Lasrever

Spirit Wielders!

Instant Regret

Admittedly, Leah hadn't exactly felt too bad about the whole 'running' deal. Look, it wasn't that she was awful or whatever (completely, at least), but her family had made it out okay and that was a whole lot better than what could have happened to them. She'd spent the uneasy peace-time laying low, forgetting, and letting Envy take the wheel. It had worked pretty well, too - they felt so much stronger already. It had been easy pickings, even if they were getting somewhat careless, taking a little too much too quickly. With everything going on, such incidents would get written off, and her weird-ass new boss didn't seem to mind her being out of it.

Something still felt off about her, but Leah didn't know what, and coffee shops attracted weirdos sometimes anyhow. Like most places. As long as she was a fair boss, which it seemed like, she didn't get too preoccupied with figuring out people's heads. Especially when it might annoy someone that was currently giving her cash.

Also, the fact that there were other mediums - several, apparently - around was worrying to say the least, so socialising was like an anti-priority. She wasn't exactly too strong as one, at least on her own power. There was a reason she and Envy always had to take what they needed, what they deserved. Her sister had seemed brighter lately, now that she was operating more often. The other day, she'd stayed up to watch a movie together and laughed and it was almost, almost, normal. She could keep that, if she kept taking, and if people were going to stick around here without a good reason like they had, then they'd probably have ended up dead anyway. So what if it was her or some weird centipede-thing? Same difference. She was stronger now, faster, smarter. Better. That was what Envy kept saying, and she didn't want to argue with it because arguing meant maybe being right and being right would make her... terrible.

Though going back to school had somehow made none of that matter, and Envy's quiet disdain was mirrored by Leah, even as she fell back in to usual patterns. Quietly studying a row from the back of the class, not drawing attention, acting normally and pretending everything was fine. Typical, meek, Leah. Go to school, do your work, pretend the seat next to you was empty because of the flu and not a massacre.

We're safer now, you know. You're strong. Fast. Keep taking, and soon you won't be afraid either.

She couldn't help but nod along to the sound of Envy in the back of her mind. They were right, as always. She needed to be able to get back home, that was why she'd run. Why she'd left. Why she'd had someone die in her place. Because her family needed her, and that was what mattered, and you had to take from someone else if you ever wanted anything. That was why they'd always lost out, why it was okay for her to take, because they'd been taken from first. She'd been taken from. Secondary.

It's not wrong, the way that they say it is. They want it to be, of course; to pretend they got it all fairly. But you know, don't you? Whose it should be.

It was as though she could feel Envy smile. Didn't need to say very much lately for them to be happy, and that meant she was doing things right. She'd started taking an old ski mask to school after the first fight, though. Bad enough that some random rude girl knew she was a medium, but at least they'd been in the same boat. If anything happened again, it'd be good to hide her identity. And fight. Envy had started wanting to, lately. The power they'd taken from that monster, it had been intoxicating in the best way. If they could get a larger one, then... there'd be so much. So much to use.

She tried not to wonder which of them that hunger belonged to as she sat in the old janitor's closet, stomach rumbling. Their house had been damaged a little, and there just hadn't been anything in today, which felt like crap and definitely made all the things Envy said ring just a little more true. There was an out-of-order sign on the door, indicating absolutely nothing except that they weren't using it for anything relevant, which made it perfect. Sure, she got some weird looks if she left there, but people always figured it was just a quiet reading spot or something, and that was less noticeable than coming to school without lunch for the fourth day in a row.

Always about dancing that fine, fine line between 'kind of a loser' and 'charity case'. She kept on dodging the latter.

But as screams rang out once more, she found herself pulling out that old, ratty, mask. Envy's ribbon was in place, as always, as vines seemed to sprout from her clothes, teeth sharpening into points, eyes decidedly not human, and a small, broken, compact quickly pocketed. Okay. Alright. So it wasn't a one-time thing, the spirit attack, the weird number of mediums, all of it.

Well, Envy. I guess this means you get what you want.

She dumped her backpack, kicking it down the hallway as she moved through the crowd, towards the cafeteria, just in time to see a spirit lop a tendril off of some kind of... thing. Bigger spirit, she assumed. She spared a glance as she passed by who she assumed was the medium, given that the spirit was pushing her. Well, well. The weirdo that kept questioning students - supposed there were obvious reasons she'd have reached out for a spirit.

Not that Leah was about to spend much time wondering on these things, moving with unnatural speed and leaping to cling onto the tendril as it withdrew. How many peoples' worth, so far? Eight or so, perhaps, and the centipede-thing. She felt the difference in that. The difference that had come with letting Envy take the wheel, siphoning just that little bit more. Maybe she still wasn't too durable, but that was fine.

Climbing was easy when you were far stronger than you should have been, and so Leah clung on and started to siphon. It was pretty big, and she figured she wasn't that noticeable, or at least that Envy would warn her if death was on its way. So physical strength would do, for now, as she began to climb up, wanting to get further from the places easiest to hit, and slowly draining its physicality as she did so. Spiritual was too much of a risk for now - this thing would definitely overload her, and it'd really definitely notice her if she took in that much power.

But hey, if she weakened it a little, it'd be easier for whatever other mediums were here--

"YAHAHAHA!"

You have got to be kidding me.

I truly do hate these ones.

And so they stopped talking, and got to hanging on for dear life.

Skybound

---

A Mechanical Opener

---

THE FORNACIS | ENGINE ROOM

talking difficult

"Alright." Kerry finally sat back, Pyxis disappearing as she seemingly satisfied herself that they'd fixed every last little issue with the cooling system - it had started playing up in the morning, and the woman was nothing if not diligent in her job. As good a ship as the Fornacis was, there were a lot of things needed to make her run right, and stay that way.

"You're done, Tally. Take five. We don't need to be working overtime anymore," she shrugged, "most of this's just for efficiency's sake. The old girl's good to keep running, so no point working yourself to the bone."

Tally nodded and downed the rest of the water in her canteen. Working herself to the bone was more or less her normal, but she wasn't going to decline a good break.

"So that's the worst of it, then?" She asked. "How tough were they on her back in the day?"

"Pretty damn tough," there was some hint of pride in Kerry's voice, though as with everything else it seemed dulled, "I was on her from the start: if you liked getting yer hands dirty, it was paradise. But we've had a history of crazy bastards captaining us, so she's been through the wars. Most've the stories 'bout it are true, but she's a tough old airship. Much's anything else, it's just that all those years shut down took a toll."

"Sounds like a lot of fun, then." Tally was trying not to seem too interested, but she had that doe-eyed expression.

Kerry grinned, "no need to act aloof, kid. Hell, I was starry-eyed as anyone when I got my job, and it wasn't nothing famous then. Airship job, though, and for an Ortzi kid that was crazy enough. But don't worry too hard; 'f I know this crew, they'll be givin' us more than enough work in the next while. Enjoy it til the novelty wears off."

"S'pose I will, then." Tally said, not bothering to try to hide her smile anymore. "So you're from Ortzi? I'm mostly happy to be away from Mehrnez, myself."

"Aye," Kerry shrugged, "not that it matters. Ortzi's Ortzi. Here's here. Spendin' my time thinking 'bout where I'm from don't seem like a productive use of it. No-one makes sushi 'round here, but other'n that, isn't a thing worth discussing."

"Fair enough." Tally nodded. She could understand the sentiment.

"What made you wanna come here, anyhow? I know we were hirin' and all," Kerry shrugged, "but you could make a livin' on plenty ships without half the trouble the Fornacis gets into."

There was something wistful to her expression as she smirked, the good side of her face turned towards Tally.

"I know why the old folks're 'round. Newbies, I ain't so sure on."

"'Dunno." Tally shifted, a frown was forming. Of course she knew, it just felt tough to explain.

"Didn't exactly come from much. Ten years ago, felt like makin' a living was all I could hope for. Now that I'm there, it feels like an awful way to live, 'specially with no family to go back to anymore."

She paused for a moment.

"S'pose that's a little grim." Tally admitted. "Guess what I'm saying is that I could use a little trouble. Somethin' to look back on."

Kerry looked at her, gaze piercing. Didn't say what she wanted to say, go letting out the frustration that that sentiment brought up. But there was a noticeable downturn in her expression.

"Suppose that makes sense," she shrugged, "but there's better things to do than chase a story."

And looking back was more destructive than it seemed.

"Ain't my place to go analysing your motives anyhow, I suppose. Long's you don't get your head stuck in stories and forget about doin' your job."

Tally nodded slowly, feeling the change in tone, trying to shove her more defensive feelings out of the way. She got the feeling that this was something backed up by experience, but she wasn't one to pry.

"Mmhm." Tally said finally. "Can see your point."

A good time to change the subject.

"So you said you know why all the old folks are here? Things didn't exactly end the greatest last time, least from what I heard."

"Don't matter so much, really. At the end of the day, you'll find out if it's important; for now, that's just a question that'd get distracting. We're far from having the whole crew back," Kerry absentmindedly picked up a screw, turning it between her fingers, "and those of us here got our own reasons. Let's say there was a shared feeling of sorts. Some listened, some didn't, and we gotta work with what we have."

"Fair enough." Tally nodded again. As long as it didn't become too much of an issue. But it hadn't, yet. She tilted her head to the side, stretching out the tension.

Kerry shrugged it off. Let the silence hang for a little while before standing back up as her Pyxis appeared over her bad eye and giving a slight nod to Tally. Figured she'd go and tinker with something, and didn't really say anything to acknowledge the conversation's end.

They'd be working together long enough - getting any deeper than that kind of talk... it could wait, in Kerry's opinion. She'd made the effort, but the break was done, and machines were easier to deal with anyway.

Skybound

Kerry McDougall

Kerry

A One-eyed Woman

The scarring on her face along with her fairly stocky, muscular stature makes her cut a rather intimidating figure, even with her rather average height of 5'6". Her rather chronic scowl doesn't help, though chances are generally good that she's just tired and grumpy rather than angry with anyone specific.

"If I leave you people be, you'll ruin my ship in minutes."

Age: 35
Gender/Sex: Female
Race: Human
Ship role: Mechanic

Background: A rather brilliant, and easily bored, young engineer from a tiny, backwater island in Ortzi called Rathall, the prospect of employment on a skyship - any skyship - had been something Kerry leapt at all those years ago, not realising the legend that the Fornacis would eventually become. She wasn't exactly the most experienced back then, and it's fair to say that her Pyxis was certainly more than a small factor in her opportunity. Nonetheless, she held her own, and quickly developed a love for the Fornacis. Back then, the girl was rather bright and excited for the adventures that awaited her. Indeed, one could even call her reckless in her enthusiasm.

And indeed, that recklessness was her undoing - though she won't elaborate exactly on how. It hadn't been planned for her to be in any sort of combat, of course, and she was supposed to stay out of harm's way; indeed, it wasn't in any official capacity that she was out. A few years into their adventures, Kerry had struck up a relationship with one of the other mechanics, Laurie, and the two had decided to distance themselves for the day at port, the second anniversary (at least, according to Kerry's data) of their relationship. Not some grand adventure or terrifying scheme, for on those there was the protection of the captains, the more capable fighters who'd take the hits.

No, Kerry lost her eye on what should have been a simple, peaceful, date.

All that any of the crew knew was the scene that met them that night; Laurie, distraught and sobbing. Kerry, leaning on her for support with face half-burned and the light gone from one eye, never to return.

Kerry never was the same afterwards. She grew paranoid of most things, overly cautious, and found comfort in the ship's workings. Things she could be sure of, that made sense to her. The outside world had become frightening and unpredictable, and the bitterness that lodged in her heart was apparent to most. Her moments of light and kindness, once ever-present, became reserved for her girlfriend alone. Her joy, though it would still spark up on occasion, seemed mostly concerned with the ship, with improvements and discoveries. Despite that, she was diligent in her work, even if she preferred the company of engines to people.

At the time that they parted, she and Laurie left together. Perhaps not as sickeningly saccharine as once they were, but they appeared content enough to leave their life of adventure behind them. To while out their days in peace, with an uneventful marriage and perhaps a family of their own.

Kerry's return to the Fornacis, without Laurie, tells another story entirely.

---

Pyxis

Pyxis

Pyxis strength - Analysis

Form of the Pyxis - A mechanical brass monocle, inlaid with intricate gears: oddly enough, it manifests over her ruined eye when in use.

Pyxis skills -

• Baseline: she can quickly get a measure of any non-organic subject she focuses on, gaining a somewhat bare-bones understanding of its measurements, purpose (though the explanation is often vague and never elaborated on), and material and magical composition.
• Spotting the Break: the Pyxis allows her to quickly analyse non-organic materials, devices, and structures, allowing her to understand their workings and discover flaws or weaknesses that can be fixed - or, in some cases, exploited.
• Monitoring: regarding people, it can provide a quick analysis of a person's measurable, physical, behaviours - a database to fall back on. The tics someone has when they lie, a habit of picking their nails. Small, mostly inconsequential details. She appreciates it, if only because her own abilities to keep track of human behaviour are apparently 'total crap'. Thanks, Laurie.
• Behind the walls: a simple enough ability, allowing her to, by choice, see through physical materials. However, it seems she can only see through one at a time - she can't tell you what's going on several rooms away, but could spy on the floor above easily enough.
• Thermal vision: does what it says on the tin, essentially. She doesn't particularly like using it, and claims it makes her head hurt.

Skybound

Kerry McDougall

Kerry

A One-eyed Woman

The scarring on her face along with her fairly stocky, muscular stature makes her cut a rather intimidating figure, even with her rather average height of 5'6". Her rather chronic scowl doesn't help, though chances are generally good that she's just tired and grumpy rather than angry with anyone specific.

"If I leave you people be, you'll ruin my ship in minutes."

Age: 35
Gender/Sex: Female
Race: Human
Ship role: Mechanic

Background: A rather brilliant, and easily bored, young engineer from a tiny, backwater island in Ortzi called Rathall, the prospect of employment on a skyship - any skyship - had been something Kerry leapt at all those years ago, not realising the legend that the Fornacis would eventually become. She wasn't exactly the most experienced back then, and it's fair to say that her Pyxis was certainly more than a small factor in her opportunity. Nonetheless, she held her own, and quickly developed a love for the Fornacis. Back then, the girl was rather bright and excited for the adventures that awaited her. Indeed, one could even call her reckless in her enthusiasm.

And indeed, that recklessness was her undoing - though she won't elaborate exactly on how. It hadn't been planned for her to be in any sort of combat, of course, and she was supposed to stay out of harm's way; indeed, it wasn't in any official capacity that she was out. A few years into their adventures, Kerry had struck up a relationship with one of the other mechanics, Laurie, and the two had decided to distance themselves for the day at port, the second anniversary (at least, according to Kerry's data) of their relationship. Not some grand adventure or terrifying scheme, for on those there was the protection of the captains, the more capable fighters who'd take the hits.

No, Kerry lost her eye on what should have been a simple, peaceful, date.

All that any of the crew knew was the scene that met them that night; Laurie, distraught and sobbing. Kerry, leaning on her for support with face half-burned and the light gone from one eye, never to return.

Kerry never was the same afterwards. She grew paranoid of most things, overly cautious, and found comfort in the ship's workings. Things she could be sure of, that made sense to her. The outside world had become frightening and unpredictable, and the bitterness that lodged in her heart was apparent to most. Her moments of light and kindness, once ever-present, became reserved for her girlfriend alone. Her joy, though it would still spark up on occasion, seemed mostly concerned with the ship, with improvements and discoveries. Despite that, she was diligent in her work, even if she preferred the company of engines to people.

At the time that they parted, she and Laurie left together. Perhaps not as sickeningly saccharine as once they were, but they appeared content enough to leave their life of adventure behind them. To while out their days in peace, with an uneventful marriage and perhaps a family of their own.

Kerry's return to the Fornacis, without Laurie, tells another story entirely.

---

Pyxis

Pyxis

Pyxis strength - Analysis

Form of the Pyxis - An intricate, brass, monocle, inlaid with intricate gears: oddly enough, it manifests over her ruined eye when in use.

Pyxis skills -

• Baseline: she can quickly get a measure of any non-organic subject she focuses on, gaining a somewhat bare-bones understanding of its measurements, purpose (though the explanation is often vague and never elaborated on), and material and magical composition.
• Spotting the Break: the Pyxis allows her to quickly analyse non-organic materials, devices, and structures, allowing her to understand their workings and discover flaws or weaknesses that can be fixed - or, in some cases, exploited.
• Monitoring: regarding people, it can provide a quick analysis of a person's measurable, physical, behaviours - a database to fall back on. The tics someone has when they lie, a habit of picking their nails. Small, mostly inconsequential details. She appreciates it, if only because her own abilities to keep track of human behaviour are apparently 'total crap'. Thanks, Laurie.
• Behind the walls: a simple enough ability, allowing her to, by choice, see through physical materials. However, it seems she can only see through one at a time - she can't tell you what's going on several rooms away, but could spy on the floor above easily enough.
• Thermal vision: does what it says on the tin, essentially. She doesn't particularly like using it, and claims it makes her head hurt.

Spirit Wielders!

Is a Good Person

Hider

Leah wasn't a particularly lucky person. She'd accepted this by now, really, since it wasn't a thing you could actually do anything about by yourself, and she was a pretty firm believer in one free slap for everyone that said you make your own luck. Then again, in a twisted way she guessed you could call it lucky that she'd ended up here when...

"What the fuck, what the hell is that-- jesus christ, where'd it come from what do we--"

'Please shut up.'

"I don't know, I don't know, please helpmemovethis."

"R-right, sorry!" Leah snapped out of it, at least momentarily, helping the classmate who'd ducked in here with her to shift the desk, ramming it up against the door with seconds to spare. "Oh my god. Those things, are they... do you think they're everywhere?"

The noises weren't stopping, the creature determined to get at the prey it knew was waiting for it. Seemed like it'd only be a matter of time before it got to them, and as Leah stared into the floor, she realised there wasn't any escape, really. They'd ducked into the nearest room when they saw it, panicked screams alerting the thing to their presence and vulnerability.

"I... I still don't know. Do you think we're gonna--"

Her name was Sara; neither of them had wanted to head to the bathrooms alone right then, so they'd walked together, chatted. It wasn't too hard, she was nervous, she was kind, she'd showed her the pictures of her dog on her phone. It was too real and too close but Leah was so afraid that none of it seemed to matter. There was a black bow in her hair, and for some reason Leah's gaze rested on it, fixated on the small and safe detail that let her pretend there was a way out of this.

'Mortal.'

It would be okay, she just needed to wait, they wouldn't let the school go down like this, there were too many kids here so it'd be fine.

'MORTAL! You can't stay here; it doesn't matter if you're right.'

'No, it'll be fine, if I'm right then someone will come--'

'They'll come for you. But who'll come for her? I trust you didn't take your duties so casually, after all I've done for them.'

He - he was right, she realised dimly. Even if someone came to help her, they'd keep them there. They wouldn't go and save Taylor, her family, anyone. She'd lose all of it, everything she'd done, everything she'd given up on for them would all be for nothing. So even if someone came to help them, it would guarantee she lost it all. At that point, it was... 'As good as dying anyway.'

So she had to leave before anyone got here, before there was any help. But there was no way she could rely on being faster than that thing, dodging around it, so... her eyes landed on Sara. Sweet Sara who loved puns, showed her dog to any passing stranger with a few spare seconds, and dressed herself up like she was always preparing for a formal event. Who snorted when she laughed without meaning to. Who did a bunch of little things that she never had to consider before.

'Only one of us is leaving this room, huh.'

Envy didn't say anything back, but she'd swear she felt his agreement. Or maybe that was just a comforting lie.

Vines, blooming hyacinths, snaking around her outfit, pulling up the hood of her jacket as she gritted her teeth and reached out. There was no point in restraint, because it wouldn't help her. It wouldn't help Taylor. This wasn't - it wasn't selfish, it was for them, she knew that. Someone had to help.

She struggled at first, screaming, but Leah at least had more strength than any normal kid her age when she channelled. Probably a little more than most adults, too - and she didn't want to hear it. She couldn't let herself hear it, not like this. Surprisingly, Envy spoke to her calmly, gently, comforting words and affirmations that this was the right thing to do, that you could never help anyone without helping yourself, that she didn't owe these classmates and strangers a single thing. It was better to focus on his voice, calming, easier as she kept her eyes shut once Sara's struggles ceased completely.

7/8ths of vitality. It wasn't likely she'd be able to recover even in a different place; but Leah knew that, and so she'd taken her strength, her energy, everything. As far as she could tell, the girl had been placed in a coma. She didn't want to kill her directly; this felt easier somehow, like it was all for the plan, so at least one of them could make it out of there. That made sense, right? It had to be like this. She dragged the comatose figure over and lay her next to the door, which was creaking dangerously, hinges splintering. Lift her up, pull away the desk, and dump her on the floor in front of the thing.

It pounced; no beast would ever ignore such an easy meal.

And Leah ran, towards the exits, not daring to let herself look back.

Spirit Wielders!

A Fair Trade: Leah, solo

A Fair Trade

Monday, September 9, 2029 - 2am

It was nighttime, dark out, and Leah had her hood up. A scarf covering most of her face, hands in her pockets, and a voice in her head that kept her walking regardless. The good thing about gymnastics was the help it gave you on sneaking out attempts. Supposed all that training had to go to something now that actually using it was out of the window.

'It doesn't have to be, you know.'

'I mean, it does, though. At least for now - you're the one that said--'

'Yes, yes, of course. One thing at a time, then, mortal.'

'Please stop calling me that.'

But Leah didn't pursue the point. It wasn't really worth doing with Envy, considering the spirit's borderline addiction to asserting his superiority complex. Or maybe it was just nagging at some crack in Leah's own armor, but that one wasn't worth thinking too hard about right now. After all, she knew she was doing... not the right thing in a general sense, but the right thing for the family. Which she firmly cared about way more than Johnny Random who she just passed on the street.

Ideally they'd end up being, like, bad people, but that one felt ambitious. Not unlikely to be possible, seeing as she was a teenage girl out on her lonesome in the dark, but the best plans were generally the ones with the lowest risk of being stabbed.

Either way, it was better to be in the shadier spots of the town for this, blind alleys and dark corners. Envy resented the secrecy, of course, but only because of its necessity. He liked to be in the shadows, to push and prod and take without being seen, but he didn't want to be confined there by anyone. They weren't exactly big on that side of things, anyway, because right now the whole strength level thingy was "teenager who can do a mean round off" which was apparently not good enough.

Mutuality was the key word, though, and if nothing else Envy had always been honest with her, in a 'slightly evil magic genie' sort of way, but she did have what she wanted out of him, and it only felt right to try and do what was required in return. It wasn't as if she didn't want a lot of things too, so it wasn't like she was doing it because of the requests. Leah wasn't being pushed around, just... guided towards obtaining the things she needed. Or at least it was comfortable to think that, and so think it she did.

Not that it mattered. Back street, cold and dark and unsupervised. Sit down, hands around her knees, and wait, listening for the sound of approaching footsteps. You had to be subtle with this sort of thing, and it paid off eventually. The sound of footsteps walking by, decently heavy, probably a full-grown man if she needed to guess. Not in much of a hurry, and stumbling around. Drunk, then. That made things easier.

She waited for him to pass her, and then... 'Envy'.

Channelling wasn't easy, but it was doable. Vines materialising, flowers blooming across her mask and hood, eyes and teeth shifting; and it was simple enough, with one like this. Not like he was moving fast, or on his guard - she just had to walk up behind, a hand on the arm, and drain. Strength; that was more for her own protection than anything, since even a drunk adult guy was still stronger than she was. Energy, similarly meant to make sure he didn't run off, and maybe because she needed it to get through school and work with all this nighttime stuff.

But neither of them were what she was actually after.

Life force. Vitality. The thing you couldn't really afford to give up. The thing she was taking away. It wasn't like she was evil; this wasn't for her own benefit or anything. But it was something she needed, and that meant it was something someone else had to lose. Drunks were easy, though. And she wouldn't kill, despite Envy's ravenous baying for blood, wanting everything the man had and more. They may have been partners in this, but in a technical sense she was still in charge. Envy had been more than stubborn in withholding the information, but given enough time stuck in her head...

She'd wormed it out of him, anyway.

'If you must know, mortal, we need four minutes. One and a half if you insist on letting them live.'

He wasn't happy whenever they stopped, though. But stop she did. Leaving the guy deathly pale, dazed, and weakened, but nothing that couldn't be recovered from with a few good nights' sleep and a month's working out. It wasn't as if he'd seen her face, and even if he did, he was too out of it to remember that tomorrow. She was sure he'd find his way home or whatever anyway, and it wasn't as if she could do much to stop him from lying in the street a while.

This was the best way that things could work out for everyone, really - but for now, she needed to head home. She couldn't waste much time in using it, after all.

---

"Hey, sis. Made you breakfast. I'll just sit it here, okay?"

"Okay."

"That's good. I love you. Get some rest. I have to start school today, but I'll see you once I'm back."

"Mmmhmm..."

Eyes closed, breathing steadied, and the girl returned to sleep, oblivious to her sister's changing appearance and the palm placed on her arm.

'You know the drill, Envy. Make sure she gets all of it.'

Not Cool: Leah and Sav

Not Cool

Tuesday, September 10 2029 - Lunchtime

Leah@Lasrever and Sav@Bubsy 2

Okay. School had been interesting so far, she'd been late to like every class, and was generally just kind of rushing around on a constant basis. Which she didn't mind so much with like, the actual classes - they weren't tough, really, she could catch up. But lunch was a different story. Staying behind for a minute to figure some stuff out with the teacher was a mixed-quality idea. Good for the academic stuff, bad because whether she liked it or not... the suddenly loud rumble of her stomach confirmed one fact.

Leah was absolutely starving. Which was her own fault for skipping breakfast, probably, but she didn't want to stress out anyone by bringing it up this morning and... whatever. The point was, she needed food, and had zero idea where it was.

So, what better way than to ask someone? There was some girl a little down the corridor, leaning against the wall. Okay, sure, maybe she didn't look the friendliest, but... "Hey, um - sorry, I'm new this year and I just wanted to know, could you tell me how to get to the lunchroom?"

Today, Savannah leaned against this wall by herself because she really had no friends to lean against walls with. Her face was blank, her mouth vaguely downturned in a sort of passive scowl. She'd heard the phrase 'resting bitch face' before. It was just how she looked. She had thought that isolation foments the idea that one should at the very least be the type of person that leans against walls looking like they're contemplating something, or looking menacing. Because here was the thing: if she was alone and was just sitting she might have felt sad, but by leaning against this very wall looking exactly like she did she felt like some 80s movie cool-loner-girl archetype which just seemed to be the most preferable way to go about being alone.

It was much better. And she was thinking about something deeply too. Which is why when Leah walked up to her and asked where the lunchroom was, she didn't say anything. She heard the voice, but it must not have been talking to her, because all of the voices and things that were being said around her had bled away into the background. Because none of that conversation was ever for her. It couldn't have been.

No, the question wasn't for her, she just knew. She didn't look up.

"Eh... excuse me? I appreciate that this is maybe, like. A busy--" Leah looked around. It was not busy. Great. "Well, some kind of moment for you, but food waits for no one and I don't want all the cheap stuff to be gone." Okay. Stop that. Wrong sort of info. And it would be nice to... stop talking at some point, but being ignored was annoying.

'She thinks she's better than us.'

'Probably true, but can you not?'

"So, you know, if you can tell me where the food is then I don't have to ask what your problem is and that way's better for everybody really, y'see? Mutual cooperation."

Savannah, for a brief moment, looked up. Oh no. Oh lord. The words were hers, and she was now being very rude.

"I'm sorry?" there were, probably, two main ways that one could use the phrase 'I'm sorry'. The first, and most common and kind way, is as a genuine affirmation of the fact that you regret an action or thing or event. The other way is as a snide, sarcastic remark that is crafted to express incredulity or disdain. In this situation, in Savannah's head, this was meant to be the former. Howerver, as the words came out of her mouth they sounded more like a question, and combined with the unusual emphasis that she placed on the word 'sorry', completely accidentally, the words sounded much more like the later. She wasn't sure what to say after that. Her brain stopped working.

"Look, I'm not trying to be trouble or anything, but I haven't like, eaten. I don't get why you're mad about it?" Leah looked as perplexed as she was frustrated. "You can opt out of twenty questions about what your problem is at any time by telling me where the food's at."

She tried it again, she tried for the smile. But like the many times before her face just couldn't do it, and it looked wonky and weird because she didn't really want to do it. If anything she looked even angrier, now snarling.

"...jeez." Leah decided this wasn't worth it, a look of slightly annoyed confusion on her face as she took a step back. "I guess I'll go find it myself, then." She shook her head, stepping back and muttering something under her breath that definitely wasn't positive.

"Wait," Savannah said. She pointed off, down a hall, towards the cafateria. "That way," she said, still not sounding partiuclarly friendly.

"Wonderful. I'd say it's been cool, but..." yeah. Leah turned in the given direction and started to walk away.

"I'm sorry." Savannah tried to say, but the girl was already gone. Why did this just keep happening?

Hypothesis: Leah and Roxy

Hypothesis

Leah@Lasrever and Roxy@Chasers115

Wednesday, September 11, 2029 - Third Period

At least Leah was getting better at finding her way around the school. Not exactly, um, good, but better. On the plus side, Envy was quiet. Probably because he knew the value of, um, sneakiness.

Yep. Anyway. Only like, three minutes late. She pushed the door open to see a teacher that didn't seem to be paying much attention, stammering out a "sorry, I got lost," to a slight 'mmhm' from the man. Well, it was better than being yelled at. Still left her to stand, awkward, in front of the whole class while he finished drawing his diagram on the board. Looking for a seat... somewhere.

Roxanne Tretter was being the good little student that everyone knew she was the moment they saw her. She'd been taking notes the whole day; making sure that she knew exactly where her classes were, and even took the time to give all of her teachers a quick hello the first week. Further surprising nobody; she was just excited to be back at the highschool. All her friends were here, and there was just something about walking along with a crowd of people that made her happy. Even if they were only walking along, she was happy just being around people; all of them had great stories to tell, and every time she tuned into a stranger's conversation, it was something interesting!

Which is why today's lesson was making her a little bit glum. It was the first hands-on chemistry experiment of the class, and Roxy had somehow ended up being the odd-one-out. Everybody else had a partner, and it was looking like she would just have to do the experiment herself. She was alone, anxious about messing up the very first assignment, and some of her black highlights had been caught between her goggles and her eyes and were really annoying her.

When the door opened and another student entered, Roxy's excitement practically radiated off her in waves.

It would've been hard to miss the slightly terrifying amount of energy that was coming off of the girl. Leah couldn't help worrying that she'd spontaneously combust if it built up for long enough, so... well, what did she have to lose anyway?

"Hey, do you not have a partner yet?" Leah smiled, relaxed but friendly enough. "I'm new, so I figure I'll just jump in here if it's okay with you."

"Nope!" Roxy said, her face quickly turning to dismay as she realized her possible mispeech. "I mean...'nope' as in 'nope I don't have a partner. Not like, 'nope you can't sit here'. That would be super mean. Hop in!"

Roxy scooted her stool slightly to the side, offering up an invitation to the new girl.

This was going to be a little tiring, huh? Leah supposed there were worse things to deal with, though. Grabbing a pair of goggles and dragging over a stool of her own, she finally sat down.

Not that she knew what the lesson was about, but it was whatever. They wouldn't do anything super important on day one. "So, um. My name's Leah, and I..." she winced, "am new and have no idea what I'm doing. So hi."

"Hiya!" Roxy said, giving a great big smile and sliding her notebook over so Leah could see. "You can borrow my notes if you need! My name's Roxanne, but everybody just calls me Roxy. You can call me whichever you prefer!"

"Are you new to Lakewood High, or new to the whole town?" Roxy asked, dropping the level of her voice so the teacher wouldn't yell at them.

"Um." So, tiring was right, but at least she'd anticipated it a little. "Both, I moved a little while ago. Family stuff, you know how it is!" A small chuckle, keeping it light as she glanced over the notebook, "so anyway, science, am I right?"

"Oh yeah, I get it completely!" Roxy said, chuckling also. She looked down at her own notebook, making sure that she'd copied everything down perfectly.

"Yep; some fun chemistry stuff for the first day! I was worried I'd have to do it myself, too!"

"The first day's usually alright. They don't want to drop too much, so..." Leah looked around, eyes landing on something. "I wonder how long it'll take before they let us use the burners. That's fun. Like, real science stuff. So we could figure things out ourselves instead of book learning it all."

"I think we're actually allowed to use it today!" Roxy said, looking down at her notes and then back up to the board to confirm. "It's like, a tutorial experiment to make sure we know how all the equipment works and stuff!"

"Oh, that's cool. Do we get to set things on fire?" Leah looked at the board, nodding casually. So, she was right and this was very far from a hard lesson, but that worked out okay. "I remember the one where it turned the flame green, that was cool, but like, when I was little I thought there'd be way more explosions; like fireworks, but more science-y."

"Green fire sounds super cool!" Roxy said, looking up at the board with anticipation. She turned her eyes back towards the materials provided for them with a slight hint of disappointment, though. "I think we're just supposed to, like, boil some water and pour some salt into it or something. Not as cool."

With the actual lesson being fairly uninteresting, Roxy's mind wandered slightly in line with Leah's thoughts. "Yeah; or things would like, turn all sorts of cool colors and stuff. Or like on those Youtube videos where they freeze stuff with liquid nitrogen and then shatter them! Those are super neat!"

"Do you think..." Leah paused for a moment, before a wicked glint appeared in her eye. Now that was an idea. "We could try putting, like, super cold water in the beaker once it's hot. And see what happens. That's, like, a real science experiment! I mean, we already know salt water exists."

"Wouldn't it just...get warm?" Roxy asked, somewhat puzzled by the suggestion.

"No, it's like... it's just like the nitrogen. When you take something like glass and make it way hotter, then colder really quick, it shatters. It's to do with stuff expanding and contracting or whatever, at least I think. I don't know. That's why it's science."

"Really?" Roxy said. Her expression quickly flashed from excitement, to concern, to looking over where the teacher was helping out another pair of students, over to Leah. "Should we really be breaking things, though? We might get into trouble for that."

"Not if it's an 'accident'." Leah chuckled, adding some quick air quotes for effect. "You know. Just trying to wash it for the teacher. We can't get in trouble for that, right?" Her eyes brightened a little. "Explosions, Roxy."

Slowly, the trepedation in Roxy's eyes gave way to enthusiasm, culminating in a small nod. "It would be really cool..."

"Cool! We should actually do the experiment first, though, keep up with the work and everything." Leah nodded slightly, getting the burner set up. "Could you get the, uh, beaker filled up and stuff?"

"Oh yeah! Good idea!" Roxy said, quickly pulling everything together. She quickly filled up the beaker with plain water from the sink they had at their station, and passed it over to Leah, reaching for the box that every pair of students had been given as part of the lesson.

"Twenty Mule Team Borax." Roxy said plainly, flipping the carton over in her hands and investigating it further. "Not salt; so don't like...taste it or anything." she added as an offhand warning.

"There go my plans," Leah laughed, rolling her eyes jokingly as she started to, "this shouldn't take too long. Plus, it's not too complicated, so I can pay like... half attention. Unless the school has super dodgy equipment."

"It's a public school in Maryland; we should probably just be happy that the burner hasn't set us on fire yet!" Roxy said, giving her own little chuckle. She passed the box over to Leah, picking up the two pipe cleaners they'd been giving and holding them out in front of her.

"Which do you want? Red or blue?"

"Hmmm." Leah didn't hesitate more than a moment before picking with a smile, "I'll take the red."

"Blue for me, then!" Roxy said, taking the pipe cleaner and bending it into a small loop on the bottom.

"Alrighty; so you've just gotta heat up the water and mix in as much Borax as you can before it won't mix anymore. I've gotta find two beakers and wash them out!" Roxy said, half reading from her notebook and half looking through the various drawers along the lab table.

"Sure, sure, no problem." Add the thingy to the other thingy, and wait for them to become one thingy. Leah would start paying more attention once things weren't, like, easy enough to be boring. But unless she had it wrong, that'd take at least a few weeks of class to happen if it ever did.

"I think I spotted a couple of spares on the counter over there, if you wanna grab those."

Roxy hummed quizically, looking over to where Leah was pointing. "Oh! Yeah!" she exclaimed, hopping off her stool to snag them off the counter and returning. Between Leah's mixing and Roxy's moral support, it only took a few minutes for the water to be heated up, the borax mixed in, and the solution poured into the two beakers.

"How do you spell your name?" Roxy asked, having stencilled her own out in marker on a notecard.

"L-E-A-H. Now c'mon." She smiled, looking at the successful experiment. Yeah, that was about as easy as she'd expected, so. Explosions. Because really, things were kind of dull on the science front right now, so... yeah. It was easy enough to disguise it as over enthusiastic cleaning as she moved the beaker to the sink without giving it time to cool down.

Aaaaand, just needed some cold water there...

Well, she was right. Although it wasn't quite as dramatic as she'd hoped. Probably the whole beaker wasn't hot enough for that, but the portion where the burner's flame had been directly on gave way, leaving them with a small, smooth-edged hole. "Huh. I mean, it's not like, an explosion, but that looks kind of cool right?"

Roxy was still in the middle of spelling Leah's name when she saw Leah moving the beaker over, and she leaned back just a bit; enough that she wouldn't get hit by any shrapnel, at least. The sound of shattering glass made her jump slightly, despite it being nothing more than a small hole. The anticipation of an explosion was the biggest factor to her surprise, and she regained her composure almost immediately, leaning in to look.

"I mean...it's cool, yeah." Roxy said, the slightest hint of disappointment in her voice. "Not really what I was expecting though."

"Yeah, I guess 'cause it all heated the most in one spot. I think they'd notice if we tried to heat up the whole thing the same, though, or got some liquid nitrogen." Leah sighed, looking pretty disappointed herself. "Which I don't think I know how to do anyway, so I guess we're gonna have to wait for explosions. Unless something unexpected happens, but that'd be bad 'cause explosions suck if you're not the one making them."

"What about, like, fireworks?" Roxy asked, missing the point completely.

"I mean, sudden fireworks right now would also be bad."

"Would they?" Roxy asked with such a conviction that it might have caught a lesser person off guard. "What if they were like, 'welcome back to school' pep rally fireworks? That'd be pretty neat."

"I... guess? That just seems like a way to make fireworks sadder."

"Nonono." Roxy said, shaking her head. "Fireworks at any event makes it way better. Like...a funeral or something! If there were fireworks, it'd be a pretty sweet funeral!"

As she spoke, her eyebrow raised as if she remembered something, and she finished Leah's notecard quickly and handed it to her; the penmanship was nothing spectacular, but it was the little heart in the corner that really brought it up to eleven.

Despite herself, Leah smiled a little at the notecard, seeming a little distracted, "thanks. And I'll keep the funeral suggestions in mind," something seemed to catch her attention and she laughed, eyes bright, "not that they'll be needed anytime soon!"

"Good!" Roxy said as she smiled widely, allowing herself to be infected by Leah's apparent happiness. Her good mood didn't dim as she twisted her piper cleaner into loops, and then tied it around a pencil, holding it up for Leah to see so she could follow.

"And that's that! We've got cool crystal-thingies in the making, we blew up a beaker with science...I think that's a pretty good first experiment!"

"It sure is, partner!" Leah nodded in agreement, raising her hand to offer for a fist bump.

Roxy returned the fist bump with barely contained excitement. "And we'll make the next one even better!"

Loaded: Leah and Mackenzie

Linky

Spirit Wielders!

Leah and Envy

Leah

Age: 17

Normal Appearance:She's a little skinny, and short to boot, but generally there's not too much about Leah that seems out of the ordinary; or inconsistent, for that matter. In general, she's all for putting in a little extra effort to keep up appearances, whether that means dragging herself out of bed early to fix her hair, pulling a few all-nighters between work and school, or taking the time to meticulously select clothes that look expensive, but really aren't. It's best for her to keep that image, maintain a tiny smile even where the emotions don't match, and always be casual, but not in a way that says she doesn't care. Sure, maybe it's a little difficult to do at times, and she's been caught nodding off in class more than once, but that's normal - and above all else, Leah isn't about to let herself fall below that particular standard.

After all, who would ever be satisfied with that?

Medium Appearance: Her channelled form doesn't gain any particular size or extra physical properties. There are a couple of changes to her features, eyes flipping to those of a green-eyed cat, and teeth gaining a somewhat unnerving sharpness. Further, her clothing becomes snaked with plants - yellow roses that rapidly flower, though they don't seem to have any particular effect on her. Overall, though, she doesn't appear particularly far from human; but there's enough little things 'off' about it to make her appearance unnerving, if nothing else.

Her catalyst, similarly understated, is a small, broken, mirror.

Channeling Abilities, Spells, Stats, etc:

What's Yours is Mine

When channelling, Leah can choose to leech certain properties from another - life force, physical strength, physical energy, and when confronting a spirit, spiritual energy. Depending on what's absorbed, the properties are stored differently. However, it's a zero-sum game; everything she gains, another must lose.

Strength absorption: by leeching the physical strength of another, Leah's channelling form gains that strength for itself. The strength seems to persist indefinitely, unless used up through her spirit charge, but seeing as there's only so much that can be absorbed from one person (at least without raising some serious suspicions), the buildup is something that generally has to be done over time.

• Atrophy: She can focus on absorbing from a specific place in order to specifically weaken it - however, she needs to actively maintain focus in order for this to work, and therefore actually doing it in combat is a pretty big ask.
• Focused hit: Leah can focus her stored strength into a single area of her body for a brief moment, resulting in a far more powerful blow but leaving her off-balance and vulnerable for a brief moment afterwards.

Physical energy: this type of absorption is temporary, but also ultimately harmless; she could use it to gain extra energy after running herself down. By draining someone, she can either exhaust them, or if completed, put them straight to sleep.

• Adrenaline Rush: she can use some stored energy to essentially "kick-start" her system and trigger an adrenaline rush, though it doesn't have any particularly notable qualities beyond what one would hold for anyone.
• Wakeup Call: In a similar vein, she can force some energy into another person to wake them up or give them a slight boost where they're exhausted or otherwise need it.

Spiritual energy: where she's used up a great deal of spiritual energy, she can drain it from others to replenish that and improve her own staying power. However, it must be used with caution; there isn't a safety valve on this ability, and it would be easy to pass her own limit if she absorbed too much at once.

• Spiritual Overload: she can force spiritual energy into a spirit or medium in an attempt to push them over their limit, and cause whatever damage may result.
• Lure: though more of an unintentional side-effect than an ability, when she takes in extra spiritual energy, she naturally shows up far more on the radars of spirits and shades, drawing their attention, and often their ire.

Vitality: the most damaging ability in her arsenal, and perhaps one she uses more frequently than she should - on contact, she can drain the vitality of another. With 30 seconds of contact, she can drain 1/8th of a person’s overall vitality.

Repeated use of this ability on someone can potentially lead to a shorter life span and a range of health complications, while even absorbing a fraction of their vitality can still cause some degree of illness.

1/8th to 3/8ths of drained vitality can be recovered given a time period ranging from a full rest to a couple of days. 4-7/8ths will leave the person severely ill and hospitalised, with a slight chance of death. 7/8ths drained would have a high mortality rate, while a full drain means death.

Also must be done by touch and only drain/heal one person at a time

• Persistence: Healing, but not really - she can't repair a person's wounds, or cure their illnesses, or reverse the effects of time on their body. What she can do is force that stored 'life' into them, and painfully make them stay alive until the store runs out. The healing conversion of the vitality she has absorbed is roughly half of what was taken.
• Acceleration: When using it offensively, she can focus some of this energy into internally "blocking" some processes, preventing them from healing or recovering.

Grade: Junior

Personality: Leah comes off as quite the studious, dedicated type, and sticks rigorously to a schedule, but makes an effort to seem laid-back about it; even though she's not exactly got much time to do anything for herself. Really, she's not difficult to get along with, but tends to go with the flow a lot - in all honesty, she's sort of a pushover, and it's easy to get her to back down or let herself be pushed into something she wouldn't want to do.

As far as her attitude towards others, the lack of a backbone definitely carries over in most things, but she's at least friendly on a surface level, if a little slow to genuinely trust. However, there's sort of an undercurrent of resentment in her attitude, kept private - a yearning for the things she can't have, and frustration at the responsibilities she can't escape. Leah's a person used to being priority number two, and even though she can logically understand where people are coming from... it's a very different thing from avoiding the emotional effect.

In any case, it's safer to be anonymous than to let your personality shine through - but that doesn't exactly keep her from wanting things to change.

Background: Leah was always a pretty well-behaved kid, but never anything even a little beyond average, unless you counted her spiritual energy levels - which, really, she didn't. Her family weren't, and still aren't, rich, but could at least afford to provide essentials and the occasional treat, even if they weren't exactly home a lot. Her first school, in contrast, was mostly a pretty well-off demographic (with some occasional outliers like herself), leaving her to feel a little out of place. Luckily, they were still kids, and she managed to get along with people, but as she grew up she became keenly aware of the things she lacked and they had, and the jokes fired her way began to sting just that bit more.

But she could learn, and did, spending almost all her saved-up money on things to keep up appearances, terrified of being left behind and pushed aside by everyone. Her parents didn't approve of it, with all the effort they'd put in to teaching her to save, and couldn't help being frustrated at her explanations and complaints about the school they'd been thrilled to have her eligible for. So she kept going, but kept quiet, letting herself fade into the background of every conversation, happy enough to at least have people that'd hang out with her, even if they didn't wanna hear her talk.

This year, however, that all changed; her sister fell ill, missed by everyone for too long since they couldn't afford to see a doctor - too long for it to be fixed, and too long for her chances to be high, though they were still existent. They had to move, urgently, selling their home to fund things and moving into her grandparents' old home in Lakewood. Nonetheless, with the medical bills coming into play, Leah had to find a job as soon as possible, maintaining her school career - not that it was anywhere near what they'd need to cover it.

And so Leah's initial jealousy of others turned bitter, and desperate - and finally, that spiritual potential she had came into play. A shade found her, found where she was, what was happening, and made her an offer she just couldn't refuse. She didn't even hesitate to accept, and Envy has been more than willing to guide her forward.

Other: At this point, it's been a few months since she and her family moved to Lakewood.
She's secretly a pretty fantastic cook, and gets super excited if she actually gets proper ingredients to do so.
Really focused on money, for good reason, and can have kind of a one-track-mind in that regard.

Envy

Spirit Name: Envy, The Parasitic

Spirit Classification: Meta

Spirit Personality: A subtle type of predator, Envy is more of the manipulative type than a fan of the direct approach. It's certain in what it does, and doesn't particularly feel for anyone or anything else, spending its time ever-subtly pushing its host into gaining more and more. It's rather possessive, not quite protective of its host as a friend, but rather as a prized possession, something and someone that it can own. As such, it does try to understand what makes people tick, if only to try and get what it wants from them - and its tricks are more than effective when it comes to directing Leah herself.

Spirit Appearance:

Image

It's unclear what exactly Envy is, but it tries to take as nonthreatening a form as possible, and thus appears at least somewhat humanoid to Leah, if still very far from human. The head and hands are replaced with a twisting, living smoke, and its 'voice' through their bond somehow sounds like ten people speaking at once.

Sealed Appearance: Envy takes on the form of a small, black, ribbon around Leah's throat while sealed.

Spirit Charge: Unleashed Hoard: If absolutely necessary, the medium and spirit can unleash all the energy they've stored over time in one single blast of power - however, it can't be moderated. All of it will be used up, and they will be reduced back down to their base, unimproved, strength.

Other Information: Envy hasn't actually informed Leah of the limit on how much life they can store, and doesn't plan to do so anytime soon. After all, it does want to build up its power.

Weakness and Limitations: The biggest limit in place for the two, despite the high versatility of their abilities, is that by Envy's nature, it has nothing of its own to offer. Thus, they're not particularly strong yet, their channelled form having the strength of three people or so.

Other things that they store have limitations; the cap on life storage leaves a small capacity, and the volatile nature of it means it can't be stored for more than a day at a time without needing replenishment. Spiritual energy risks an overload if excess is stored for too long, and physical energy tends to run out on its own anyway, as well as not eliminating the mental need for sleep.

Further, without any of them in storage, they naturally can't be used for any of their possible applications; thus, they begin most fights fairly weak, and need to drain some before they can be effective at all.

They do also need to make contact in order to drain something - though their strength can help with this and improve their mobility, it can still be a problem in combat.

A Contract

The room was beautiful. Empty, quiet, but the carpet was soft under her feet, and the walls were intricately decorated with patterns she couldn't make sense of. They were moving, she registered dimly, eyes tracing the glowing golden lines that crossed stark white, contrast only serving to keep her focused on it. There was some kind of smell in the air, pleasant and warm, as though someone had been baking recently.

It felt safe, didn't it?

"It's surprising," a voice reverberated, "to find a mortal so desperate for contract. You might count yourself lucky that you had a chance at all."

And she caught herself then, startled almost out of her skin and retreating back with a yelp, looking around for the sound of the voice and landing on a... suit. It wasn't as frightening as she'd expected it to be - it was just strange. Maybe she should have been worried by that most of all, but this thing seemed to at least want her comfortable. Not that it would be for her benefit, but none of this was about her anyway. Things never were, right?

"You-- what are you? Who are you?"

"You may call me Envy." It didn't particularly care what her name was, but it needed her at ease, needed the process to be simple, "what might you be called, desperate one?"

"Leah. I'm Leah. I need..." her voice was shaky, despite herself, "I need power. To help her. I need you to--"

If she didn't know better, she'd have sworn the smoky mass that the thing had instead of a head smiled at that, extending an arm. Was she... supposed to walk? It was the best guess she had, so she went with it, and allowed the spirit to talk. Maybe it was just trying to get her guard down, she couldn't be sure, but her feet moved regardless, doors opening to a hall that she'd have sworn wasn't there a moment ago. "Tell me, mortal, what is it you see here?"

"Paintings, I guess-- no, they're photos, too. Families. It's warm and everyone's smiling, and it's sunny, there's nothing to, um... I don't know. I don't know what you want me to say."

That phrase, in particular, pleased the spirit. The deferment, the power, the ease with which this one could be moulded. Yes, it was something he could work with. Something he could use. "This place, my dear, is safety - it is desire, the things you wish you could gain. The things that you will have, if you simply listen."

And it made sense, somehow, the truth of the words becoming clear to her. The photos, the paintings, the safe feeling, the simple expense of everything they walked through. It felt too good to be true - that she could gain all of that. But she wasn't very sure what she had to lose, and so she just had to finish with the last, most important question. "How? If you have all this to give, then - then you wouldn't need me anyway, right?"

It seemed to anger the spirit, smoke flickering and twisting violently for a split second before it calmed just as quickly. "You are right, regrettably. I do not have it, yet; and neither do you. I cannot give you these things, your wealth, your safety, whatever brought you to this place--"

"My sister. She- she's sick. It's for--"

"Yes, yes, your sister. I cannot give you her health. But I can show you how to take it. And then, my dear, we shall have all this and more."

"I'll be able to fix her?"

"Listen to me, trust me," its voice was smooth, calm, certain that it had her, "and we can ensure she doesn't die. All you have to do is take what you know you deserve."

She didn't have to think for long. This spirit seemed trustworthy, this place comfortable, and the opportunity it provided... she had to accept, in the end, didn't she? She'd save her. Even if that meant someone else had to lose.

"Then teach me how to take it, Envy."

Spirit Wielders! (A roleplay where you sell your soul for powers.)

asbdfjadnssfjnal tell me if there's anything to fix and I'll do it eventually

Leah and Envy

Leah

Age: 17

Normal Appearance:She's a little skinny, and short to boot, but generally there's not too much about Leah that seems out of the ordinary; or inconsistent, for that matter. In general, she's all for putting in a little extra effort to keep up appearances, whether that means dragging herself out of bed early to fix her hair, pulling a few all-nighters between work and school, or taking the time to meticulously select clothes that look expensive, but really aren't. It's best for her to keep that image, maintain a tiny smile even where the emotions don't match, and always be casual, but not in a way that says she doesn't care. Sure, maybe it's a little difficult to do at times, and she's been caught nodding off in class more than once, but that's normal - and above all else, Leah isn't about to let herself fall below that particular standard.

After all, who would ever be satisfied with that?

Medium Appearance: Her channelled form doesn't gain any particular size or extra physical properties. There are a couple of changes to her features, eyes flipping to those of a green-eyed cat, and teeth gaining a somewhat unnerving sharpness. Further, her clothing becomes snaked with plants - yellow roses that rapidly flower, though they don't seem to have any particular effect on her. Overall, though, she doesn't appear particularly far from human; but there's enough little things 'off' about it to make her appearance unnerving, if nothing else.

Her catalyst, similarly understated, is a small, broken, mirror.

Channeling Abilities, Spells, Stats, etc:

What's Yours is Mine

When channelling, Leah can choose to leech certain properties from another - life force, physical strength, physical energy, and when confronting a spirit, spiritual energy. Depending on what's absorbed, the properties are stored differently. However, it's a zero-sum game; everything she gains, another must lose.

Strength absorption: by leeching the physical strength of another, Leah's channelling form gains that strength for itself. The strength seems to persist indefinitely, unless used up through her spirit charge, but seeing as there's only so much that can be absorbed from one person (at least without raising some serious suspicions), the buildup is something that generally has to be done over time.

• Atrophy: She can focus on absorbing from a specific place in order to specifically weaken it - however, she needs to actively maintain focus in order for this to work, and therefore actually doing it in combat is a pretty big ask.
• Focused hit: Leah can focus her stored strength into a single area of her body for a brief moment, resulting in a far more powerful blow but leaving her off-balance and vulnerable for a brief moment afterwards.

Physical energy: this type of absorption is temporary, but also ultimately harmless; she could use it to gain extra energy after running herself down. By draining someone, she can either exhaust them, or if completed, put them straight to sleep.

• Adrenaline Rush: she can use some stored energy to essentially "kick-start" her system and trigger an adrenaline rush, though it doesn't have any particularly notable qualities beyond what one would hold for anyone.
• Wakeup Call: In a similar vein, she can force some energy into another person to wake them up or give them a slight boost where they're exhausted or otherwise need it.

Spiritual energy: where she's used up a great deal of spiritual energy, she can drain it from others to replenish that and improve her own staying power. However, it must be used with caution; there isn't a safety valve on this ability, and it would be easy to pass her own limit if she absorbed too much at once.

• Spiritual Overload: she can force spiritual energy into a spirit or medium in an attempt to push them over their limit, and cause whatever damage may result.
• Lure: though more of an unintentional side-effect than an ability, when she takes in extra spiritual energy, she naturally shows up far more on the radars of spirits and shades, drawing their attention, and often their ire.

Life force: the most damaging ability in her arsenal, and perhaps one she uses more frequently than she should - on contact, she can drain the life force of another, and store up to 5 "years" worth at once. More can be drained, but cannot be stored.

• Persistence: Healing, but not really - she can't repair a person's wounds, or cure their illnesses, or reverse the effects of time on their body. What she can do is force that stored 'life' into them, and painfully make them stay alive until the store runs out. The conversion is highly flawed, and dependent on the immediacy of the damage to the person. One 'year' would be five minutes for someone bleeding out and on death's door, or a day for a person with a terminal illness.
• Acceleration: When using it offensively, she can focus some of this energy into internally "blocking" some processes, preventing them from healing or recovering.

Grade: Junior

Personality: Leah comes off as quite the studious, dedicated type, and sticks rigorously to a schedule, but makes an effort to seem laid-back about it; even though she's not exactly got much time to do anything for herself. Really, she's not difficult to get along with, but tends to go with the flow a lot - in all honesty, she's sort of a pushover, and it's easy to get her to back down or let herself be pushed into something she wouldn't want to do.

As far as her attitude towards others, the lack of a backbone definitely carries over in most things, but she's at least friendly on a surface level, if a little slow to genuinely trust. However, there's sort of an undercurrent of resentment in her attitude, kept private - a yearning for the things she can't have, and frustration at the responsibilities she can't escape. Leah's a person used to being priority number two, and even though she can logically understand where people are coming from... it's a very different thing from avoiding the emotional effect.

In any case, it's safer to be anonymous than to let your personality shine through - but that doesn't exactly keep her from wanting things to change.

Background: Leah was always a pretty well-behaved kid, but never anything even a little beyond average, unless you counted her spiritual energy levels - which, really, she didn't. Her family weren't, and still aren't, rich, but could at least afford to provide essentials and the occasional treat, even if they weren't exactly home a lot. Her first school, in contrast, was mostly a pretty well-off demographic (with some occasional outliers like herself), leaving her to feel a little out of place. Luckily, they were still kids, and she managed to get along with people, but as she grew up she became keenly aware of the things she lacked and they had, and the jokes fired her way began to sting just that bit more.

But she could learn, and did, spending almost all her saved-up money on things to keep up appearances, terrified of being left behind and pushed aside by everyone. Her parents didn't approve of it, with all the effort they'd put in to teaching her to save, and couldn't help being frustrated at her explanations and complaints about the school they'd been thrilled to have her eligible for. So she kept going, but kept quiet, letting herself fade into the background of every conversation, happy enough to at least have people that'd hang out with her, even if they didn't wanna hear her talk.

This year, however, that all changed; her sister fell ill, missed by everyone for too long since they couldn't afford to see a doctor - too long for it to be fixed, and too long for her chances to be high, though they were still existent. They had to move, urgently, selling their home to fund things and moving into her grandparents' old home in Lakewood. Nonetheless, with the medical bills coming into play, Leah had to find a job as soon as possible, maintaining her school career - not that it was anywhere near what they'd need to cover it.

And so Leah's initial jealousy of others turned bitter, and desperate - and finally, that spiritual potential she had came into play. A shade found her, found where she was, what was happening, and made her an offer she just couldn't refuse. She didn't even hesitate to accept, and Envy has been more than willing to guide her forward.

Other: At this point, it's been a few months since she and her family moved to Lakewood.
She's secretly a pretty fantastic cook, and gets super excited if she actually gets proper ingredients to do so.
Really focused on money, for good reason, and can have kind of a one-track-mind in that regard.

Envy

Spirit Name: Envy, The Parasitic

Spirit Classification: Meta

Spirit Personality: A subtle type of predator, Envy is more of the manipulative type than a fan of the direct approach. It's certain in what it does, and doesn't particularly feel for anyone or anything else, spending its time ever-subtly pushing its host into gaining more and more. It's rather possessive, not quite protective of its host as a friend, but rather as a prized possession, something and someone that it can own. As such, it does try to understand what makes people tick, if only to try and get what it wants from them - and its tricks are more than effective when it comes to directing Leah herself.

Spirit Appearance:

Image

It's unclear what exactly Envy is, but it tries to take as nonthreatening a form as possible, and thus appears at least somewhat humanoid to Leah, if still very far from human. The head and hands are replaced with a twisting, living smoke, and its 'voice' through their bond somehow sounds like ten people speaking at once.

Sealed Appearance: Envy takes on the form of a small, black, ribbon around Leah's throat while sealed.

Spirit Charge: Unleashed Hoard: If absolutely necessary, the medium and spirit can unleash all the energy they've stored over time in one single blast of power - however, it can't be moderated. All of it will be used up, and they will be reduced back down to their base, unimproved, strength.

Other Information: Envy hasn't actually informed Leah of the limit on how much life they can store, and doesn't plan to do so anytime soon. After all, it does want to build up its power.

Weakness and Limitations: The biggest limit in place for the two, despite the high versatility of their abilities, is that by Envy's nature, it has nothing of its own to offer. Thus, they're not particularly strong yet, their channelled form having the strength of three people or so.

Other things that they store have limitations; the cap on life storage leaves a small capacity, and the volatile nature of it means it can't be stored for more than a day at a time without needing replenishment. Spiritual energy risks an overload if excess is stored for too long, and physical energy tends to run out on its own anyway, as well as not eliminating the mental need for sleep.

Further, without any of them in storage, they naturally can't be used for any of their possible applications; thus, they begin most fights fairly weak, and need to drain some before they can be effective at all.

They do also need to make contact in order to drain something - though their strength can help with this and improve their mobility, it can still be a problem in combat.

A Contract

The room was beautiful. Empty, quiet, but the carpet was soft under her feet, and the walls were intricately decorated with patterns she couldn't make sense of. They were moving, she registered dimly, eyes tracing the glowing golden lines that crossed stark white, contrast only serving to keep her focused on it. There was some kind of smell in the air, pleasant and warm, as though someone had been baking recently.

It felt safe, didn't it?

"It's surprising," a voice reverberated, "to find a mortal so desperate for contract. You might count yourself lucky that you had a chance at all."

And she caught herself then, startled almost out of her skin and retreating back with a yelp, looking around for the sound of the voice and landing on a... suit. It wasn't as frightening as she'd expected it to be - it was just strange. Maybe she should have been worried by that most of all, but this thing seemed to at least want her comfortable. Not that it would be for her benefit, but none of this was about her anyway. Things never were, right?

"You-- what are you? Who are you?"

"You may call me Envy." It didn't particularly care what her name was, but it needed her at ease, needed the process to be simple, "what might you be called, desperate one?"

"Leah. I'm Leah. I need..." her voice was shaky, despite herself, "I need power. To help her. I need you to--"

If she didn't know better, she'd have sworn the smoky mass that the thing had instead of a head smiled at that, extending an arm. Was she... supposed to walk? It was the best guess she had, so she went with it, and allowed the spirit to talk. Maybe it was just trying to get her guard down, she couldn't be sure, but her feet moved regardless, doors opening to a hall that she'd have sworn wasn't there a moment ago. "Tell me, mortal, what is it you see here?"

"Paintings, I guess-- no, they're photos, too. Families. It's warm and everyone's smiling, and it's sunny, there's nothing to, um... I don't know. I don't know what you want me to say."

That phrase, in particular, pleased the spirit. The deferment, the power, the ease with which this one could be moulded. Yes, it was something he could work with. Something he could use. "This place, my dear, is safety - it is desire, the things you wish you could gain. The things that you will have, if you simply listen."

And it made sense, somehow, the truth of the words becoming clear to her. The photos, the paintings, the safe feeling, the simple expense of everything they walked through. It felt too good to be true - that she could gain all of that. But she wasn't very sure what she had to lose, and so she just had to finish with the last, most important question. "How? If you have all this to give, then - then you wouldn't need me anyway, right?"

It seemed to anger the spirit, smoke flickering and twisting violently for a split second before it calmed just as quickly. "You are right, regrettably. I do not have it, yet; and neither do you. I cannot give you these things, your wealth, your safety, whatever brought you to this place--"

"My sister. She- she's sick. It's for--"

"Yes, yes, your sister. I cannot give you her health. But I can show you how to take it. And then, my dear, we shall have all this and more."

"I'll be able to fix her?"

"Listen to me, trust me," its voice was smooth, calm, certain that it had her, "and we can ensure she doesn't die. All you have to do is take what you know you deserve."

She didn't have to think for long. This spirit seemed trustworthy, this place comfortable, and the opportunity it provided... she had to accept, in the end, didn't she? She'd save her. Even if that meant someone else had to lose.

"Then teach me how to take it, Envy."

R E B E L L I O N - A Superpower Roleplay (CLOSED)

Cameron

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𝕋𝕙𝕖 ℂ𝕠𝕞𝕡𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕕: 𝕄𝕒𝕚𝕟 𝕊𝕢𝕦𝕒𝕣𝕖 | 12:15

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Interacting with: @FailingForward @ZAVAZggg

Well, she supposed it was tradition, but traditions were usually stupid. The tattoo, though, was a specific inconvenience for her. She couldn’t be sure what it’d do. Nothing about her appearance was really permanent, precisely because of that uncertainty - there was something patronising about her leisurely manner as she drawled out a retort.

“Honey, normally I’d agree to something that small, but if I can’t get rid of the thing...” Cameron shrugged. “Well, there’s no point in having a shapeshifter you can always identify. I can keep a mark on when I’m around the place, if it makes you feel better. I’m lovely like that, y’see.”

Without waiting for an argument - it seemed pretty clear there wasn’t one she’d actually bother listening to with her mind made up - Cameron jumped to her feet. Yep. It suited her for now, and as changeable as she was, that was the main thing that mattered to her. Right now. She didn’t wanna be tied down, that was for sure, but it was the best option she had.

Cameron always did like to make things happen.

”So, where do we find this food? Or is it one of those ‘blind truck ride’ deals? Because if you’re gonna knock us out, I vote you hit her first. No offence, Jenny.”

R E B E L L I O N - A Superpower Roleplay (CLOSED)

Cameron

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𝕋𝕙𝕖 ℂ𝕠𝕞𝕡𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕕: 𝕄𝕒𝕚𝕟 𝕊𝕢𝕦𝕒𝕣𝕖 | 𝟙𝟚𝟘𝟘

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Interacting with: @FailingForward @ZAVAZggg

Well, that was interesting. Before Cam could reply, someone else jumped in - the “not dying” thing was enough to get a raised eyebrow from her, but it was good to see how the guy responded. Get some idea who they were dealing with. She was glad to have ‘fun’ cleared up; there were a hell of a lot of things he could’ve been suggesting, and most of them weren’t up her alley.

He hadn’t given a name, but she didn’t bother to pry. Weren’t many things she wouldn’t tolerate for a chance to get her powers back properly, and if her suspicions were right - because who other than the rebels would be trying to recruit for this kinda thing, really - that was what this was. Worst case scenario, she’d pick another look and be outta there. Good thing about having a regular look; people got used to it. Ditch it, and disappearing was even easier.

Not that she couldn’t pull off the “dedicated rebel” schtick for a while if it helped smooth things along. Down with the Peacekeepers, yadda yadda, so a few salutes. Simple.

But for now, disruption, troublemaking, and the possibility of a chip removal suited her fine. Smiling dangerously, she looked to him, and then to the girl. Jenny. Anything seemed risky, it’d be good to have someone there that could take the fall.

“And what’re we getting from this? Nothing against Monopoly, but if there’s compensation, we can talk.” Cam stretched, reaching up to rub at the back of her neck - the hint clear enough. “Never been much for tattoos, though. They kinda mess with my whole deal.”