Shin Ghost Note

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

Eyy, Clancy is back!

@Estylwen

For now, kids don't last long in Recollections.

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

@FernStone Just to be clear, is Dreamweaving it physically entering a dream world or is it mental? What's the difference between Dream Visit and Dream Walking?

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

<Snipped quote by Punished GN>

Sorry, I wrote it up on my phone and the formatting was fucked for me somehow.

@Zombiedude101

You must be punished for your crimes.

To the torture chamber.

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

Seeing as my time is a little freed up now, here's an NPC that may bear relevance to add to GN's cast of clowns.

Conrad the Floating Dutchman

Conrad.van der Vegte

42 | Conrad van der Vegte | He/Him

Description:

Conrad represents the incorporation of more... idealogical figures into the Wolfpack's sphere of influence. While Judas' power projection and leadership have mostly kept a lid on his ambitions and open to business, it's an open secret that Conrad had (and for all they know, still has) ties to key figures within Das Sonnengrad and was involved in luring some of the cult's more fringe members and associates to act as muscle for the Wolfpack when the former fell into irrelevance.

While formally deferring to Judas, Conrad (derided as the Floating Dutchman over a mishap that saw him nearly drown a few years back, although not to his face) keeps a small cadre of followers with ties to Aryan Nation & Neo-Nazi groups, and has been known to use the Wolfpack as a front for some personal business under the table.

Why Judas tolerates him is a mystery, although it probably involves money.

Abstraction:

Unknown. It definitely isn't swimming.

@Zombiedude101

Added him to the Wolfpack faction.

But from here on in, and this is a notice for everyone, when you're making an NPC; do not remove any of the coding. It's the way that it is so I can easily just slide a new NPC in the existing NPC [table].

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

@Estylwen i want to be really devious rn

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

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Élodie Vasil.

Interactions: Alizée (@Estylwen), and Sully (@Atrophy).

Veni Vedi Veni - Parking Lot.

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Elodie screamed when the phantasm hand broke hers, and her pistol fell to the ground. She should have just killed the fat bastard when she had the chance... she held her hand, which she couldn't feel. She quickly looked to the left and then the right: she saw that fucking bitch with the white hair again. Elodie's gun was on the ground, and there was no way she could shoot it with her nondominant hand. She grit her teeth and hissed in pain as fatass made some quip when he had signed his fucking death warrant. She shouted at Alizée,

"... You should have gone for the fucking head!"

With a wave of her hand (Well, the one that worked), she launched Sully with a blast of sand like any rational person would do to their hostage. Then she turned towards Alizée and shouted,

"... I'm gonna bury you alive, and then I'm gonna fuck your corpse!"

She pulled all the sand in the area - including the sand she used to terrorize Stormy - and dropped it all on Alizée. It was a massive and daunting mountain of sand that was all coming at her at once with crushing force.

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The Greenwood Coven, & Valjean Vasil.

Interactions: Linqian & Bianca (@FernStone), & Sully (@Atrophy).

Veni Vedi Veni - Parking Lot.

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That's not going to hold him forever.

Naomi thought to herself as she remembered Valjean breaking out of her webs. They were resistant to magic but, unfortunately, not immune (or many of their problems would be solved)...

Linqian grabbed onto his foot, froze it, and then Naomi noticed that there was a fucking car barreling towards him from... wherever. Naomi acted quickly and shot out a strand of web, attached it to the girl's foot, and used all the strength she could to get her out of the way. The car landed on him; he loudly screamed as he was slammed onto the ground. Naomi knew that wouldn't kill him, but it did a number! She could see his shell cracked, but he finally burst out of the web.

He got up, brushed the car off him, slammed his claws into it, and lifted it over his head. "You bitches are dead!" He shouted.

A bolt of lightning came from the rooftop and hit him in the back - it was a blinding flash of light followed by a boom that many would call deafening. That had to be James... and naturally, he lept down with a grin as he dramatically punched the ground on landing - creating a wave of fire.

At this point, Jessica had finished with her spell and laughed, "Take this, you ugly motherfucker!" She sent a wave of lava at Valjean that clashed with James's fire. Utterly double penetrating him, smashing him from both sides... and he charged out of the clash, missing a claw and a regular arm, and half of his face burned off. He looked to the left and then to the right...

Only to get blindsided by Ruby launching herself as Valjean like a missile, holding her staff in both hands as she let out a blood-curdling battle cry. She swung her staff at Valjean and created a wave of air so powerful that it launched Valjean backward and sent him stumbling over a car. He hit the ground with a thud.

"James, why the fuck did you jump off?!" Ruby shouted.

"Sorry, Rubes," James laughed as he threw his axe over his shoulder. "I had to make my entrance! Why the fuck did you jump off?"

"I'm tired of standing on a fucking rooftop, watching my friends get rag-dolled by some white trash!" She replied; she glanced at Alizee and hoped that Elodie had killed her ass. "So I made my fucking entrance!"

Valjean climbed to his feet and then looked around... and noticed Ruby's staff, James Axe, and he started compiling everything. "... You fuckers are-"

A beam came out of the tip of the tree branch that Ruby used as a staff, a dull-yellow beam that hit Valjean directly in the face and launched more of his shell clean off with the sheer impact.

"Shut up!" Ruby looked around before she valiantly shouted, raising her hand in the air. "WE GOTTA KILL EVERYONE!"

"... The fuck?" Naomi tilted her head at the order.

"Everyone that's Wolfpack!" Ruby glanced at Eve, "Our little buddy is busy and doesn't have the brain cells to figure shit out anyway!"

"Easier said than done!" Naomi answered.

At this point, Kashmira finished healing Pearl and Autumn, and both sprang to their feet. Bullets still barraged them, but fortunately, Pearl had an idea...

Ruby pointed her staff at Sully,

"Kash, help him!"

"On it!" Kashmira activated her dermal boost and ran over to Sully as fast as she could - a bullet hit her in the back, and while it didn't penetrate, it was still one hell of an impact. One that knocked her on her hands and knees, but she still tried to crawl over to Sully.

"Autumn!" Pearl shouted. "Boost me!"

"On it!"

The spectral presence of the woman faded away, and seconds later, a new Apparition was revealed to everyone presence; a fading presence of a burly man that some would recognize as the second-in-command to Das Sonnenrad. The Apparition pointed his hand at Pearl and fired a beam of orange energy directly at her, which made her bones and veins glow through her skin. Pearl felt the power as she raised her hands into the air...

... and then shouted,

"From the breath of winter, my power unfold, let frozen tendrils, my will uphold!"

The temperature dropped as Pearl's cyromancy countered Elodie's desert creation abstraction. The boiling hot heat quickly vanished, and the air temperature was finally bearable again. Snow and ice began gently falling from the sky.

"Hehe," Jessica said to Bianca, "You might want to put those bazookas away, sister!"

---

Interactions: Sloane (@Atrophy), Luca (@FernStone), Jack (@Blizz), and Kali (@Damycles).

Dairy Queen

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It was all a blur.

Everything Luca said, Jack said, and Kali said... it was all mumbling when Sloane dropped the golden question. The question that tanked everything good that Drake thought about her.

“But why the fuck weren’t you there to stop it?”

Sloane

It was a swift motion; Drake stood up with a crackling sword of electricity aimed directly at Sloane. His teeth were bared, and his sunglasses had finally fallen off. He said, in the calmest tone possible,

"I can take you all accusing my fucking sister, I can take you all accusing me..." Drake hissed. "But, do not ever in your fucking life say something like that again. You fucking hear me?"

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

Fight Song: Panic Switch - Silversun Pickups

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Shayton & "Maggy" Rose.

Interactions: Stormy (@Blizz), & Eve (@LanaStorm).

Flowers and Canvases.

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It was done.

The kid dropped dead, and Maggy aimed her gun and fired off a few more shots, and then she sighed in relief. Shayton appeared next to her, going from the far end of the group to being right in her face in the blink of an eye. He scowled at her as he asked a simple question,

"... Mind telling me why you shot a kid?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, trust me," Maggy said as she placed a hand on her chest. "That thing was no-"

A shield went barrelling towards Maggy, and Shayton grabbed onto her arm, and in the blink of an eye - he disappeared in a burst of speed so fast that it appeared he teleported. The only thing left behind to hint at things was the gust of wind that disturbed the dust and trash that littered the streets. Shayton and Maggy appeared in an alleyway some distance away...

"... Holy shit!" Maggy grabbed her neck and tilted her head slightly to the side, "Whip. Lash."

"Sorry, but you drew too much attention to yourself," Shayton softly apologized. Then he turned down the alleyway, where they could hear the chaos outside. "Call Judas. Tell him to bring the Curs. Stay here; I will bring anyone here that needs healing."

"Gotcha'," Maggy said as she pulled out her phone and dialed Judas...

Shayton returned to the chaos and appeared right back where the Wolfpack was, calmly standing there as if all hell hadn't broken loose. Stormy and Eve made their heroic speeches, but... St. Portwell was no place for a hero. He spoke to Stormy and Eve in a calm tone...

"... Child killer or not, my bosses need Magnolia alive, so you're going have to go through me," Shayton calmly said before he quickly added on. "You're not going to be able to go through me."

Stormy was teleported away, which just left Eve. Shayton raised his hand and said to Elodie and the rest of the Wolfpack,

"I'll handle her."

"You're fucked, Shayton as my witness. No place for kid killers in Portwell, 'least while the Sycamore Tree Coven is still together!"

Eve

"... Is that why you set your father up to die, Eve?" Shayton asked with a raised eyebrow, likely catching Eve off guard. "Or, were you just hoping to take his cult from underneath him, but it just didn't work out that way?"

---

Élodie Vasil, & Cyril Noctis.

Interactions: Stormy (@Blizz), and Sully (@Atrophy).

Veni Vedi Veni - Parking Lot.

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When the kid dropped dead, among all the screaming, Élodie was laughing like a maniac. Pointing at the kid, she almost fell over on her bike; when she stopped, she made a little joke...

"... Betcha' he wished he ended up in a condom now!"

Victor and Cyril shook their heads as Élodie laughed, holding her stomach.

However, at this point, someone had the gall to walk up, attack Maggy, and place a barrier between them all. He made this obnoxious speech, and Cyril just rolled his eyes as he raised a hand.

"... You talk too much."

Cyril snapped his fingers, and Stormy, and all of his shield bullshit, was teleported to the center of the group...

... And in his place was Sully.

"C'mere, fatass!" Élodie quickly ran over to Sully, yanked him by the collar of his shirt, and shoved her gun in his mouth. She laughed as she said, "Make one wrong move, and I'm going to give you another hole to suck dick out of!"

She turned to the rest of the Wolfpack and shouted, "Kill 'em all! My brother can take the bullets!" She noticed that Valjean had already shifted into scorpion form as Cyril and Victor began blasting into the crowd.

Then she turned her attention to Stormy's barrier... her abstraction had already coated the parking lot in the sand, and it was starting to get hot. By this point, it'd definitely be difficult for people wearing multiple layers of clothing. She shouted at Stormy, "Hey, dipshit! You talked all that shit just to hide behind a shield; get the fuck out here and fight like a man! Or..."

Suddenly, the sand around Stormy began spinning, creating a violent sandstorm fast enough to cause lacerations, choke him, and clog his orifices. Also, get in his shoes.

"... I'll fucking skin you alive!"

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Victor Villarian.

Interactions: Alizée (@Estylwen) and Leon (@AtomicEmperor)

Veni Vedi Veni - Parking Lot.

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When Alizée walked up, Victor pointed his axe at her and said,

"Why did you go into a club protected by the Wolfpack, ask for Judas' favorite girl, and, then cause a ruckus with your magic? Don't you know that's bad for bus-"

Another gunshot rang out, followed by screaming and Elodie laughing. Victor shook his head and went back to Alizée... that was when all hell broke loose, and various people began trying to fight back against the Wolfpack. It distracted Victor enough for a god damn werewolf to appear, grab Alizée and take off down the street. He fell on his ass... before pulling out his Glock and letting off a few shots down the street.

"Aw, forget it!" He told himself that when Elodie told him to open fire on the crowd, he noticed something...

"... Where the hell did the kid go!?"

The kid was gone.

He shook his head as this day kept getting weirder and opened fire on the two Covens.

---

Auri Auclair, & Justin Haggar.

Interactions: They're doing a "special" interaction. 😉

Flowers and Canvases.

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Auri stopped and raised herself over her countertop, utterly topless as she stared off in the distance.

"What's wrong?" Justin asked from underneath.

"I don't know... I feel a disturbance, like my blood pressure is about to skyrocket."

"... Do you want to stop?"

"No."

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Naomi Rodgers, & Valjean Vasil.

Interactions: Linqian (@FernStone), and everyone present towards the end.

Veni Vedi Veni - Parking Lot.

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Britney screamed the second the little boy hit the ground.

She didn't notice him at first, but she should have done something to stop this from happening... though, there wasn't much she could have done that wouldn't have gotten the group cut down by the Wolfpack. She had no idea what was going on and only came out here because she wanted a lapdance from a trashy stripper! See some bolted-on titties! That's all. She had no clue that Alizée was out here fighting people, nor did she expect things to pick up like this. Britney couldn't move... she had seen some crazy things during the fight with the Stygian Snake, but a gang of bikers holding her hostage was something else. She had no clue about the Wolfpack or that this was their turf - if she knew things would go like this, she would have stayed the fuck home. However, the leader of the bunch, Valjean, shook his head and shouted,

"God damn it, Maggy!" Valjean hissed before he finished, "... We could have sold the brat!"

However, Stormy and Eve opened the fight with a fiery and passionate speech not out of place in those animes Britney watched sometimes. If a kid hadn't gotten killed right in front of her, Britney would have scolded Stormy for dragging everyone into a goddamn gang war! However, Britney would pick her battles, especially how volatile and irrational Stormy was. Their leader, Valjean, pounded himself on the chest and laughed.

"Ooooooh! We got ourselves a fucking hero!" Valjean shouted, followed by a vociferous bout of laughter. He pulled out his pistol as Stormy walked forward and aimed it at him, "This ain't no place for no hero!"

Britney had to act fast... she raised her hands and tried to create plants on him, but that didn't work. He has an abstraction? She thought to herself as she had to create vines out of the ground - she ensnared Valjean in various vines and roots. She quickly had him wrapped up, and his gun was aimed at the ground as he thrashed.

"Ooooh, you all must want to see..."

In the blink of an eye, Valjean became a towering scorpion monster that had to be around fourteen feet tall. ... And that must be his abstraction. When he transformed, he obviously broke out of Britney's vines as her eyes shot open. Valjean flexed in this scorpion form and then shouted,

"... THE SCORPION!"

Britney took a few steps back, and she just noticed how hot it was getting... and it was late October in St. Portwell, which was not expected. It must either be his abstraction or one of his goons. She was sweating, and her clothes were getting a little muggy - it would worsen the longer she stayed here. Linqian showed up and asked the golden question...

”What the fuck is going on?”

"I don't know; I just wanted to see some titty!" Britney shouted in response. However, Britney realized that if Eve and Stormy wanted to be the hero, then screw it, that was on them. She turned to Sully, hoping to grab him so all of them could get out of here...

... Who disappeared and swapped places with Stormy. Britney, intuitively, turned to where Stormy was originally and saw the Wolfpack lady shove a pistol in his mouth. Her heart started racing as she knew she had to do something to help her friend. She couldn't face herself in the mirror if she had just left him here... however, Valjean was right here. The first thing that came to mind was to restrain him, and she raised her hands and willed more vines to wrap around his legs, including binding them together.

Valjean stopped, looked down, and prepped his stinger to cut through them all...

... Only to be wrapped in a wreath of ethereal white webs.

"... What the shit!?" Valjean shouted as he thrashed and attempted to break out. "Wait... this is that Greenwood bitch's bullshit, ain't it?!"

Naomi landed on the other side of Valjean on one knee; she wiped the sweat away and was glad she was dressed skimpy underneath her Greenwood disguise. She hid behind a car for cover and then shouted, hoping that it would get past the gunshots,

"Hey, guys! It's great that you're helping, but we gotta wrap this up quick! There are a lot more Wolfpack than this, and if Judas shows up, we're going to have a SERIOUS problem!"

Britney listened as she tried to get down behind cover... then a bullet struck her in her forearm, and blood splurted out. She screamed as she fell to the ground (ironically ending up behind cover), and her heart started racing. She felt cold as she grabbed the wound and desperately tried to stop the bleeding... and then she heard that one girl land next to her. She wrapped webs in both hands tightly above the wound to create a sort of makeshift tourniquet. She said to Britney (or tried to over the gunfire),

"I got you, mama!"

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The Greenwood Coven.

Sans Naomi, Ruby, and James.

Interactions: None of note.

Veni Vedi Veni - Parking Lot.

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Members of the Greenwood Coven also screamed when the kid went down.

It wasn't like they hadn't seen someone get gunned down (or die) before, but it was something that nobody should get used to. Especially not a kid. They knew the Wolfpack played for keeps, but they needed to get out of here - especially now that Stormy decided to march up and try to pimp slap a Wolfpack member with a shield.

"He's got some balls!" Jessica shouted with a smile.

Unfortunately, the Wolfpack decided to open fire on the entire crowd; Sully and Stormy got switched places, and Valjean transformed. If it wasn't for Sully getting held hostage, Greenwood would have left the two factions to duke it out.

"Sully!" Pearl shouted with a hand outstretched...

... Before a bullet hit her through the hand and ended up in her shoulder, and another bullet hit her in the stomach. She screamed as she fell to the ground, but Jessica grabbed her and pulled her underneath cover. Kashmira quickly activated her dermal boost spell, sprinted towards Pearl (ironically, no bullet hit her), and knelt over Pearl. She was wrapped with a green aura as the bullets were pushed out of her, and the holes were gradually healed. Jessica was right next to Pearl as she said,

"Keep it cool, sister, I got you!" Jessica started, "You got her, Kash?"

"Mhm... Long as nobody else gets-"

A bullet struck Autumn in the stomach, and she screamed as she fell backward, and her appearance disappeared.

"Autumn!" Jessica shouted.

"I got her!" Amelia shouted as she got up and began waving her hands around - with her aeromancy, she managed to lift Autumn off the ground and launch her towards their position. Thankfully, she was rolled into arm's length of Kashmira, and she used her other hand to heal both of them. She was starting to sweat, and her hair was getting matted as things got hot.

"We need a plan!" Kashmira shouted.

"We to go on the offense!" Jessica said as she raised her fist in the air and then shouted,

"Krakatoa!"

She punched the ground, created a shock that vibrated the area, and turned some of the concrete and stone around them into molten magma (which didn't help with the heat situation, but it was all Jess could do). She needed a few moments to create more, and Valjean was finished...

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Ruby White & James Carmicheal.

Interactions: None of note.

Rooftops overlooking Veni Vedi Veni.

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Things happened so fast.

A kid got shot, then all hell broke loose, and Sully got kidnapped. Ruby gripped her staff tighter and felt James' hand around her bicep again.

"... Keep a lid on it, Ruby!" James chuckled. "You rushing headfirst down there will only make things worse."

"I'm done standing by and letting my friends get hurt," Ruby said as she aimed her staff down there at Dean.

"Let's split their attention up," James said. "They can't possibly shoot at everyone, and we got the high ground!"

"Good idea," Ruby said.

James walked to the rooftop's edge and aimed his axe at the Wolfpack. It began charging, surrounding itself with bright electricity, just hoping that one of them would notice and start shooting up here - or, even better, come up here.

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The PRA.

Interactions: Bianca (@FernStone).

Heading to the tiddy bar conundrum.

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"So, we're disguised as St. Portwell Police Officers..." Trevor spoke before he rolled his eyes and said, "... But we are in a van that says FBI."

The PRA agents were in the fancy SWAT truck that they own (that was as conspicuous as it comes), speeding down the highway, following the GPS. Each Agent wore special PRA armor (St. Portwell Police signed across the front and the back), except Fiona's armor was a modified version that covered her inhuman features (to an extent). Nakala was driving, and she rolled her eyes at Trevor and answered.

"This was the only one I could get- actually, why am I explaining this to you? Be quiet," Nakala rolled her eyes as she glanced out the front window and saw Samson flying off into the distance in his phoenix form. She checked the GPS, and it would still be another fifteen minutes before they arrived. She hoped it was nothing, but Samson would get there faster than they would. Though Samson had one of the PRA's most powerful abstractions, maybe this would be one of those situations where he could burn the problem away. If not... then hopefully, she could get some backup.

Her phone dinged, and she quickly glanced at it and sighed in relief.

"It's Agent Manalo! She's okay!"

She quickly put together a response...

"Texting while driving!" Trevor said.

"Trevor... Agent Obott... shut up! I can tell why Liao gives you shit all the time," Nakala rolled her eyes again, and responded to Agent Manalo's text...

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Hold on, we're coming.

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Interactions: Sloane (@Atrophy), Luca (@FernStone), Jack (@Blizz), and Kali (@Damycles).

Dairy Queen

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It was nice to get Sloane off of Auri's back, as Drake was not exactly the person who was big on talking shit about people behind their backs. It always felt disingenuous, and he wasn't a fan of throwing punches in places where people couldn't fight back.

Though, he almost laughed when Sloane threw shade at Kali.

That was when Sloane brought up the uncomfortable and obvious truth: Father Wolf was simply an alias used by an older member. However, in a stroke of brilliance that would surprise anyone convinced that Drake was just some dumb jock, he was less concerned with who but why.

"That's fair; I wouldn't trust me either, heh,"

Drake played it off with a simple joke; this was unavoidable in their situation. But there was something on Drake's mind...

"How much can we narrow it down, knowing that? Who else among us could appear anywhere on earth at a moment's notice? I've experienced time at a slower pace than everyone else, having been outside Shimmer for most of the decade. I should be able to remember them all... Victoria could produce portals that led to anywhere. I remember working closely with her to track down the Snake through other worlds. Can you rule out the possibility that it'd be her?"

Jack

... Then Jack opened his mouth and made his blood boil just a little bit. It was a fair assumption, he admits, but he didn't appreciate his sister being accused of being a mass murderer. He knows Victoria would never do it, and it didn't make sense for it to be her - she was busy with a new job and her kids. She seemed so tired half the time; she looked like she was about to keel over! He chuckled to himself as he tried to remain calm and composed.

"Victoria's too busy killing herself taking care of the new little Blackmores we got, heh," Drake answered with a chuckle, hoping that would be the end of it (it would not). "But, I think you all are looking at it the wrong way. Like, has anyone thought about why someone would start offing us after ten years?"

He shrugged as he continued. "There were over a hundred people in the old cult when we defeated the Snake, a lot of whom left St. Portwell in the ten years since because they moved on with their lives. Are we even considering them? What about the many that refused Auri's little call? I think it's going to be hard narrowing it down. We're going to be tearing our hair out trying to get an alibi from everyone that was in the Old Coven, especially the people who got burned by Auri, Daisy, and Ashley and stormed out and never spoke to any of us ever again."

Like Greta, but that was a different discussion altogether.

"I had an idea, though," Drake tilted his head. "Everyone here knows that the Snake could, like, enter our minds and shit? Make us see shit and read our minds? It couldn't control us because we had magic, but what if it left some type of presence in us? Like... fuck, what's the word?"

Drake rubbed on his chin.

"Like, what if it left some kinda... programming, or something in our minds that it could use to turn us into sleeper agents at will? I'm not sure how it would work, but what if the Snake planned for this and is using one of us to enact its revenge and break it free?"

He desperately hoped that everyone here understood what he was trying to convey.

If not, it was going to be a loooooooooooong time in the Coven.

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

@Punished GN fixed it

@silvermist1116

Excellante, homie.

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

@silvermist1116 Greenwood aren’t in disguise, so Dean wouldn’t know who they are. They’re dressed like regular gals.

Edit: If they were identified as Greenwood the Wolfpack would have came out blasting since they are enemies.

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

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Auri Auclair, & Justin Haggar.

Interactions:

Flowers and Canvases.

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It was faster to clean up the store without Laurey, anyhow.

All Auri had to do was give out a command... and the butterflies came out of her staff, picked up all the debris, and used brooms and dustpans to sweep up all the dust and dirt that got displaced. Naturally, Auri was sincerely regretting her decision to host the meeting here, and she shouldn't have assumed that the Coven had finally grown and matured as people. However, what's done is done, and she knew that some people don't change no matter how many years you throw at them. Auri sighed as she leaned up against the wall and hoped that nobody else-

The door was barged open, revealing her boyfriend, Justin, holding several bags of snacks simultaneously.

Auri immediately dispelled all the butterflies - they disappeared without a trace - and everything fell to the ground. Justin looked to the left and the right.

"... I'm late, aren't I?"

"Very," Auri said with a smile.

"But what the hell happened in here?" Justin said as he raised an eyebrow, looking at the chaos, "It looks like a tornado flew through here."

"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh..." Auri said as her eyes drifted to the side. "Things got a little rowdy in here..."

"A little?" Justin chuckled.

"Just put the snacks down there, Justy," Auri said, pointing at the table.

"Sure," Justin said as he walked over to the table and gently placed the bags on the table, turning around, "Who the hell brought a charcuterie bo-"

He couldn't finish before Auri pounced on him, wrapping her arms and legs around him. Thankfully, Justin was strong enough to hold her.

"Those people got on my nerves," Auri said, gracing her finger around Justin's lip. "I need something to get my mind off it - let's make a mess."

Justin chuckled.

"Sure."

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Ruby White & James Carmicheal.

Interactions:

Rooftops overlooking Veni Vedi Veni.

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Out of necessity, James and Ruby were forced to stay up here and watch their friends try and free Jess. There was that urge in Ruby's heart to go down there and shove her stick so far up this girl's ass... but Pearl and the others had things under control. The two watched from the rooftops, wearing regular clothes (all James did was take off his ski mask, and Ruby was wearing a black Pink Floyd shirt with some booty shorts that were a little bit too short (especially for this weather)).

However, Jess' kidnapper backed down... only for many new faces to show up, including Sully.

"Yooooooo, is that Sully?" James asked with a grin.

"Looks like it-"

Then, it wasn't long before the girl attacked again, and Sully was there to take the hit meant for Naomi. That made Ruby angry... very angry. Her face twisted up as she focused on Alizee. She clutched the massive tree branch she used as her channeler as she was about to hop down there and beat the ever-loving shit out of this girl.

"... Whoa, whoa, whoa!" James said as he grabbed Ruby's arm with his free hand. "Keep a lid on it, Ruby!" He pointed at Eve.

"... 8th Street," Ruby hissed.

"Yeah, and I don't think you want your arch-nemesis burning down your house now!" He chuckled, and Ruby relented, taking a few steps back.

That was when they heard the roar of the motorcycles, and they knew that it was the Wolfpack... they watched as the Wolfpack goons rolled up, sans Judas, their target. The issue wasn't that the Wolfpack was here, but that the Wolfpack was here and and the rest of the Greenwood Coven. They already noticed Elodie using her abstraction to make the area far, far, hotter.

"I don't know who that bitch is," Ruby said, "But I'm going to shove this stic-"

"Now, as much as I'd love to see that, we got bigger fish to fry, yeah?" James said, chuckling. "We need to get Pearl, Naomi, and the others out of there."

"Facts," Ruby said. "I have an idea..."

"How stupid is it on a scale of one to ten?" James asked.

"Twenty."

James chuckled.

"Then, you know what? I'm in."