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Reaver
<<Family>>There was once a boy. A boy who dreamt to be a big hero. A boy who soon learnt that heroes were a thing of stories. A boy who… came to resent the meaning of the word “mediocrity”. A boy who sought to be an outlier. Because he had no mother. In a sense he was special.
Except he was not. He soon learnt that made him a target for being shunned and bullied. He still believed that he could make a difference. Except he could not.
How could he, if the night was full of terrors? The boy had a father. A father whose job was making the dead talk about their demises. A work that had a brush with the monsters that lurked beneath. Mediocrity and monsters. He could not bear it.
The boy then heard a voice. A voice that told him the stories were real… but they had a catch. If one was to be a peerless warrior, they must pay their price in bloodshed. The boy did not look back at his father, whom he saw wrecked and twisted.
He had come to regret it.
And now he had a mother. And now he had been a murderer. The magical world had taken him away. And yet… He desired to see his father once more. To tell he had not died truly.
Was such a thing allowed for Reaver? Perhaps not. But would not hurt to try. Besides… that could expose the certain oddness he felt about his mother figure. Viva was his mother, that much he believed, but it was so bizarre. So close to his dark impulses, yet so detached at times.
He guessed he needed confirmation.
And that’s why he was here, on the way to his old home. With her in tow.
In contrast to her son Viva was much more settled into her thoughts and her perspective of herself. Yet she seemed to be much more unstable at the same time, her words said that she was looking forward to seeing her husband again. To spend time with him and Reaver as a family.
Yet, she would always become cagy when she spoke about it. As if she was just barely keeping herself from running as far away as she could. She also seemed more than willing to let Reaver take point in leading the way to home, even as she would often offer detours that they could take. Her heart and mind were at odds with being a family again, but it was impossible to tell which was which.
Reaver stopped. “So how do we go about this? It’s not like father will ever believe us with our current appearances.” Reaver said, his arms folded. “We probably should expect being shot and having to prove our identities.” he said in a whisper, just outside.
“Not sure that getting shot will do much at the moment. Unless he gets in a good shot.” Viva would reply with a whisper of her own.
“I could use my magic to get us looking like we used to. It won’t last forever but it might give us enough time to explain things.”“Better than nothing.” Reaver sighed, giving his mother the go ahead.
With a nod Viva would step closer and place her hands on the side of Reaver’s head. The sensation that came next was bizarre. A rush of cold would suffice his body before he could feel muscle and bone bending and stretching and folding in on itself he would even lose his eyesight for a moment as his eyes shifted as well.
The process would take a few minutes as Viva was working on one area at a time, making sure her sculpting would last for as long as she could make it. Once she was done she would step back to examine her work. After giving it a nod she would turn her magic on herself. It would take less time for her to change how she herself looked, as her body was already amorphous, but it was just as odd to see as it had been to feel as Reaver could see her skin buble and roil as underneath it all she built a skeleton system and muscles that would be needed to make herself look like she once did long ago.
She would pull out a hand mirror from her Hammerspace once she was done with herself to check and make sure that she had gotten it right.
“Everything looks like it should, I think” she would say, turning around the mirror for Reaver to get a chance to examine himself.
“Ready for this?”“We’re creeping closer and closer to monsters…” Reaver muttered before nodding, slightly disgusted at the display, before flexing his fingers. He was again his weak, nerdy self (
safebooru.org//images/1627/ed538db467… ).
“You say that like it’s a bad thing” Viva would remark with an eye roll. She never cared for her humanity when she was a human so why should she care about it now? She gave herself one more look before tossing the mirror back into the Hammerspace. She didn’t mind how she
looked now, but she had grown to prefer how she looks now.
“..Showtime.” He said. “But uh… better if you knock.”
“Right” Viva would nod, hoping that her voice didn’t sound as nervous as she suddenly felt. Casually as she could she would walk up to the front door, take once more calming breath then raise her hand to knock assuredly on the door.
The door opened so slightly, as the sight of a man eyed Viva at first. The door immediately closed, as one could hear a surprised gasp… and the cocking of a gun behind it. Once again, the door opened. “What kind… of prank is this.” said the voice of Edward Turner, visibly shaken and jaded.
Carefully Viva would meet the eyes of her somewhat estranged husband, her eyes glinting hypnotically as she pushed a tiny amount of magic into them.
“No prank, no deception. We came back, Ed.” She would say softly
“We can explain this I promise.”“Sure, why not, knock yourself out. Might as well get eaten or bullied by a monster, nothing ever matters anymore.” Edward said, with a feeling of defeat. Reaver’s black heart tugged for a second, seeing how broken his father was at this point.
I should have not become a magical boy. What did I do? He admitted, a brief damning. But… then he just exiled the thought to the darkest corner of his mind. It was late, too late already for him.
Viva was momentarily taken aback at the defeated sounding man in front of her, but easily rallied and moved to enter the house.
“Let's get something to drink for all of us and then we can sit down and explain.”Edward looked with a pained expression to the flesh doppelganger of her late wife, before sighing. “Sure, I got whiskey… and whiskey…” His eyes then rested on the shorter figure of the two. “...great, there’s two of em. Well… it’s not like it’s any different after all. Except he’s alive, and not in a freak suicide cult site. Whatever.” Edward said, as he led the two inside.
Reaver had to refrain from biting his lip so hard that it would bleed, as he clenched his fists. Regrets over murder were something he could stall… but this, this was literally hitting the few parts of his heart that could still feel something. If this kept up, his commitment would waver.
Viva’s eyes narrowed when Ed turned his back. She got it that Ed was depressed since they had both left him, supposedly by dieing, but this was still a bit much in her opinion. She wondered if she was going to have to use her Coercion more forcefully, but set that thought aside for now. No need to rush this since they were still being let in.
“Whisky’s not a bad idea, but not too much otherwise we might be having this conversation twice” She would say with a bit of levity, hoping it would drag her husband out of this funk a little.
“I do need a freaking drink indeed.” said Ed, as he led the both of them inside the house, before pouring three glasses. His eyes rested on the gun that was beside the bottle for a little while, before refraining to raise it. “So, spit it.”
Reaver for the most part, grew awfully silent, trying to endure this scene. He drank his shot in one go, trying to maintain his face sound while his internal self was screaming once more.
Viva would take the drink but would simply swirl it around in her glass as she thought about how to start. After a moment
“Magic, for all that people like to claim otherwise, truly does exist. And along with it dozens upon dozens of other creatures and purveyors of it. Some of those that dole it out don’t ask the people they force it upon, and Magic changes a person when they first get infused with it.” She would say softly before draining her glass in one smooth motion. Handing it back for a refill.
“It took a long time to find you and Will, and even then it came down to luck that I did. You had moved by the time I was able to make it back to our old home. Because I had gotten lost in the Overcity.”It was at this point when Edward let out a small chuckle. “Uhuh. Magic is real. Yes, that would explain it.” Edward said as he handed a refill to Viva. “Anything is possible with magic these days. As if normal criminals weren’t enough.” He admitted, as he took a sip from the beverage thoughtfully.
“Well, I’d probably need a demonstration.” Edward said, taking the words as truth.
And then grabbing the gun he had, and in a fluid motion, shooting himself in the neck.
Reaver’s eyes went wide as he vaulted over the table, witnessing how his father was bleeding to death. He sprung to action, as he summoned his power the best he could, trying to heal the gunshot wound.
Viva was slower to respond, mainly because she let out a sigh and drained her second glass before moving. It wasn’t to say that she was uncaring of Ed’s situation, not entirely at least, but more that she knew that he wasn’t in danger. Not so long as she could get to him before a minute elapsed and even then he was in more danger from lack of oxygen to the brain than the blood loss.
She would step around the table, her disguise unraveling as she went, maintaining it would mean that her skill at healing her husband would drop, and that wasn’t something she was willing to risk at the moment.
“Move aside and don’t worry” She would say calmly to Reaver as she pushed him to the side so that she could work. The wound looked grisly, but it took hardly any effort for her to reach out and practically unmake it. The skin and bone, damaged by the bullet, twisting and reforming Ed’s neck with inhuman ease.
That was the easy part, the hard part would come next, as Viva carefully worked her reinforcement to help along the restoration of the blood that had spilled out everywhere.
“That was rather foolish you know.” Viva would say, oily looking light glinting off her hands as she worked her magic.
“Healing magic, while it does exist, it isn’t a universal talent that people have. You could have easily been taking your own life and there would have been nothing that we could have done to save you” She would explain as she continued to pass her glowing hand over her husband, making sure that her efforts to heal him weren’t failing.
"Saving me huh." Ed said, croaking at first. "I am not sure if I even want to go on. I tried to be a caring father and husband. My wife, a cannibal, flees from me, and my son decides his life is worth trading for magic in a suicide cult magic. And then two doppelgangers who may or not may be them decide to play house with me, after some magical girl mumbo jumbo nearly killed me in this goddamn city." Edward added. "It's clear this world is so fucked up it won't make a difference if i am alive or dead."
Reaver, usually willful on his own, was completely nullified, merely watching as the exchange went by. He was right. This world was shitty.
“I didn’t run away” Viva would say as she focused on her work, even with something as simple as blood restoration she had to be careful with her primary magic. Otherwise who knew what kind of consequences there could be.
“Wil might have joined the magical community willingly but I didn’t. Most patrons aren't kind enough to ask first from what I’ve seen and if you are having difficulty believing we are who we say we are now, after learning of the truth yourself, would you have even considered it back then?” She asked dryly, as she gave Ed one last check over before sitting down next to him.
“That is all besides the point” She would add before she let out a sigh and ran a hand through her hair.
“We are here now, and we would love to stay and be a family again. But we won’t force you”"Stay or leave. Whatever. It doesn't matter. My family is dead for me." said Edward, before tossing the keys. "I need to rest. Please allow me. Or don't. Who cares." The man said, before dragging himself off the table and towards his bedroom.
Reaver eyed the situation and blinked. "At least he is not kicking us out." He said bitterly
Viva watched Edward leave, absently catching the keys tossed her way as she did.
“That’s about the only good thing so far” She would agree with her son once her husband was no longer in ear shot. This whole situation was a bit outside of her norm, building people back up wasn’t something she often cared about doing after all.
“That being said, if he’s been here in Penrose all this time and has only now reached his breaking point I think we can still manage something out of all of it. Mother knows that the city’s been hit hard” This city was crazy she had to give it that, all sense of normality liked to slip away when it came to the magical aspects of it’s community.
She would turn to Reaver as she stood and pulled out a mop from her Hammerspace
“Do you think he’ll handle it better if we camp out in the living room or simply move into the spare rooms?” She would ask before setting about cleaning up the blood. Reaver knew Ed better at the moment the Viva did.
At the same time as she asked him, Reaver would feel an itch starting to spread though his skin as his magic started to revert the changes that Viva imposed onto him.
Reaver breathed. He felt very conflicted about this. One part of him wanted to scream and start killing everything in sight and then feast on their remains in frustration… the other part wanted to be done with it. He knew it. He was no longer the once boy.
“Out of sight, out of mind.” Reaver said. “We could move in the spares.” The boy said… as if he had aged ten years overnight.
Viva would nod in understanding, before a wicked grin stole across her face. She opened her mouth to say something but just as suddenly she closed it with a snap and shook away her almost words. She did say she would try and tame her impulses after all.
“Feel free to turn in” She would say instead as she stated to clean up
“I’ll take whichever room you don’t pick, once I’m done here”
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