot of relationships are transactional to her, business only rather than for genuine connections. She’s very good at putting on the airs, especially for her business, but not so much in her personal life. She’s selfish, only caring for herself and the two siblings she’s still close to. Anya has controlling tendencies, and will easily manipulate others to get what she wants and needs. She feels no guilt over this.

_{Backstory
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"I’m better because of the work I’ve put in, not because of the way I was brought up."

Anya was born to Ranjit Baksh and Ishani Maharaj, first generation Indo-Caribbean immigrants to the United States. Ishani moved to the US from Trinidad as a young girl, and Ranjit moved from Guyana for college. The two met during their college years and got together, both from romantic feelings and a shared desire to have a powerful legacy. Both were of strong adeptal lineage that recently mixed lux types. Ranjit was a purple and orange adept, while Ishani was a pink and white adept. They hoped that together they could have children with multiple lux - four being the ultimate goal.

So after they graduated, they moved to St Portwell to make a life together. Ranjit became a highschool teacher while Ishani went on to get a PHD, eventually becoming a university lecturer (many years down the line). Only a few years after they moved they started having children together, four each two years apart. They had a girl (Nisha), a boy (Kiran), and then two more girls - Riya, and then the youngest being Anya.

Anya had a relatively normal upbringing for her younger years. Her parents were strict and her house busy, with three older siblings always enforcing their rules on the unruly youngest, but she never wanted for anything. She was a precocious, imaginative child who was either lost in books or running through the streets with her older siblings causing all sorts of trouble. Her parents tried to punish this out of her, forcing her into playing musical instruments and studying before she even started school, but her and her siblings always found a way to have fun.

She was only four when Nisha suddenly stopped spending as much time with her, then Kiran at six, and Riya when she was eight. Her parents claimed they had to study harder once they turned ten, but she didn’t understand why. She turned more to her books during this time, and started writing, much to her parents dismay.

Then Anya herself turned ten. For her tenth birthday the whole family was there - her four siblings, her mother’s parents, and her parents themselves, even though it was a Wednesday! She was even allowed to miss school, so she was on cloud nine. Her parents said they had a special gift for her, and when her siblings went to school they ushered her into the car. No matter how much she asked, anticipation growing higher and higher, they wouldn’t tell her where they were going. Eventually they reached one of the forests near St Portwell - a large, rarely visited place. Her parents led her deep inside. What was the surprise? Why were they in a forest?

There was no surprise. When they reached a secluded clearing and her parents turned on her. Suddenly there was a pressure on her mind she didn’t understand and her father attacked her with a glowing knife. The sudden fear for her life, combined with the anticipation she’d felt so suddenly dropping, forced her into a kindling event. People she’d never seen before appeared before her - her ancestors, they told her. There were four of them, from each family line, and they explained lux and magic to her.

When Anya woke up from the recollection she was back in the car. Her parents immediately questioned her - how many ancestors did she talk to, what did they tell her? Scared that they’d try to kill her again, Anya answered all their questions. The joy on their faces was unlike any she’d seen before. They explained everything to her. They hadn’t actually been trying to kill her, no, they loved her far too much. Instead they were inducing her kindling event through the threat to her life, with her mum applying mental pressure to her. That’s what they’d done to all of her siblings when they turned ten as well, the age they deemed old enough to start learning. But Anya was special. You see, they explained, they both only had two types of lux, and her siblings had three. But Anya? Anya had four.

It was a lot for Anya to digest, and she only had that day and night to do so. The very next day she was back to school, and then in the evening on top of the normal intensive studying she was brought into what her siblings had been doing - paranormal training. She started learning spells of them, reading book after book about adepts, and trying to develop her own. Suddenly there was a whole new world of stuff she had to be perfect at.

Anya suddenly got the most attention, something she’d hardly gotten before, but also the most pressure. Her siblings started to resent her and Anya started to resent them. It wasn't her fault she was so special, and better than them. Constantly being told how special she was started to inflate Anya’s ego, while also giving her a constant fear of not living up to their expectations. She worked herself to the bone trying to be perfect - getting perfect grades, learning more spells, and excelling in the instruments they wanted her to play. If she didn’t, they’d punish her and eventually stop loving her. But unlike her siblings, she struggled to develop her own spells. She could only learn off of her family. It was frustrating, especially when her siblings were too resentful to help her. She didn’t want their help anyway.

Her resentment towards them grew, and it grew towards her parents too. She reached the breaking point at age sixteen, when she suddenly wanted to have friends and go out rather than constantly being stuck inside learning. This was the beginning of her rebellious period, having constant explosive fights with her parents and frequently crashing on other people’s couches.

Then, the Stygian Snake started its reign of terror over the town. Her family didn’t plan to do anything about it - they’d protect themselves, and leave if necessary, but why solve this problem for no rewards? Anya held the same opinion too, until the only two friends she had were killed right in front of her while they were out together. She got away herself, but she couldn’t save them.

Because of this Anya found and joined the Sycamore Tree coven. She offered her paranormal knowledge, willingly passing on all of the spells she knew or hard tried to learn, and helping in any way she could. But it was always as if she viewed herself as better than them all. Like she was being oh so generous by helping them, and they should be grateful. She was also in an incredibly difficult and rebellious time of her life, so she made herself a bit of a nuisance.

She wasn’t actually as useful as she claimed, dependent on spells she had little affinity with… Until a while in, when with the help of Britney (who somehow had more magical knowledge than her) she discovered her actual affinity. Anya stepped into a dream that night and never looked back. She was finally able to help, even if it wasn’t useful in the final battle.

With the Stygian Snake defeated, there wasn’t much reason for her to stay in the coven. But she did for a short while - they were the closest thing to friends she had, really. They were friends. Then they voted her out for her snooty attitude and constant, vehement defence of Britney’s actions (who had done nothing wrong in Anya’s opinion). Whatever. Anya didn’t actually care. She moved on with her life, making up somewhat with her parents before going off to an ivy league college to do Chemistry. She spent more time developing and perfecting her dream spells than concentrating on her degree, but she did enough work to not disappoint her parents. There she reconnected with her oldest sister and brother, who’d both long moved out and cut off their parents. It was nice. Four years later she graduated with a good degree in a subject she didn’t care about, and moved back home.

It was tolerable. She got a decently paying job, and spent her free time on her abstraction. She kept up the contact with the two siblings she’d reconnected with, a secret from her parents, while still having a bad relationship with Riya, the sister closest in age to her - who still lived at home like her, and did everything she could to be their parents' favourite. Anya claimed not to care about that, even though she really did, because she was better. That was just a fact.

Her second breaking point with her parents came when she turned twenty three, just one year after moving back home. Riya had just gotten engaged, so Anya was next. Either she found someone herself or her parents set it up. Marriage wasn’t in Anya’s plans. She didn’t want to marry anyone ever, and told her parents that. This escalated and escalated until they threatened to kick her out if she didn’t get engaged. So Anya left herself.

Now as independent as she ever had been, Anya rented a small flat with her savings and quit her job. She set up her own small business - one of a “spiritual” nature, selling objects to ward away nightmares and offering more expensive dream related services. She ran this out of her livingroom at first, and then was successful enough to rent a small shop with a second floor she could live in.

Her business was relatively simple. She would get customers to come in and talk them through their dreams, including the sleeping problems it was causing. Then she would give them various options. She could ensure they had good dreams, or give them specific dreams. If they wanted she could have them dream of someone they lost. When they’d chosen she’d sell them a single use “dream” stone that would do just that. That night, Anya would go into their dream world. She would manipulate their dreams to be exactly as they wanted, while getting information about them she could use later. Then she would continue to sell them dream stones, that would ward away large nightmares while not being as effective. She also used the dreams themselves to manipulate her customers, pushing them to pay her large tips or buy more expensive products that did very little. This was how her business grew. It was scummy, but she didn’t care. Who was going to catch her?

She lived a good life, making money off her abstraction while constantly improving it. She never stopped learning and experimenting with spells, because being this good wasn’t enough - she had to be the best.

Then, someone started killing the coven members. At first Anya didn’t pay it much mind, because she couldn’t care less about them. Sure, she’d spent the last ten years occasionally visiting their dreams, but that was just to dig up dirt or out of pure curiosity. She’d moved past it. But then more died, and it was clear they were being targeted. Anya valued her life far too much to ignore it. So when Auri put out the call she decided to answer it… Though perhaps not right away.

_{Paranormal-Abilities
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"How naive to think you’re safe from your dreams."

TYPE ⫻ Adept

ABSTRACTION ⫻ Pink, Purple, White & Orange Lux Channeler: a silver fountain pen

ABSTRACTION DESCRIPTION ⫻ Anya’s main speciality comes with the ability to manipulate dreams. She sees dreams as a way into someone’s soul - to find out information they wouldn’t otherwise divulge, to manipulate their opinions and to ultimately control them. It took her a while to come to this conclusion, and discover her affinity.

Dream Weaving ⫻ This spell allows Anya to enter the dreams of someone she’s met. They have to be asleep and dreaming for her to enter their dream world and thus manipulate it.

Dream Visit ⫻ The most basic spell, the ability to enter another’s dream. This hinges on a few conditions: first, the person must already be asleep and dreaming. Second, she must have already met them. Third, Anya herself must fall asleep to enter the dream. Once all of these conditions are met she can enter the dream world of someone else. Anya is limited by how long she can be in dreams. She can be in a single dream for up to two hours, and can only visit two she’s actively seeking in a night.

Dream Inducement ⫻ This spell is the ability to induce dreams in someone, rather than waiting for it to happen naturally. Anya either has to touch the person to induce dreams, or have something “anchoring her to them”. Specifically, they must have an object with a specific dreamer locator spell on it. When Anya induces a dream she can choose the rough type of the dream - whether it's a good dream, or a nightmare. She can’t choose anything beyond that, it's otherwise the same as a normal, natural dream.

Dream Manipulation ⫻ Anya’s main spell, the ability to manipulate and change the dream she’s currently in. She can control every element of a dream, but this is a slow process. She has to change aspects one at a time. For example, she can’t bring a specific “person” (dream version) into a dream while also changing the environment. She needs to layer them, each change taking energy to do. It's easier when the dream is already close to what she wants it to be. This is her best spell, however, and she’s been working on it for the past ten years. She can also leave subliminal messages in the person’s dream, manipulating them towards whatever she wants.

Dream Interaction ⫻ Anya can interact with the dream itself, and the person whose dream it is. She is essentially there thanks to a combination of purple and pink lux, even if her physical form isn’t. It’s possible for Anya to hurt the dreamer, and this will reflect in their physical form - as they are connected. Of course, the reverse is true - if anything in the dream hurts Anya, her body will be hurt. If she dies in a dream, her physical form dies too.

Dream Scrying ⫻ This spell allows her to gain information from a person's dream, whether their current emotional state, about the environment or about the person themselves. She can only get one piece of information at a time, and it’s time consuming.

Dream Walking ⫻ A more dangerous variety of Dream Entry, where Anya can walk through the dreams of anyone. It’s much like walking down a dark path - she doesn’t know where she’ll end up, and can only pick a direction. She can move from dream to dream like this, not being limited in the number she goes to, but it's risky. It's much easier for her to get trapped doing this or to walk into a dangerous dream and get hurt. It also takes a lot of energy.

Dream Hallucinations / Illusions ⫻ In the waking world, Anya can create illusions based on things she saw in the last dream she was in. These can either be normal illusions that anyone can see, which are limited and easily dispelled, or slightly stronger targeted hallucinations directed at one person.

Dream Objects ⫻

Dream Locator ⫻ Anya infuses a small object with a locator spell, which allows her to induce dreams in a target without touching them. This requires the object to be close to the person, either touching them or practically touching them (such as being under their pillow). This is a one use infusion.

Nightmare Ward ⫻Anya infuses a small object with a weak nightmare ward spell. If kept close enough this will reduce the number of nightmares they have slightly. It’s noticeable but incredibly weak, and doesn’t actively cause good dreams.

Family Taught Spells

From the time of her kindling event at age ten, until she went through her rebellious phase at sixteen and subsequently joined the coven, Anya primarily learned spells from her older siblings and parents - struggling to create her own. She has lower affinity for most of these spells, and basically doesn’t use them anymore due to them being weaker and having more limits.

Psychometry ⫻ A spell to gain information from an object by touching it. By using it Anya can find out how this object was last used, which is generally useless information. She learned this from Nisha.

Portal Creation ⫻ Learnt from her mum, Anya can created a portal to somewhere else. To where, you ask? Well, Anya doesn’t know until she steps through the portal.

Telekinesis ⫻ Learnt from Kiran, Anya has a very rudimentary telekinesis spell. She can use telekinesis on an object up to 20g of weight.

Sharpen Object ⫻ A very basic version of a spell her dad could use, Anya can make an object sharper. The object has to already be sharp, though, or it doesn’t do much.

LIMITS ⫻

Dream Weaving⫻ Dream weaving has some general limits. She can only be in any dreams that aren’t her own for four hours, and one specific dream for up to two hours. When using dream visit, she’s limited to two a night. When dream walking, she can enter about ten. She must also be asleep to be able to enter and manipulate dreams. Only one of her dream related spells can be used while awake, dream illusions. The dreams Anya’s in can interact with her as well. She can get hurt, and if she’s hurt enough she’ll be forced out of the dream. While Emotional-Field’s generally don’t affect her spells (being non offensive in nature), Paranormals can sense something’s off with their dream. It's possible for them to even notice her presence, realise she’s not part of the dream or actively seek her out in their dream.

Dream Visit⫻ Anya needs to have met whoevers dream she’s entering. They must already be asleep and dreaming, otherwise she can’t enter their dreams, as they don’t exist. If they wake up, she’ll be immediately kicked out.

Dream Inducement ⫻ Anya either has to have physical contact with the person to induce dreams, or they have to have a “dream locator” infused object touching them or nearly touching them. She doesn’t choose the specific dream she induces outside of whether it's good or bad, instead just putting them in a dreaming state. Inducing a dream takes up more energy than entering a naturally occurring dream, cutting down the amount of time she can be in dreams that night by 30 minutes per dream induced.

Dream Manipulation ⫻ Primarily, dream manipulating takes time. The bigger the change the longer it will take. She can only make one change at a time, and the more dramatic it is the harder and longer it’ll take. For example, it's more difficult to change a peaceful dream to a warzone than to add in a person who would fit that peaceful dream. There’s a risk of “overloading” a dream if she adds too many conflicting elements, which rebounds and hurts her. The dream doesn’t pause while she’s manipulating it.

Dream Interaction⫻ Anya is “physically” limited with her dream interaction. Since she’s in the dream, she can’t just interact with something that's across a field. She’d need to walk over to it and then interact with it. She can’t do anything she couldn’t in the real world without using her dream manipulation spell alongside this one, which is more difficult. Dream interaction makes her an active part of a dream rather than merely an observer, and it means the dream can “actively” interact back. People in dreams will talk to her, or she will be actively targeted by an attacker just like the dreamer is. While she can get hurt while observing it’s more of a “there when it happened” thing rather than active targeting (so she wouldn’t be stabbed while observing, but could be hurt in an earthquake).

Dream Scrying ⫻ Dream scrying is time and energy consuming. She can only do it twice per dream, for two pieces of information. She can’t cause any other spells while doing it as it takes her full concentration.

Dream Walking⫻ Dream Walking is dangerous and unstable. She can’t choose where she’s going, only chooses a “direction”. The dreams she goes into are entirely random and sometimes difficult to get in and out of. She can’t choose whether she’ll go into a good dream or a nightmare, or who the dreamer is. As dream walking takes up a lot of energy, anything beyond just observing - using other spells - is more difficult than when using dream visit.

Dream Hallucinations / Illusions ⫻ This spell is incredibly taxing on Anya. She can only use it for about five minutes at a time once an hour. She can either create illusions that everyone can see, or a hallucination targeted at one person. For the illusions these are easily dispelled by touching them or using magic on them. If someone observes them more than casually it will also be obvious. These illusions are only visual, they don’t affect any other sense. The hallucinations are less easy to dispel but can only target one person. The hallucinations don’t work well on those with emotional fields, and both spells are affected by these.

Dream Objects

Dream Locato⫻r This infusion is a single use, and after she’s used it as a locator the infusion is gone. The object needs to be very close to the person to work. She can only infuse two objects a day with the dream locator spell. It has to be a small object, such as a rock.

Nightmare Ward⫻ This is a very weak ward and it only lasts for a week. Anya can create about five a day, as it doesn’t take much energy due to being so weak. It only reduces nightmares, so people with chronic nightmares will maybe have one less, but otherwise will still have plenty. It’s most effective on people who only have the occasional nightmare. It doesn’t actually make dreams good, and doesn’t affect things such as stress dreams.

Family Taught Spells

Anya is pretty shit at most of these spells to the point they are practically useless.

Psychometry ⫻ The only information Anya can get is how an object was last used. Not who by, but how. For example, she’ll know a pen was used to write. Nothing more than that. She can only do it once per object, and twice a day.

Portal Creation ⫻ Anya can’t choose the location of the exit portal. It’s two ways, but only lasts for five minutes. She can only do it once a day.

Telekinesis ⫻ Anya can only levitate an object of up to 20g of weight. It's blocked by emotional fields, but she couldn’t use it on any person anyway.

Sharpen Object ⫻ A non sharp object won’t be affected by this spell. It can only make objects such as knives cut a bit better. Emotional fields completely block it, so she can’t sharpen a table knife and then kill a paranormal with it.

WEAKNESSES ⫻

(DO NOT FILL THIS OUT, I WILL PROVIDE IT FOR YOU)

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"I’m so much stronger than when we last met."

FernStone's Character Archive

Recollections, Sycamore Tree

Luciano Alves Oliviera

"Why wouldn’t I use the time I have left to help?"

_______________________________________________ Luciano “Luca” Manuel Alves Oliviera He/They | 25 | Brazilian | 5’3” | 105lbs _______________________________________________ Positivity _______________________________________________ Skills & Talents "I had to give up a lot of what I was good at when it attached itself to me. Maybe one day I’ll be able to play soccer again…" ___________________________________ [+] Information Gathering ⫻ Luca has spent most of the last ten years researching a way to remove the apparition attached to their soul, jumping from paranormal group to paranormal group and finding as many materials they can on the subject. While they haven’t found much to help out they’ve gotten very good at searching for information, whether it's from talking to people or reading books. Optimism ⫻ Luca likes to think his optimistic thinking, always looking on the bright side, is a talent. No matter the bad news or the difficulties he will keep going. He’s very resilient. Wood Carving ⫻ Though he doesn’t do it as much as he did as a teenager, Luca is good at carving figures out of wood. He mostly does animals, and sometimes the paranormal creatures he’s seen. He can only do it for a short period of time at once, otherwise he’ll start rotting the wood, but it’s the one hobby from before he got his abstraction he’s managed to keep up.

Appearance ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "Huh, I’m bleeding? It’s bad? Don’t worry, this happens a lot." With noticeable dark bags under his eyes, Luciano looks perpetually tired. Dull brown eyes peer out from behind sweeping curtain bangs that they’re constantly having to move to keep them from restricting their vision. Their hair is thick and dark brown, falling in a smooth curve past his eyes and in shorter, light curls at the back of his neck. Their skin is a warm tan, slightly rough. They’re rarely found without at least earrings, often wearing a simple stud in one ear and a hanging one in the other. Their earrings are most commonly made of titanium, which is resistant to rusting. All of their jewellery, which they enjoy wearing, is made of this or other pure metals - anything mixed with iron won’t last long near them. Luca isn’t particularly short for who he was born as, but his small stature is something that annoys him. It makes it more difficult to pass, and their parents weren’t even that short! So why did he get the short end of the stick? Luca is slender, too - currently still a healthy weight, but at risk of becoming underweight. He’s physically weak, though he tries to hide this as best as he can. He has curved scars under his chest from top surgery. He has multiple smaller scars across his body, most of which he can’t remember where he got them from. Most of the time Luca has at least one, if not multiple, open wounds or cuts. Luca is always found with a button down shirt on. They vary from the occasional bright, bold patterns to more lowkey neutrals, sometimes tucked into a pair of baggy trousers and sometimes open over a tank top, but always there. Their favoured colours tend to be shades of green, brown, white and navy blue in striped patterns apart from “special occasions” (days they’re feeling like brightening everything up). Their shirts are normally paired with wide legged trousers, with a white or black top underneath. They tend to cover up, whether it's wearing a long sleeved t-shirt with a short sleeved button down, or a long sleeved button down. Most of their clothes are made of synthetic fibres, polyester or nylon, because it degrades slower and thus he doesn’t have to replace them as frequently. He’s never found without a pair of black, polyester-lycra gloves on. Luca is bright and cheerful, often smiling or chatting. He is generally very expressive, with an inability to keep his immediate reactions off his face. The only expressions he rarely has are those of sadness, the one thing he keeps locked deep down.

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"I want everyone to remember me as someone who never gave up. I want them to remember my positivity.”

MAIN GOAL ⫻ To be free of the apparition he’s adjoined to. After that he just wants to live his life, enjoying all the things he was unable to - spending time with his family, playing soccer again and just using a phone without worrying that he’ll destroy it.

PHILOSOPHY ⫻ Live life as if everyday could be your last. Luca has always focused on living life to the fullest, without getting dragged down by the small things. This has only grown stronger when they realised how short their life might be. They believe in focusing on the good and in enjoying himself, rather than the inevitable end. Because everyone dies eventually, some just sooner than others.

SECRETS ⫻ Luca’s biggest secret is his shortened lifespan, and how ill his abstraction has made him. He keeps on a strong front as if it isn’t slowly eating him from the inside. He hasn’t told any of his family, because how could he even begin to explain it? He also hides that sometimes he feels that it's all pointless. This is a feeling he tries to hide from even himself, shoving it deep down everytime it rears its ugly head.

SEXUALITY ⫻ Probably attracted to men, but Luca has never had the chance to be in a relationship. When he was younger he was struggling with his gender, and now he can’t get physically close to anyone without hurting them.

FEARS ⫻ The Rot possessing them. They can constantly feel it prodding their mind, looking for a weak spot to take advantage of. They fear it more than dying, though they also fear dying like most people do. They also fear harming their loved ones, especially their family.

REPUTATION IN OLD COVEN ⫻ Neutral, or slightly positive. Luca joined the coven late, a short time before the final battle. He was helpful and friendly which would’ve given the others a good impression of him but also standoffish as he learned the effects of his abstraction. He stuck with the old coven until it dissolved and while he wasn’t contributing to the petty squabbles his attempted positivity didn’t help towards the end.

ROLE IN THE BATTLE AGAINST THE STYGIAN SNAKE ⫻ Luca joined the coven late, but from then he was very useful in the battle against the Stygian Snake. His abstraction was one that allowed him to directly weaken the emotions fueling apparitions and the Stygian Snake itself through touching them. With this he was able to help them defeat and seal the Stygian Snake on the day of the eclipse.

FLAWS ⫻ Luca has absolutely no filter. He says what he thinks, whether positive or negative. This can come across as blunt and is incredibly tactless. He hurts others often because of this, regardless of his intentions. He is almost toxically positive. Luca hides difficult emotions from even himself, burying them deep down so he doesn’t have to think about them, ignoring all his problems. He can often invalidate others emotions because he doesn’t understand why they’d dwell on the negative. As he’s grown older Luca has become more self sacrificial, and become worse at looking after himself. He’ll neglect his health frequently and in a situation where sacrificing himself would save others, he’d probably do it. While generally optimistic and cheerful, Luca can be somewhat erratic thanks to the apparition adjoined to him that’s constantly trying to corrupt him mentally. This mostly manifests in sudden mood swings and acting outside of his normal, especially under stressful situations since he’s essentially always under mental stress.

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"My life was completely normal till she attached this fucking thing to me."

Luca was born in Brazil, but his parents moved to St Portwell, and the USA, when he was only two for work. Luca has very little memory of his home country, and has only visited a couple of times as a child.

From a young age, Luca knew that he wasn’t who he was born as. His parents called him Isabela, but that wasn’t right. He didn’t have the language to explain it then so he settled for being a tomboy, refusing to wear anything girly and making everyone call him El - it was slightly less feminine, at least. It wasn’t until his teenagers that he began to figure it all out. He wasn’t a girl like everyone thought he was. He wasn’t really a boy either, but he was closer to that than a girl. He settled on somewhere in between and the name Luca. Just, he didn’t have the confidence to tell anyone.

Luca was fifteen when the Stygian Snake’s rampage began, something he was very unaware about until a week before the eclipse. It was just another day for Luca, heading home from school, when he was attacked by a group of Apparitions. He was thrown to the ground and almost killed there but a girl from a few years above him tried to defend him… Before getting injured herself. Both Luca and this girl, Olivia Ruiz, were saved by Britney Williams. Luca passed out from shock.

When he woke up, his entire world had changed. There was something else inside of him, whispering to him. When he grabbed his phone it turned to dust in his hands. Good, goaded the voice in Luca’s head. Destroy everything. Confused and scared, Luca managed to find the girl, Britney, who had saved him. She explained everything to him - that magic existed, that she was part of a coven protecting the city and that a thing called an apparition (which called itself the rot) had adjoined itself to him while he was injured. She invited him to join the Sycamore Tree coven, to help defeat the Stygian Snake that was attacking the city. Partly out of gratitude, and partly out of not knowing what else to do, Luca joined the Sycamore Tree coven. It was the first place he could truly be himself - being Luca, not a girl, from the start.

In the short time he was part of the coven, Luca threw himself into helping. He learned his abstraction quickly, figuring out that he could weaken apparitions and destroy abominables, though he wasn’t sure why. He didn’t dwell too much on anything outside of using it to help the coven and on the day of the eclipse he used his abstraction to weaken the Stygian Snake so that Ashley could stab it with the Apparition Killer. He had his memory wiped with everyone else, and was glad it was over.

He could live peacefully now, right? Except he still had an apparition attached to him - one constantly trying to get into his mind and whispering to him. The uncontrollable nature of his abstraction was more obvious too. He destroyed everything he touched, and everything around him slowly decayed. He felt weaker too, but he put that down to exhaustion.

Luca couldn’t exactly live a normal life like this.

So he stuck with the coven, hoping they could help him. He grew closer with Olivia, the girl who’d defended him what had felt like a very long time ago, who was now in a similar situation to him. They had a shared goal of splitting from their aberrations, though hers wasn’t as debilitating.

Luca was enraged when he found out that Britney was the one who’d forcibly adjoined him. It could hardly be called saving him with the life he had now. Luca didn’t treat her as badly as some of the others - instead he just didn’t talk to her at all. He stuck with the coven till it dissolved, hoping against hope that they’d help him instead of squabbling. But they didn’t. Luca was disappointed when it ended, but it was fine. He’d find another way. There was no point in dwelling in the negativity, as much of it as there was.

So he moved on, deciding to try and figure out how to get rid of his apparition. Olivia followed him, the only person he had left for him - he’d cut himself off from his family out of necessity, as painful as it was. Just being near him would kill them. He took some online courses at college while trying to research the paranormal as much as possible.

Then Olivia found out, through going to the same college, that Emily had formed her own coven. Luca didn’t particularly like Emily (not many did), but his need to get rid of the rot was stronger. He managed to convince them to let him join a seemingly all woman coven… And it was good, at first. They were learning about magic, and with that making progress in understanding adjoined. But it didn’t last. 8th Street’s agenda changed, and Luca couldn’t stay for it.

So they went back to just the two of them trying to figure it out, back to what it had been like just after the Sycamore Tree coven dissolved. At this point he hardly left the apartment he and Olivia shared. Every outing was a risk of hurting someone. He threw himself into research in his spare time, trying to find everything he could, while working a completely remote job. He managed to figure out a setup that worked for him - a desktop and large screen far enough away to not be affected by his abstraction, and a pile of cheap keyboards and mice on hand for when the ones he was using were destroyed. He gained more control over his decaying touch, learning how to turn it off… Even if it exhausted him. It was difficult, but that was fine. It wouldn’t be like this forever. He stayed optimistic and focused on the positives.

After a year of almost no results, Olivia decided to call it quits. Her family was moving to the other side of the country and she wanted to go with them. There were no hard feelings between them when she left, and they promised to keep in touch.

Luca’s life continued much the same. He found joy in the little things - his weekly calls with Olivia, the days where he could control his abstraction enough to do some wood carving without instantly destroying the wood in his hands, and the late night research that seemed to be getting him somewhere. He would go on walks late at night when very little else (human at least) was outside. He tried to meet with other paranormal, or ex-coven members - just anyone who could resist his abstraction a bit. It was relatively peaceful, if a bit lonely.

Of course, there were so many negatives. He never really got a peaceful moment, with an apparition inside of him constantly trying to erode at his mental state so that it could take over. He’d just gotten good at blocking it out and thinking positively. He was also growing weaker and weaker, struggling to walk around the block on some days. It was as if his muscles were wasting away. It was terrifying, and he had no one to talk to.

Finally, a year ago, it got bad enough that he went to a hospital. His uncontrollable aura wasn’t strong enough to destroy anything instantly, and as long as he didn’t touch anything it would be fine. He felt bad for putting the doctors and nurse through the pain of it, but he needed checked. What had started as occasional exhaustion and weakness had grown worse, and he was constantly in pain. Somewhere always hurt. The doctors ran their tests, so many of them, and took his blood.

The results weren’t good. They’d never seen what was happening to him, so they couldn’t give him a diagnosis, but it was as if his entire body was slowly decaying. A new kind of degenerative disease they’d never seen before. The outcomes didn’t look good. At this rate he probably had a few years left. If he was lucky he’d reach thirty. They said they could recommend him to a more cutting edge hospital that would research it and work with him, but Luca declined. He took a prescription of strong painkillers and went home.

After all, he knew the cause. Normal medicine wouldn’t help. He needed to get rid of his abstraction first before it could be treated.

Luca continued trying to find a way, speeding it up. He tried to talk to some of the paranormal groups in St Portwell, namely the Elite, Greenwood Coven and 8th Street again. The Elite was useless, 8th street was concentrating on its new ventures and the Greenwood coven didn’t take too kindly to Luca… after all his abstraction was one of the many destroying nature, even if he couldn’t control it. It was fine. He resigned himself to never getting rid of it, and resolved to enjoy the rest of his life. No point dwelling on what was out of his control, after all! He’d do what he could and that would be enough.

Then he heard that ex-coven members were dying. Then Olivia went missing. There was no news of her death, but she wouldn’t pick up his calls and wasn’t at home. Luca didn’t know what he could do, until he got contacted by Auri. It was an easy decision to join again. Maybe they could help him get rid of this abstraction that was eating him away, and if not, why wouldn’t he use the time he had left to help save others?

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"I wish I’d never gotten it. But I can’t change the past, so I might as well use it for something good before it kills me."

TYPE ⫻ Aberration - Adjoined

ABSTRACTION ⫻ Rotting Decay, the ability to decay and damage all living things, to corrode and weaken non organic materials and to decay the emotions that fuel magic.

ABSTRACTION DESCRIPTION ⫻

Aura of Decay ⫻ Luca has a permanent, but weak, aura of decay around him. This aura spreads out about an arms length around him. It slowly decays everything around him, with results and speed varying by what’s being exposed and the size of it. For organic materials, it will take an hour to completely rot something weak such as a flower or grass. For something stronger, such as a tree, it would take days - but it will kill leaves or flowers on the tree. For human flesh it will hurt immediately, then damage the outer layer of skin within an hour, but would take weeks to rot through the bone. For inorganic objects, the aura works best on metals, which it will oxidise and then corrode in days. The effect on emotions is minimal - in the aura, people will perhaps feel their emotions slightly dimmed, but little else.

Decaying Touch ⫻ More powerful than the constant aura, Luca can touch something and instantly cause it to decay. The effect varies by what is being touched. The flesh of the blind would be rotted instantly, and within minutes whatever he is touching would disintegrate and die. The paranormal are more resistant, but initial touch would cause intense pain and eventually decay, then disintegration. It affects apparitions, by decaying the emotion that fuels them and thus weakening them. For nonorganic objects it will take moments to corrode something small - a cup, or a mobile phone. It would start to crumble a brick but take minutes to properly destroy it, and something larger would take hours.

LIMITS ⫻

Aura of Decay ⫻ The aura is too weak to affect apparitions at all, and hardly affects those with Emotional-Fields. They will feel pain, more intense the longer they are in it, but it won’t cause decay. It is limited size wise, only spreading an arms length around Luca. It's always on, so they can’t control it at all. The stronger and larger something is, the longer it will take to decay.

Decaying Touch ⫻ There is no range to the touch. Luca must touch whatever is to be affected with one of his hands. It is only his hands that can be used. The decay only happens in the immediate area touched and doesn’t spread. It can’t straight up kill those with emotional-fields, and can only weaken apparitions or those without substance. It would take minutes of touching to start properly decaying any with defences. The longer he touches something and uses the abstraction the more he will strain himself, physically and mentally, and start damaging him too. While he could technically do it for hours, it would likely destroy him too. This ability is normally on, and he has to be actively concentrating to turn it off. This concentration includes ignoring the apparition itself, which constantly wants him to decay and destroy everything around him.

WEAKNESSES ⫻

The Aura of Decay is always active, and Luca is unable to turn it off, which means he will cause objects that he doesn't intend to decay and rot away. He's used to throwing beds away and replacing his cell phone. The Decaying touch is also consistently active and requires him to consciously turn it off and expend energy to not rot objects away. However, the most debilitating weakness of all is that the Abstraction is causing him to rot away. It's slowly eroding at his skin, organs, and bones, weakening his body, and will eventually induce organ shutdown... or worse if that doesn't happen first. The Power of Decay makes Luca more frail, his skin will tear easier and his bones are way easier to break.

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"It would've been nice to see everyone again, if the circumstances were different."

Luca has no preference between he or they pronouns.
Luca is mostly fluent in Portuguese.
Luca has a box filled with cheap phones in his apartment because he has to constantly replace them. In fact most of his salary (after essentials) goes into replacing all the items that he destroys with his abstraction.

The.Rot

Very Old | The Rot | It/Its "̶̥͈̙̗̔͒̎̀̈́͜È̷̻͔̞͓̜̊v̵͎̠̪͓̅͌ę̷̛͖͇̊ṙ̷͎͗͐y̷̭̗̜͊͝t̷͕̣͖̍͗̚h̶̳̺̍̽ȋ̸̜ṅ̷̗̖̥̤̝̃͐ǵ̷̟̣͛̋̏ ̷̛̘͈͙̬̀̽̈́ẘ̸͔̖̞̥̞̀́i̶̱̖̳̱̦͆͒̓̀l̶̝͙̖͌̚ͅl̴̟̻̱̤͚̓̄̀̆ ̵̫̐̽̀̇͘r̷̢̰̝̹̤̀̃̇̏̿ò̸̠̱̝̦̮̏̚ẗ̸̥͈̜̱̑͘͝ͅ"̸̞̠̯͕̙̔̍

Description: The Rot came to be in this dimension centuries ago, born from the intense desire for destruction from humans waging in petty wars and the corruption of many. All it wants is destruction, to rot everything away until no life is left. It has destroyed towns and cities, feeding off the flesh of poor humans unable to flee from its path. It has corrupted the minds of those that are weak to aid in its path of destruction. However its influence and power was short reaching, and its movement restricted. It could not go to places completely free from corruption and corrosion. Hundreds of years ago the Rot was sealed, the object it was sealed in then lost and forgotten. Until ten years ago, when Britney Williams freed it and adjoined it with Luca Oliviera to help defeat the Stygian Snake. After the Stygian Snake Luca wanted rid of the rot, but it refused to leave him - why would it, when it finally had the perfect vessel to cause destruction from? Luca wasn’t limited like it is. Instead it is constantly trying to corrupt and weaken his mind, so one day it can push out his soul and abscise his body. Occasionally it succeeds in temporary possession, but it has yet to gain complete control. The Rot always remains inside Luca, but it will talk to him from within when it benefits it. Abstraction: Apparition - Decay of All Things The Rot allows Luca to use most of its abstraction - the ability to cause physical and emotional decay. It has another ability it has not given Luca - mental decay. This can completely corrupt or destroy the minds of the blind. It can leave them as empty shells of themselves, or corrupt them to become the worst of humanity and help it succeed in its goal. Those with Emotional-Fields are resistant but not immune. It can slowly plant the seeds of destruction within them, whittling away until it succeeds. It has been doing it with its host ever since they were adjoined.