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divineluce · 3 years

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And from the Ashes || Leah, Luce, Morgan, Nell, & Rio

Timing: Late at Night May 26th, 2021

Location: A burnt out clearing in the Outskirts

Tagging: @phoenixleah, @divineluce, @mor-beck-more-problems, @nelllraiser, @3starsquinn, and featuring Bernard Burnie the Phoenix

Description: The time has come to try and save the phoenix.

Running a hand through her hair, Luce looked at the clearing that she’d led the others to. It was a wide-open space, already charred and covered in ash- she’d first spotted the burnt-out area when she and Adam had posted up in the burnt out shell of a building on Scorch Street. She’d ventured out here on her own a few days before, dragging as many branches she could manage into the center of the neat circle of blackened soil. They needed a pyre, a central place for the magic to be channeled, to catch the energy they poured into the spell. They. That assumed that she’d be able to do something, that she’d be able to… summon the flames.

Luce dropped the gas can she’d hauled into the woods with a heavy, sloshing thud. There were already a few cans lying at the edge of the clearing, a contingency plan courtesy of Adam. He’d been game to help with the setup, loaning her what equipment he had to help. Nell knew how to pick ‘em. Even if he was some kinda doomsday prepper. “Here we go. Rio, you’ve been looking at the wards, right?” She said, gesturing to the area around them. “I’m not sure how big we need to go… Would you know anything about the scope?” Luce asked, glancing over at Morgan with a tentative gaze. The scratches that ran along her body were still scabbed over and angry to the touch, even with the help of Nell’s poultices. “Nell, do you want to get started with the herbs? Leah should be out looking for the phoenix, hopefully we have some time before she radios us that they’re on the move.” Luce said as she unzipped her backpack and began to pull out the various ingredients the ritual required. A silver mortar and pestle, courtesy of Bea, the Bloodroot, the jar of corrupted resurrection dirt, another glass with the phoenix’s still smoldering ashes, and bundles upon bundles of sage and lavender. Pulling the last vial from her pocket, Luce stared at the small bottle of phoenix tears. This had to work. It had to work.

Leah Ramirez was not an improviser. Not by any means. For an event like the one they were attempting to go as smoothly as possible, it was incredibly important to plan out every detail down to the second, and then establish a plan B, C, D… all the way to ZZ in case things didn’t go as planned. It was admirable how determined Luce was to save this poor soul. Leah always knew she had a huge heart, but for whatever reason, she wasn’t always a big fan of showing it. This needed to go well- if not for the phoenix, for Luce. For her to know it was okay to openly care about something and to ask for help.

Her job was simple enough. Find the corrupted phoenix, entice him to chase her, run to the clearing, help with the ritual. It wasn’t hard to find him, either. He’d been leaving a path of destruction for weeks now, and she followed the path of ash and char that he left behind until she found an area that was still very much on fire. The flames didn’t scare Leah- they couldn’t hurt her. And she hoped if what she’d heard about corrupted phoenixes was true, he’d get frustrated at the lack of damage he was doing to her and chase after her. If not, there was always plan ZZ. But when she finally laid eyes on him, it felt like a punch to her gut. She’d seen plenty of phoenixes in their flame state before, but her family was always so careful to be controlled and calm in their flame presentation. They had the privilege of years of training, not to mention the ability to change back if it all became too much. The corrupted phoenix, on the other hand, was raging, stuck in an eternal flame state with no way of connecting with anyone or anything. Of course he was destroying the world- it was the only way he could get its attention. She radio’d the group from her safe distance, watching the phoenix to see if he’d noticed her. “Found him. Let me know when you’re ready.”

Orion had stayed up half the night drawing the runes that Luce had sent him. He wasn’t sure how much the group would need, so he figured he should do as many as he possibly could. He kept his bag full of them, weighing on his back as he followed the group to the clearing Luce had prepared. From the looks of it, Luce had been hard at work to get things ready for the spell. While the rest of the group was probably used to stuff like this, Rio hadn’t taken part in many spells. He was equal parts excited and nervous. Something like this was an entirely new experience to learn about. It was every scribe’s dream. On the other hand, Luce had already warned him how much energy this would take. This wasn’t going to be a simple spell, one thing gone wrong could screw everything up. Rio just wanted to make sure he wasn’t the cause of any mess ups.

Once they were together in the clearing, Rio dropped his back and pulled the stack of paper with the wards drawn on them. “Yeah, I’ve got a bunch. Just tell me what to do with them. I’ll follow everyone else’s lead. I think I’m the newbie here.”

Morgan double checked the notes she’d made on her phone. “Bigger might be safer,” she said. “Wider net, easier catch.” But not too big, or else the energy needed to power the space might increase to dangerous proportions. She came over to Rio and showed him the diagram she’d made. “If we give ourselves a twenty foot diameter, you should be able to put down the runes in intervals of two feet. Move clockwise and make sure they’re all oriented the right way, okay?”

That done she went over to Luce, who was looking a little uneasy. “Hey. This’ll work if you let it, okay? You can help him.”

Nell was tired. But that seemed to be the beginning of every thought she has of late. It was getting to the point of being exhausted from the constant state of emotional tiredness, which often left her feeling either drained, irritable, or both. As she bent over her densely packed sticks of herbs, she did her best to banish the sensation of lethargy seeping into her bones, shaking herself out of its grabby hands to gather the strength she’d need for the coming ceremony. If there was one thing that could spark her massive reservoirs of determination, it was a sister in need— and as Nell let her gaze wash over Luce, and all the physical as well as emotional cuts and scrapes it’d taken her to get here, it was obvious Luce was certainly in need.

She didn’t have fire like her sisters, so when she lit the herbs to cleanse and purify it was with the lighter from her pocket. Blowing softly over the end of it, she let the flame peter out until a steady trail of smoke was rising from the end of the bundle before handing it off to Rio. “Take this with you, too.” Did he have enough hands for it? MAybe he could stick it in his pocket or something. Or- “I can walk with you if you need it.” Then she was on to lighting the next stick of herbs, keeping this one for herself.

Rummaging around in her pockets, Luce pulled out the shitty little Zippo lighter she kept on her. She’d never had to actually use it, but now might be the time. If her flames didn’t come, she’d find a way to make sure that this worked. One way or another, she’d get fire to burn and to hopefully, hopefully put an end to this person’s nightmare. After all this time, the weeks of work trying to gather the ingredients she needed for the ritual, she hadn’t paused to think about how they must be feeling in the middle of all this. Were they still in there? Or were they lost to the fire, like she had been? The walkie talkie on her belt buzzed and she heard Leah’s staticky confirmation. “Sounds good. We need a bit more time, but I’ll give you the signal when we’re ready.”

“Bigger is better, I’ll take your word on that. Thanks for drawing those up, Rio.” Luce said, looking closely at the runes he’d drawn. Damn. For a Scribe who claimed like he didn’t know what he was doing, they looked damn good. Like, really fucking good. And Morgan knew what she was doing, she could guide him as they set the perimeter of the ritual site. Sucking in a deep breath, she cast Nell a tense grimace of a smile before staring at the silver mortar in front of her. The ingredients were all here. She just had to… tap into the magic. Flexing her hands, she unstoppered the bottles and began to mix them together “The corrupted earth with tears to mend,” She muttered quietly to herself, trying to reach for the magic that lived within her. Fear gripped at her heart as she tried to feel the connection and found… nothing.

Leah couldn’t have taken her eyes off the corrupted phoenix if she tried. The way he moved and raged through the forest, his path clear but his goal unsolidified, it fascinated her. She wanted to take it all in, write it down and warn family members about the dangers of changing their ways. She took another step forward toward him, and suddenly, he whipped around to stare at her, flames angry and dark. For a while, there seemed to be nothing else, just two phoenixes, born of very different circumstances, staring at each other and waiting for the other to make a move. Could he sense what she was? Was he confused by her lack of fear? She took another step forward, right into the charred remnants of a tree that were still on fire. We’re the same, she was trying to tell him. We can be the same. In her time observing him, this was the first time she’d seen the phoenix still. “We want to help you”, she said, quietly. Would he hear her? Could he understand? But as quickly as it had seemed to pause, his rage picked up again, and soon, he was barreling toward her. The radio secured at her shoulder buzzed, with Luce indicating they weren’t ready. Shit. As he ran toward her, she thought quickly, switching into her flame state.

Now they were really the same.

With the two phoenixes both engulfed by their flames, there was no solid body for the corrupted one to ram into, no destruction he could cause. He whipped around again to look at her, and for another moment, as if there were a second of clarity. But again, it didn’t last. Leah switched back, and began running toward where the phoenix had come from, into the fiery destruction he’d been wallowing in. “We want to help you” she cried as she heard him begin to run after her.

Morgan watched Nell and Rio get to work laying the circle and burning their bundles. There was another one for her, but she hesitated to reach for it. This wasn’t an afternoon in her studio or a hopeful exercise for her peace of mind. Someone’s life was hanging in the balance. All of theirs, really, if you factored in the risks of this going sideways. What good was the energy of a dead woman with no direction? And yet. She felt useless, just standing there. Sure, she’d helped Luce work out the magic maths for the circle and organize a delegated plan, but that was theory, that was cozy. She wanted to help, if only to prove that she still could. That she hadn’t given up yet. So she picked up the last bundle and lit it up. She could smell none of the smoke that rose from the black and orange crackling ends, but she remembered her own rituals in the woods when she was trying to learn blood magic. She remembered her fear of being shut down by the universe, of being turned away by her friends, and the way her hope trembled as the smoke cleansed the hurt from her space. As she did the last thing, the only thing she could, she prayed to the earth below them that this phoenix would have his hurt wiped away too.

“I think that’s about it. Everyone ready?”

Orion had a stack of papers in his mouth, hanging on by the corner of the paper as he moved along the path, more paper in one hand and the burning herbs that Nell had passed to him in the other. He had assured Nell that he was fine, but one misstep and he would tumble. He followed Morgan’s directions, placing the runes around in a large circle and watching the other group carefully. Everyone looked incredibly focused. Just another hint that this was serious. Stuff like this must be second nature to them, yet there was a lot of care and detail put into every single step. It made sense, from what Rio knew about spells, the devil was in the details. Sometimes literally he supposed. But the smallest inaccuracy could cause horrible side effects. His chest tightened at the thought of what backlash could come if something go wrong, but he shook it off quickly. He had been injured trying to help others. It had never changed his mind before, he wasn’t about to let today freak him out.

Once the circle was complete he gave a thumbs up towards the group just in time for Morgan to ask if they were ready. Honestly, Rio had no idea if they things were ready, but he eyed the gas cans around the circle. He figured those would come into play once the spell started. “All set” Rio confirmed, moving in the circle to join with the others.

None of them were wholly fireproof anymore despite having taken their own footsteps through the flames of their existence, and Nell was no exception. Each one of those present had all weathered their own firestorms, walking straight into infernos that had every right to have felled them where they stood. But still they persisted, like the embers of a life refusing to be snuffed out despite all the gusts buffeting them from sometimes all sides. Fire was life and death, as cyclical as anything else in the magic. That’s what Nisa had tried to teach her daughters while they’d grown amongst the trees of the forest. It could steal life in a moment, burning a person out of existence until they were no more than ash on the wind, but as was the way with everything in the world it had the other face of its coin. Warmth, cauterizing, cleansing. In and of itself fire was the most alive of the elements, flickering with a spirit and will of its own. And yet that same life was so good at snuffing out others.

Nell didn’t have the fire her sisters had once wielded, so she’d thought the lessons didn’t apply to her. But she had her own flame living in her chest, the same heat that had told her to kill Montgomery and to make it hurt. The searing anger that had her digging a knife into Frank’s side, and poised to smother his own fire. Maybe they all had flames living within them, dangerous if left unchecked. Luce had left her flames to themselves since nearly a year ago to the day, or maybe it had been even longer. Nell had too. But she was watching in real time as her sister tried to reign them in, reignite them in a way that didn’t end with screams and acrid stench of burning flesh. It was enough to make Nell wonder what the peace on the other side might be like, whether she might one day give up the things fueling her flames to try her own hand at seizing it. Today wasn’t about her, though. That much she knew as she came out of the circle she’d walked to slip her hand into Luce’s for a squeeze. “We’ll make this work.” Luce wasn’t alone, and she’d be sure to remind her sister of that. Gathering her magic, she searched the corners of herself to pick up every scrap of it, knowing this spell was no small feat. She and Luce would be lucky if they didn’t pass out, let alone leave with skinned arms and a heart attack later. “You’re ready?”

Luce couldn’t help the way angry tears prickled at the corner of her eyes, helpless, unable to feel the flames that lived within her. This had to work, it had to fucking work. She needed it to work, she needed to save this person but… The words Adam had told her, when they’d posted up in the burnt out husk of a building on Scorch Street, they echoed in the back of her mind. Either I accept the dude in the mirror or I keep doing stuff that hurts everybody I care about. One of the most dude-bro things she’d heard from him, but it was true. She’d been mulling over their conversation for days now, trying to reconcile what he’d told her with the things she felt. And she’d thought… She’d thought she had this. She thought she could do this. But what if she was wrong? What if she couldn’t? What if he was wrong, what if Rio and Nell and Morgan—who had given her this second chance to change—had misplaced their faith? Her hands trembled slightly as she uncorked the bottle of ash, muttering a quiet Turkish chant over the still smoldering remains as she mixed it in. The Bloodroot followed and she mixed it all together with the pestle, the mixture crackling and sparking as she did her best to guide the magical properties of the ingredients into what she wanted, what she needed it to be. A cure. A way to end the nightmare. Redemption. Though her flames lay stubbornly still within her, Luce poured intention into the mixture until the chalice was full of a thick, smoking liquid.

Swallowing, Luce glanced up to see that Morgan and Rio had already drawn the wards, laid out the runes in their prescribed spaces around the large pyre. The bundles of herbs were smoking, filling the air with a heady scent, and all of them were waiting on… her. Luce felt Nell slip her hand into her own and she offered a nod. She wasn’t ready but she had to do this. She had to see this through. “Whatever it takes.” She said quietly as she stood up in the circle. Holding tightly onto her sister’s hand, the silver cup on the ground before them, Luce brought the walkie talkie to her mouth with her free hand. “Send him our way. We’re ready.” Now or never.

Leah ran and ran, waiting for the fuzzy confirmation that she could bring the phoenix to the clearing. She didn’t know how long they played cat and mouse, Leah switching back and forth between flame state to keep him occupied. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could keep this up. As she ran, exhaustion began to over take every part of her- her bones, her heart, her lungs- but she had to keep going. They had to help. And suddenly, when it felt that maybe she couldn’t go anymore, she heard the telltale buzz from Luce that they were ready, and without warning, she switched her path and began to run toward the clearing. The phoenix, in his effort to catch up with her, seemed to leave less of a trail of destruction than he had been in the last week or so, and she had to breath a sigh of relief at that.

It seemed like it took forever, but she finally broke through the clearing with the group of her friends, all ready and expectant to start the ritual that could end this. The phoenix seemed to pay them no mind. As they reached the center, she turned around and watched him stop and finally take in his surroundings. At least, that’s what she assumed he was doing- if he was even aware of what was going on. Regardless, with him distracted, Leah switched back into her flame state one last time, wrapping herself around the corrupted phoenix and engulfing him with her own flames. “We’re the same”, she whispered, hushed and smoky. “You’re not alone.”

Nell’s first reaction upon seeing Leah and the corrupted phoenix was one of ‘fight’, muscles tensing as she prepared to dodge a fireball that may or may not be coming her way, and dive in headlong to try and subdue the phoenix. But that’s not why they were here. They weren’t fighting today, they were cleansing, purifying— and violence could never truly grant either of those. Killing a problem wasn’t the same as healing from it, and wasn’t that obvious in the way her past choices seemed to never let her be? Maybe Luce should have asked Bea to help with the phoenix. Bea could be warm in the way the flip side of fire was meant to be, she’d know how to burn out the bad without incinerating the whole. Sure— Nell knew her plants and practical magic, but what good were those when she was home to an unsteady heart? If her intentions wavered, if she didn’t focus on the right things...would the phoenix simply rise to an even bigger and angrier inferno than it was now?

Thankfully Nell’s sister by her side, and Leah’s embrace of the other phoenix served as a reminder that she wasn’t all sharp edges and bloody hands. She had a family. And even though a bulk of it had left in the form of the coven, friends that had needed to find their own way beyond the town lines of White Crest, and even Bex who had fled in a fear Nell was still struggling to process— she could see her family reflected in the faces present. Luce by blood, Morgan by choice, Leah by upbringing, even Rio at times with the way he was ready and willing to help anyone who so much as glanced in his direction. Surely anyone who had a family was worth something? To have people who loved you was no easy feat. Did the phoenix have people that had loved him before? Leah loved him even now as he tried to burn the world to ash, caught in between her arms. Maybe there was another choice that could be made. As cliche as it may be, love was a cleanser, a healer, a purifier. And Nell knew how to do that even if she wasn’t always adept at it. That would be her focus point for the spell.

With a smattering of her own Turkish words Nell fueled the wards to life, letting her magic blaze through them so that the area was safely contained. Nowadays, she most often used Latin for her spellcasting, skipping the extra step of translation when she could. But if this were to be a spell of love she’d used the tongue her sister had used, the one her father had told stories in. Taking Luce’s other hand in her own, she placed their joined hands on the outside of the chalice, folding her palms over Luce’s while they cradled the silver between them. Leah had said it best, and she borrowed the words from the phoenix to lend to Luce, the soft Tukish private between them while she let her magic and intentions flow. “We’re the same.” They’d both been lost. Both desperately trying to claw their way out of the prisons they’d made for themselves out of their past deeds. But maybe with this, with the cleansing of the phoenix- at least Luce could be found. It was hard to remember that there were hands waiting on the other side of one’s self-made bars, people simply waiting for you to reach out and hold on tight. Nell wasn’t sure which of them was raising the other from perdition anymore, but she knew it was as one. “You’re not alone.”

The phoenix looked even worse than the first time Luce and Adam had seen them. Him, she realized. The phoenix was a man wreathed in brilliant, unnatural flames that seemed to flare around him in a malevolent glow. He stared at the clearing-- perhaps a moment of recognition for a place he’d already brought ruin upon, perhaps trying to puzzle out what the ritual space was for. Either way, Leah took advantage of the distraction and, cloaked in her own flames, she held onto him tightly. Her brilliant flames clashed against the ominous vermillion fire that surrounded the other phoenix. Luce felt Nell’s fingers tighten around her own and together they picked up the chalice, the magic coursing between them.

Luce could feel the wards glow, the paper Rio had drawn them on smoldering away to nothing until the burning runes were etched into the earth. And as Nell’s magic funneled into the chalice, Luce nearly let out a gasp as… the embers within her began to stir. The flames were weak, nonexistent. But the connection, the magic, it was there. For the first time in six months, she could feel the magic that had forsaken her. She reached for it cautiously, her spirit fanning the flame as carefully as she could to try and coax the spark back to life. “We’re the same.” Luce echoed as she stared at the phoenix held by Leah’s flames. She could see the fear in his eyes, the fear that was seared into his soul. As he strained against Leah, she knew she had been right. He wasn’t afraid of them, but of himself.

“You’re not alone.” Luce said, her voice rising as she let the magic flow through her fingertips into the chalice. The mixture continued to smoke and smolder and she knew that fire should be burning from the cup. But the flames wouldn’t come. No matter how hard she tried. “You’re not alone! We just want to help. Please, let us help you!” She called to the phoenix. Take our help, let me help, do what I never did, please.

Pain ran through Bernard’s body as the flames that weren’t his own burned around him-- frustration, rage, fear, they mixed together within him, the only thing he’d known for the past… how long? How long had he been like this? Days? Weeks? Months? He didn’t know. He didn’t know anything. He remembered erupting from the earth, tearing away from that cursed echoing place as fast as he could. It was a blur of fire and flames and pain and blood. And the voice, the voice, it followed him everywhere he ran. Whispering sometimes, shouting at others. All it wanted was for the world to burn. And he was powerless to it. People, animals, all who were caught in his path, they… crumbled to nothing. And all he could do was shriek in agony as his own cursed flames continued to burn. He couldn’t stop them, was powerless to the darkness that ran rampant within his body. The voice that wasn’t his own rang in his mind through all hours of the day, screaming at him to burn this place to the ground. It was the voice he’d fled from when he’d first awoken in this new body, the voice that still chased him.

And even now, it was shrieking at him. Burn the girl, burn them all, cast their bones to ash, let the flames consume this town. Let all become fire, let all become ruin.

But, a different voice-- the first voice he’d heard that wasn’t a strangled scream-- it made its way to his ear. “We’re the same.” A soft voice, whispering, pleading, “You’re not alone.” Fighting every instinct in his body, Bernard was able to tilt his head in the barest of nods. He did his best to regain control over the fire that raged around his body, to fight the voice within him. “Help me, help me.” He whispered to the woman whose arms were wrapped around him, “End-- end this.”

As the man struggled and strained against Leah’s hold, it began to feel hopeless. Already exhausted from their run through the forest, she knew she couldn’t hold onto him for much longer. And with no one else there able to withstand the flames, she wondered, briefly, if it had been a mistake for Luce to ask her for help, at least with this part. She was never strong- always swift and agile and smart. Perhaps Alfie would have been better for something like this. But then, he seemed to respond. A hint of a nod was all it took for Leah to gain her confidence back. This was working, and they were going to fix this. Together. She was not alone. Carefully, she unwrapped her arms around his body, instead, choosing to hold his forearms for guidance. Gently, she guided him onto the pyre. Though he still seemed to struggle, it was a lot easier to guide him up than it had been to hold him in place. She wondered if he was fighting too, now. Somewhere deep inside. She noticed the chalice shared between Nell and Luce, smoking and smoldering and beckoning to help. “I know it’s hard”, she said again, more firm this time. “But we think this will fix it. You have to try and drink this, okay? Drinking it will help. We’re going to help you get better, but first you have to drink it.” She continued to whisper these affirmations in his ear, willing him to continue to fight through the flames. “We’re all here to help you.”

Nell could feel the moment her sister’s magic sputtered into existence. She’d be able to recognize her sister’s magic anywhere. Such was the bond of countless spells done as one in their youth, and the few they’d done together in the last year and a half. It felt like someone waving her home from the front porch, far more comforting than something as tangible as physical touch could ever achieve. This was the two of them truly coming together as one for the sake of another. For the sake of her sister. For the sake of the phoenix in Leah’s arms. “We’re gonna make it,” Nell told Luce, giving her the words she too needed to hear the most. There was an end, and they’d found it. They were so close. So close to that win. So close to doing something good. Just let the past die, and then Luce could be free.

Luce watched as the phoenix allowed himself to be brought towards the pyre she’d built in the center of the glowing runes. His flames licked at the wood, straining to ignite the wooden structure. She could feel the heat of it from here-- she couldn’t let Nell get any closer, not when the flames were this hot. Nell didn’t have the same resilience she did. “We’re gonna do this. But I’m not letting you get hurt.” Luce said. “Step back, Nellie, please.I wouldn’t have been able to do this without you-- without any of you,” She said looking to Rio, to Morgan, even to Leah. “But I’ve gotta do this.” With that, she pulled the chalice gently from Nell’s hands, and followed Leah and the phoenix up the pyre. And as the phoenix’s cursed flames began to consume the wood, Luce took a deep breath and followed.

“Leah, you should back up. I don’t know what the wards might do if there are two phoenixes here.” Luce said as she held the chalice up, hands shaking slightly. The silver cup was still smoking, but she could feel the energy thrumming inside her. She could feel her magic lying in wait, but for what? She was trying so hard, the need to draw upon the magic was almost overwhelming. The flames were searing, painful in a way that fire had never felt for her. Not since she was a child, before she’d fully gained control of her magic. Luce swallowed as she stood next to the phoenix and, as she lifted the silver cup to his mouth, she saw him for the first time. Dark black eyes stared at her in desperation, the irises ringed in glowing red flames like the sun during an eclipse. Those eyes stared at her, consumed by fear and anguish and then-- a flicker, something dark flashed over his face. A tongue of flame shot from the phoenix’s body and curled around her left arm and Luce let out a scream of pain as the fire sizzled against her flesh. Agony shot up through her and her grip on the chalice loosened as she stumbled backwards, the flame retreating back to the phoenix’s body.

“We’re going to help you.” Luce panted, her fingers wrapping around the cup once more. “You’re not alone. This isn’t you and this,” She gasped in pain, the searing sensation still present within her, “This isn’t the end. You’re not alone.” Luce said. As she spoke, the burning heat grew within her. And that was when it hit her. The warmth was familiar. “Benim alevlerim.” She breathed and watched as the chalice blossomed with blue flames. “Drink. Please, drink.” Luce said and pressed the cup against the phoenix’s lips, tipping it back before staggering down the burning pyre. She retreated to where the others stood safely at the edge of the wards to wait and to watch.

Bernard drank. And for a moment, nothing changed. These people they’d tried, they’d failed. And he would be-- his eyes flicked open as the pain mounted to new, unimaginable heights. It felt as though he’d swallowed the sun, that the light was burning him from the inside out. The voice that had shouted at him, it was screaming again. But now, it screamed in pain, agony, as the sun continued to burn. His mouth opened to scream but all that escaped was a plume of blue flame. Instinctively, he shut his mouth and curled in on himself, hugging his burning body. Meanwhile, the blue flames crawling over his skin, over the pyre, overwhelming the cursed red flames. For a long moment, pain was all that filled Bernard’s mind. And then, there was nothing at all.

Things seemed to be going to plan. At least, Orion hoped that they were. None of the actual spell experts seemed to be freaking out, so Rio had mostly taken that as a good sign and held back. He silently observed, a worried line drawn across his face. The concern only grew as the Leah showed up with the Phoenix. Up until now, everything that Rio had witnessed had just been preparation. With the phoenix here, the true spell began. He stood just on the edge of the wards they had constructed, nervously fiddling with his fingers to keep himself still. But he couldn’t take his eyes off of Luce and the phoenix. Even from back here, Rio could feel the rise in temperature associated with the phoenixes flames. He pressed against his skin, warning of the heat. How could Luce handle being that close to it? His entire body tensed as the flame surged towards Luce. He almost jolted forward, but stopped himself at the last second. She was trying to get away. He needed to trust that Luce knew better for this than he did and let her do what needed to be done.Flames seemed to be consuming him, a bright, glowing red that made Rio clench at his heart. It looked so incredibly painful. “Oh my god.” He muttered, mostly to himself. If tears poured down Rio’s face he did nothing to stop them, he could only stare at the scene as the man screamed, only for blue flames to erupt. That blue soon took over the red, covering every inch of the man and becoming too bright for Rio to stare at any longer. He covered his eyes, glancing away from the scene in fear that he would go blind completely.

Luce was right, and Leah stepped out of the circle, toward Rio and Morgan. She switched out of her flame state in the process, and found a safe space behind her friends while still holding a good view of the action at the pyre. She couldn’t take her eyes off of everything that was going on, not even if she tried. She could see the pain inside the phoenix, almost as if she were sensing it within her heart. His flames, red and unnatural, looked like an illness that needed to be cured. How she wished she could run back in and hold him again. The flames seemed never ending but not at all stable; all encompassing but not all warm. And with the eruption of more and more of them, Leah was worried if too much damage had already been done. She couldn’t look away, but her heart was begging her to.

For a while, it seemed as though the fire would never end. It looked as though the flames would continue to spiral and battle against one another, locked in a continuous battle until the pyre that fueled the blaze crumpled to ash. But, Luce watched as her blue flames over took the phoenix’s own iridescent fire and then… She let out a gasp as the man sank to his knees and then crumpled to the ground. The fire continued to rage around him, consuming the wooden pyre. Meanwhile, the runes that formed the wards continued to glow, the lines brilliant and blue. Just the same shade as her flames. And then, almost as quickly as it had started-- the flames burnt out. In their place was nothing but a pile of ash.

Blinking in the sudden darkness, Luce held up her uninjured hand and reached tentatively for the magic. But her fears were unfounded, as vibrant blue flame jumped to the palm of her hand. “Is he… Do you think he’s alright?” She asked the others, voice hoarse from the smoke she’d inhaled.

There was little Nell could do as she watched her sister dive into the flames along with the phoenix, and she couldn’t help the protective step she made towards the center of the circle while the fire sizzled around Luce’s arm. It wasn’t unheard of for the Vurals to throw themselves into the center of an inferno for their sisters, but the more rational voice in her head quelled the emotional response, reminding her that she wouldn’t so much as get within a few feet of Luce before burning to a crisp. And what help would that be? Nell would be incinerated, the wards would fall, and Luce and the phoenix would be worse off than when this had started. Nell filled her now empty hand with Leah’s no longer flaming one, the familiar warmth of a fire being granting her another form of comfort.

The wards stayed strong as Nell kept the flow of her magic constant, using her worry of Luce to fuel the glowing runes. After all, that stemmed from love as well, and thus it would rightly serve the spell. Finally the flames subsided, and Nell was free to move forwards after watching the phoenix fall to ash on the ground. Just as any phoenix would at the end of their lifecycle. It had killed him? This was the cleansing that he’d needed? Death? Surely there were less permanent ways to purify? But death was anything but permanent for a phoenix. Or at least...it was meant to be. They hadn’t actually killed him, had they? “I…” This couldn’t be the result of all their efforts— all of Luce’s efforts. She’d needed to do something good, something that helped the phoenix, not end its cycle. “Wait- I think- is it moving?” Or had it only been her hopeful eye that thought she spotted a sign of life beneath the gray?

While the explosion of bright blue and radioactive red flames was all encompassing, the silence and emptiness that followed their burnout was even more-so. Leah looked between her friends, first to Nell, who’s hand she gave a tight squeeze back, then to Rio and Morgan, and finally to Luce. Luce, who had worked so hard to save the phoenix- ...she didn’t want to disappoint her. But in Leah’s experience, a pile of ash only meant one thing. She looked down at what was left of the phoenix, his ashes still and unmoving. Perhaps this was what was meant to happen all along. The ritual was meant to get rid of the illness- did it presume that the only way to rid one of corruption was through… death? It seemed too morbid. Too unfair. Tears filled her eyes as she looked back to Luce, ready to break the news to her. It wouldn’t be fair to get her hopes up if there was none to have. “I think...he might be d-”, but she stopped, interrupted by Nell’s observation. Her eyes shot back to the pile of ashes, sensing the tiniest pile of movement for herself. “Wait, -what?”

The scent of ash filled Bernard’s lungs as he shifted among the dust and debris. His fingers curled around the fine grains of dust and he began to crawl out from under the pile, his head emerging. He was covered in soot, his body ached, and he felt so, so cold. But, the world was blissfully, wonderfully silent. His mind was silent. The voice that had echoed in his head had been burned clean and now… Now he was whole again. Exhaustion and relief washed over him in equal measure and Bernard was able to lift his head up for a brief moment to take in the small cluster of people staring at him. He offered a weak smile before his eyes rolled back up into his head and he collapsed, unconscious once more.

Morgan had watched the proceedings in petrified silence. She understood how badly Luce needed this and as she huddled closer between Leah and Rio, she started to accept that she might need this too. There was so much suffering on this miserable rock of a planet and so much that couldn’t be helped no matter how much money or good vibes you threw out there. But maybe this could be different. Maybe this one witch and this one broken bird could do better for a little while. She stared at the clump of ash on the ground, bracing herself for the worst. “Leah, don’t…” she whispered. If this was another cosmic fuck you, Luce wouldn’t need to be told. And then he moved.

“Shit, Nell’s right. He’s moving, she’s right!” She grabbed Leah, squeezing tight and looked at Luce. Whatever she was holding against the witch didn’t matter just then. There was only relief and understanding. “Guess you’re better than you thought after all,” she said. “So, who’s helping to carry Mr. Firebird? I don’t think he’ll like his feet dragging on the ground if I lift him by myself.”

Seeing the shift in the pile of ashes finally let Orion take a breath of relief that seemed to be shared by everyone in the group. This hasn’t been in vain. It had been dangerous, and exhausting and at times even seemed a bit hopeless. But when the pile of ashes shifted and everyone’s gone shifted from solemn to overwhelming relief, it all seemed worth it. “Holy crap.” Rio breathed, too giddy to stay still. He bounced on his feet, still a bit apprehensive to move anywhere in case the spell wasn’t completely finished. But Morgan spoke first, suggesting they carry the man away from the spell site and back towards civilization. If she was confirming it, then that meant that it was done. “We really did it.” Rio spoke again aloud, not trying to hide the surprise. “You really did it.” He repeated, directed towards Luce this time. Maybe it had been a time effort, but she had gotten the ball rolling. And from the looks of it, she had paid a price. “I’ll help carry him. Someone should help Luce too.”

Time seemed to slow as Luce stared at the pile of ash, unblinking. Waiting. Had she killed someone else? Had all of her effort and time and energy and intention meant nothing? Had she taken another life, an innocent life? An eternity stretched on as she stared at the pile. And then. Relief. Luce felt her legs buckle as the man lifted his head from the ashes and stared at them, his face illuminated in the glowing flames that rose from her hand. Normal eyes, no longer ringed in fire. Her blue flames sputtered and went out as Luce sank to the ground next to Nell, her hand still clutched in her sisters. She let out a shaking, shuddering breath as she sat on the ground. They’d done it. The ritual had worked. He was okay. And somehow, in the midst of it all, her magic was back.

“Holy shit. We did it.” She breathed as she glanced up at the others. “Thank you… All of you guys. This wouldn’t… None of it could have happened without you. Thank you.” She murmured. Her entire body ached, she felt absolutely drained, and her arm was filled with a burning pain she hadn’t felt since she was a little girl, but none of it mattered right now. She’d done it. They’d done it.

#p: afta #wickedswriting #chatzy #p: leah ramirez #p: nell vural #p: morgan beck #p: orion quinn

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theskyeandsea · 3 years

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Baking & Entering || Nate, Shiloh, Rio, & Skylar

Timing: Late January 19th, 2021 (takes place after this chatzy)

Location: Fondante’s Inferno

Tagging: @nate-santos @evanescentform @3starsquinn & @theskyeandsea

Description: Nate just wants to close up shop, while Shiloh and Rio solve the mystery surrounding where Skylar’s been. It’s a sticky situation all around.

TW: Drug Use, Addiction, Body Horror, Violence, Car Accident

It was nighttime. Skylar was sure that it was nighttime. When it had become night, she wasn’t sure but she wasn’t sure of much anymore. All she knew was that the streets were empty, the lights dim, and the world around her felt lighter than it ever had before. Her feet skipped down the empty road, her body feeling lighter than anything. Humming tunelessly to herself, Skylar ran a hand along one of the walls of the building next to her. And as she did so, she felt herself slipping through, sliding through, as though the wall didn’t even exist. Because it didn’t. It was part of her and then suddenly-- it wasn’t.

Stumbling, Skylar caught her balance as thick plumes of dust flew around her face-- no, not dust. Flour. Skylar flexed her fingers experimentally as she looked around. Bright fluorescence. And flour. Flour-essence. An off-kilter giggle burbled from her lips as the rest of her body slid through the wall, as though it was nothing at all. She was light on her feet, lighter than anything. Running her hand along the table, Skylar idly knocked the bowls and cake stands to the ground, fingers pressing the buttons on a large oven as she walked through the back of the shop. “Nope, nope, nope.” She said as she tossed knives and cake tins across the room.

Nate liked the evenings at his shop. It was nothing like the daytime, with loads of people coming in and out. Before the accident he might have felt differently, but now he enjoyed the silence his late night shifts brought. Only a few customers filtering in and out after the bars had closed, and only one of the previous owners’ regulars had asked for the Extra Raw Special, whatever that was. Nate had just flipped the open sign over to “closed” when he heard the commotion in the back. His heart stopped and he froze like a deer in headlights. He’d locked the back door, right?? He always locked the back door. Grabbing the nearest weapon - a mighty broom - Nate stepped quietly behind the counter, preparing to open the door to the back room. “H-hey! Whoever’s back there! I-I am armed! Go b-back where you came from!” Yeah, Nate. Super intimidating.

Looking around at the rows of things she could never eat, Skylar ran her tongue against the jagged points of her teeth. Cakes and sugar and flour and pastries. She tipped a tray over with a giggle before realizing that someone was talking. Someone was yelling at her. They weren’t here though, she couldn’t see them here. Her body was buzzing with energy as she pressed her head against the wall, the sound of their voice muted through the haze. But, she could hear them on the other side. “Oh yes, you’re very armed,” Skylar said and looked at one of the tables next to her. “I can do that too.” She said and she picked up a knife, the blade so very very light in her hand. “One, two, two arms!” She sang as her body slid through the wall and she emerged, staring at the man before her, clutching a broom tightly. The knife in her hand was suddenly slick with something hot and wet and she glanced down at her hand, tilting her head in surprise. Blood was streaming from the tips of her fingers-- One, two, three, four… What happened to her fingernails? She should have ten. “Oh well!” Skylar turned her attention to the man again, “Are you going to try and sweep me under the rug?” She asked before lunging at him with the knife.

Nate couldn’t help but shudder, his grip on the broomstick slipping. Despite being open late for potential drunk and disorderly patrons, Nate never had to deal with them. Usually the more rambunctious people in town left his little shop alone. He was cursing his lack of preparedness when he heard the intruder respond, teasing him that they were also armed. Probably with something more deadly than a broom. “I-I’m warning you!” He yelled with as much force as he could muster, his eyes darting around for a better weapon. “The police are on their way!” A lie, but hopefully one that might give the intruder a second thought about attacking him. He heard crashing coming from the back room as bowls of ingredients fell to waste. The woman’s singsong voice, muffled at first through the wall, became perfectly clear as she literally phased through it, right before his eyes. As if he wasn’t terrified enough already. The person standing before him, waving one of his knives around, was the most horrific thing he’d seen since his accident. Razor sharp teeth formed a hazy smile while blood dripped from her fingertips, leaving bright red dots on his freshly cleaned floors. A chunk of hair seemed to be missing. But nothing compared to the wild look in her eye.

“N-no, but you should just leave! I don’t even keep cash in the st-” His bargaining was cut short as she leapt towards him, blade raised for the kill. Nate dropped to the floor and rolled, the knife just barely grazing his arm. Thrusting his legs out, he attempted to trip her up, at least to get the knife out of her hand before scrambling back towards the counter. “Why are you doing this?!”

Skylar watched as the knife darted out from her hand, like a sliver of light as it pierce through the air between them. It was so fast, so quick. Was this was power felt like? Freedom? She could do whatever she wanted, she could do anything she wanted. And she wanted to… “I don’t want money.” She laughed, shaking her head as he fell to the ground. His feet hit against her shins, but she felt light and buoyant, barely affected by the kicks. “I want,” Skylar paused, looking at a glass stand on the counter and grasped the glass with her free hand. “Sugar and spice and everything nice.” She said to herself as she looked at the pastries on the tray. Looking over at the man, she cocked her head. “Don’t you hate being nothing but sugar all the time? Better be bitter, mmmm.” She hummed before throwing the glass stand at him with a gleeful look in her eyes.

Nate honestly didn’t think his life would end up like this, being robbed by a drugged out land shark with mutant powers. He’d survived the brutal car crash for this? There was a touch of madness behind her eyes as she went about destroying his shop, his livelihood. “I quite like sweetness actually,” he mumbled, knowing she hadn’t been looking for an answer, only chaos, it seemed. He cowered, throwing his arms over his head just as glass and icing rained down on him. A spatter of blood dripped down into his eyes and suddenly he was back to hanging upside down in his truck, blood falling from his nose onto the shattered windshield. Panic swelled up inside him as his hands fumbled for anything to help, anything to cut himself free. Fingers closed around something long and sharp, a sliver of glass, it’s edges biting into his fingers as he gripped it tight. Lashing out blindly, unsure if he was trapped under his bakery case or in his car in the woods, all Nate knew was he needed to slash until he made contact.

Skylar continued to bear down on the man before her, his face flickering in her vision. She could see the fear in his eyes and it felt so, so good. Someone else could finally be as afraid as she was, they could finally see what all of this meant to her. Everyone had told her to just be happy with what she was and she’d tried to do it their way and now she was doing it her way. Ever since she’d first taken that dose of Bliss, she’d been happy and now? She was ecstatic. And shouldn’t everyone be happy for her? She was showing the world the monster she’d seen in the mirror since that terrible day last January. And she was happy with that. Everyone had only ever wanted her to be happy with herself and now she was. So they should all be happy.

But the man, he didn’t look happy. As he grasped at bits of bloodied glass, Skylar regarded him with a doleful expression. Why wasn’t he happy? She could change that. Grasping the knife once more, she made her way towards him, ignoring the way his arms flailed around him. She held the knife out, a manic smile on her face before something stopped her abruptly. Glancing down, Skylar realized that her shirt was slowly darkening, the source a large slash across her side. She pressed her fingers into the wound, her hands coming back covered in cloying, dark blood. “This should hurt, I think it should hurt.” She said as she pressed her hand against her wound, more and more blood flowing down her body. “But nothing does, nothing does anymore.” She said to the man. “Isn’t that wonderful?”

The room came back into view, fading in like someone was drawing back the curtains on reality. Nate dropped the fragment of glass, letting it clatter to the floor, splashing dark red splotches all the way down. In front of him wasn’t the scene he remembered, the horrific scene in the wreckage that came to him in flashes when he slept too deeply. The intruder with the spiked teeth was bleeding, more than she was, this time from a large gash in her side. Nate’s stomach dropped. Did he do that? What if she died? He scrambled backwards, looking at his shaking hands like they belonged to someone else. Tears streamed down his face as he watched the girl so divorced from reality. “W-what happened to y-you?” He sobbed, hugging his knees.

Skylar couldn’t feel anything as the blood continued to drip and puddle around her, hands attempting to stop the steady flow. It wasn’t just the pain because she should, she really should be feeling that. She didn’t even feel warm as the blood rolled down her skin. It felt like water, drip drip dripping against her. Pulling her hand away, she ran her palm against the counter top, leaving a thick smear across the once shiny counter. She watched as he backed away, curling up. And for a brief moment, she could see herself where he was. Crying and hugging herself, wondering, “Why, why, why is this happening.” She murmured. Bobbing her head from side to side, she shrugged. “Sugar and spice and everything nice. Pills and vials and needles and dust. That’s what seals are made of.” She said before sighing. This place was too saccharine sweet. She wanted something different, like the salty tang of the sea, like the bitterness of blood. Stepping over the man, glass crunched under her shoes as she made her way towards the door. She pushed it open with her bleeding hand, two streaks of red running from her raw fingers and down the glass.

Shiloh smiled to herself, amused by what Rio had said. It seemed she made a good decision to come out with him and take her mind off things. She needed this. As she glanced up, she saw someone she recognized. When she took in her state, she almost wished she didn’t recognize her. “Skylar?” Shiloh questioned, unsure if what she was seeing was true or if her dreams suddenly started to blur into her reality. She glanced over at Rio to see if he had caught what she saw because if he saw it too then it must be real. It must be real. “Skylar!” She called out as she started running towards her. All that her mind was picking up was blood. Blood on Skylar. Someone must have hurt her. “Are you okay?” She asked as she came close, already trying to investigate where the blood was coming from.

If there was any irony in the fact Shiloh and Orion had come out here to distract themselves from the worry they felt about Skylar, he didn’t appreciate it now. Rio hardly considered himself a social butterfly, so the fact that Shiloh and himself had seemed to hit it off had been a bit of a surprise to Rio. But all the ease or relaxation he had felt for the last twenty minutes evacuated as soon as he was close enough to see the commotion in the bakery that they were heading towards. “Holy crap” Rio murmured, taking off after Shiloh was already rushing in Skylar’s direction. “Does she have a knife?” Rio asked again, to nobody in particular but quiet enough that maybe he was too shocked to believe it himself. What the heck was going on with Skylar? And why was she bleeding? Shiloh was already checking on Skylar, trying to get her to calm down and make sure she was okay. In the meantime, Rio assessed the rest of the store, eyeing the blood smeared across the glass. “Nate, what’s going on? Are you hurt too?”

Swaying as she stood in the middle of the street, Skylar leaned over to squint in the darkness at the two figures coming towards her. She recognized them as their shifting faces came into view-- Rio and Shiloh. A burbling laugh erupted from her mouth at the sight. She’d never seen the two of them together and here they were. Standing up right, she tilted her head at Shiloh’s question, eyes slightly unfocused. “Mmmmm, I’m okay, yup. That’s what you’d like to hear, right?” She said with another giddy laugh, the knife still light and bouncing in her bleeding hand. “I’m okay! I’m fine! I’m so, so happy! Just super, super happy, yup.” She said before turning to Rio, who was peering at the store behind her. “He’s fine, too.” Skylar said, her tone shifting as she stared intently at Rio, the knife suddenly still in her hand.

Shiloh almost didn’t catch the knife in Skylar’s hand, more preoccupied with everything else that was going on with her. Not that she worried for one minute that Skylar was going to hurt her, she was worried she might hurt herself. Had she hurt herself? While Rio was concerned with the owner of the store, Shiloh had different priorities. “Skye what’s going on?” She gently asked, coming close to her. “I need to know if you’re hurt.” It didn’t seem Skylar was too interested in herself though - surely if someone was injured to the point they had that much blood on them, they’d be looking for help, right? And yet - she laughed. “Let me help you, Skye. Can I see that? ” She asked as she held her hand out. She tried to look into Skye’s eyes, trying to reach out to her. The only thing she could notice was that she really wasn’t looking at them. Something was wrong and Shiloh needed to get her help. It was really hard for Shiloh to look at anything but her eyes right now, not wanting to see the amount of blood on her.

Still looking at Rio, Skylar couldn’t help but wonder what he’d look like if she stuck him with her knife, if she slashed across his face and left him to bleed on the pavement. “Would your hair go pink or red?” She wondered out loud. Before she could reach out to see for herself, Skylar noticed Shiloh move towards her and she danced backwards clumsily. A trickle of warmth spread down her side as she moved away, shaking her head. “Nope, nope, this is mine. Well, it was his,” Skylar pointed back to the shop she’d emerged from, “But I have it now, so that makes it mine.” She said before focusing back on a word Shiloh had said. Help. “Help?” Skylar raised her eyebrows, mouth going wide. “Help! You want to help. Ohhhhhh, no, no thanks. I’ve had enough help.” Skylar spat out the last word with venom, thinking back to Morgan and Erin and Leah in her home, telling her what she should do.

Orion had no clue what was going on with Skylar, but he knew it wasn’t good. She was laughing and smiling, but there wasn’t any of Skylar’s usual kindness in her tone. It all felt manic, almost hysterical. It was far more unsettling than if she had been completely serious holding the knife. Skylar’s question pierced through Rio’s wandering eyes and forced him to focus on her. She didn’t provide much context, but the way she was handling the knife gave him an idea of exactly what she was asking. Shiloh seemed completely set on Skylar, her eyes barely wavering. But Rio couldn’t help but glance worriedly around. From Skylar to Shiloh to the bakery and Nate. This all seemed so wrong. This wasn’t Skylar. Skylar wasn’t dangerous. So why was Rio so nervous about the way she held the knife? “We don’t know what’s going on right now, Skye.” Rio held his palms out in surrender and took a step towards her. He had no idea what to do. But he didn’t want Shiloh ending up hurt if Skylar really was dangerous. “You don’t want help. Um.. okay. What do you want then?”

Shiloh looked over at Rio when he spoke, seeing if Skylar reacted to anything he said. She was so worried for her that she didn’t even realize she should be careful in approaching Skylar. She chose not to think Skylar would hurt her, even in this current state. Besides. What’s a little blood? Or a lot, she realized as she looked closer at Skylar’s bloodied state. Where were her fingernails? Still that wasn’t the center of Shiloh’s attention. There was blood at her side. It had to be coming from her. “Skye, you’re bleeding a lot.” Shiloh couldn’t wait and came closer, entering Skylar’s space and putting a hand to her back to try and usher her back to the car so she can get medical help. Whether she wanted it or not - Shiloh wasn’t going to have her bleed out and die. “C’mon, let’s go.”

Mulling over Rio’s question for a moment, Skylar’s head flopped from side to side as she thought about it. What did she want? What did she want? She had everything she wanted right now-- the pain was gone, the guilt was gone, the anger and the fear had all been washed clean with the medley that ran through her system. But what else did she want? She wanted… To feel like this all the time. And how could she do that? What had been the source of all her problems, the reason why she’d never known what she was? With a growing smile on her face, Skylar straightened, “What do I want?” She stared at Rio intently, her grip tightening around the knife. “I want, I want Hunters to die. I want them to know how much it hurts to be like me, to be alone and lost and scared and hunted. You get it, don’t you? You don’t even like what you are.” She said. Pressure against her back sent Skylar spinning, knife slashing through the air. “No. No, no, no, I’m not going with you. Nope. I told you what I want and I don’t want to go with you.”

Skylar couldn’t have known but that felt like an attack straight to Shiloh’s heart and she had a visceral reaction to that, taking a step back as if she were dealt a physical blow. Or maybe something told her there was a knife swing incoming - either way she moved back just in time. She tried to remind herself that Skylar didn’t know what she was and Skylar couldn’t know what she was. Shiloh had only told one person. One. So then… was she talking about Rio? Shiloh glanced at him, her brows furrowing as she wondered what Skylar was referring to. However, it wasn’t her place to ask and she shouldn’t ask. The point of focus here wasn’t Rio or Shiloh, it was Skylar. They had to get her somewhere safe so they could tend to her wounds. Shiloh took a deep breath to center herself, mildly wishing she hadn’t. She could smell blood and other not pleasant scents. She looked over at Rio. “I’m going to bring the car around okay? You stay here. I’ll be right back.” Shiloh said and ran over to her car. It wouldn’t be the first time it had blood spilled in it but as long as they got Skylar to safety it would be fine. Everything would be fine.

Orion wasn’t sure why Skylar’s words hurt him so badly. Because she was right, he didn’t like what he was. He had hated every aspect of it since before his powers had ever activated. He hated the abilities, the implications, the perception of what being a hunter meant to the supernatural world. And yet, in the last year hadn’t he started to give in to exactly the lifestyle he had spent so long avoiding? The guilt more than anything else was what made Rio shutter and wince when Skylar began swinging the knife around. His shoulders sunk as he considered it, and as he tried hard to ignore the look that Shiloh gave him. Shiloh was going to get the car. That was good. Rio nodded and stayed put with Skylar. He hadn’t been close enough to the knife before, but if she began swinging again would he even try to dodge it? Would he want to? “I’m sorry. I know the hatred, but I’ll never understand the fear. You deserve a lot better. Everyone does.” He didn’t know what else to say. He wasn’t even sure Skylar could listen. “But you’re going to hurt yourself if you don’t give me the knife.”

As Shiloh left, Skylar watched her run away with mild interest. She was leaving again, leaving again, yep. Just like everyone else. Swaying as she returned her focus to Rio, Skylar looked at him inquisitively. “I don’t think you do though. Because it’s not just Hunters, I don’t just hate Hunters, even though they’re the ones who did all of this. They killed my dad, you know. My real one. And my mom too, probably.” She said, her voice conversational and light as she stared at him from behind manic eyes. “I saw my dad. His ribs were exploded from where a shotgun got him and his face looked like someone had slammed his head over and over again with a rock. That’s what Hunters do and I want, I want them all to know that when, when they kill people. They do so much more than that. They ruin people too.” She said, running her free hand over the openly weeping sores on her arms. “They ruined me. Not as much as I ruined me, but they didn’t help.” Skylar said and focused back on Rio. “Oh, I won’t hurt myself,” She said. With a breathy laugh, she smiled and pulled her arm back. “Catch!” Skylar said and hurled the knife at Rio, the blade spinning through the air.

Orion didn’t talk much while Skylar did. What could he even say? His expression shifted from a knowing sadness to wide eyes as Skylar’s story got darker and darker. He hadn’t known about her real dad. That his life had been taken that cruelly. The specifics didn’t surprise him, but it did disgust him. “I don’t know that I-” What could Rio be? Whether he wanted to be or not, he was exactly what Skylar hated so much. He had grown up in a family that had taken lives just as gruesomely. “I know. They ruin lives. And they don’t care about the people they hurt or leave behind in the process.” Some of the hunters that he had befriended in town flashed across his mind. But now didn’t feel like the right time to try to argue the specifics of what made a good or bad hunter. Or if good hunters even existed. Rio had been staring at the ground, too embarrassed and disgusted with himself to meet Skylar’s eyes. A flush of light caught his attention, and his hand snapped up on instinct before his brain had even processed what was happening. A sharp pain shot up Rio’s arm as he realized that the knife had been chucked his way. He had caught the knife midair, the blade trapped between his clenched hand and slicing into his palm.Blood began dripping down his wrist and off the blade and Rio stared at it for too long before he finally unclenched his hand and readjusted to hold the knife by it’s hilt. “I don’t know how to help you. But I want to.”

Skylar watched the way his hand shot up and caught the knife like it was nothing-- he really was a Hunter, a Hunter through and through. Everything he could do made him a killer, just like the man who’d held her at gunpoint by the river, who’d shot her as she’d tried to flee. And now, as she watched him flip the knife around so he was holding it by it’s hilt, Skylar realized that she’d just given him a weapon. Backing away, Skylar shook her head from side to side. “No. I don’t want your help. I know what the help of a Hunter feels like.” She said, remembering the way the bullet had felt as it had seared across her leg, mid-transformation. Without a word, Skylar turned around and ran down the dark street away from Rio. She didn’t want anything he offered, she had everything she wanted. Everything she needed. She didn’t need anyone else.

Shiloh got into her car and didn’t realize her hands were trembling until she tried to put her keys in to start it. Once she turned the engine on, she took a breath, regaining her composure and trying to figure out how they would get Skylar in the car. She wouldn’t come willingly - Shiloh already knew that was going to happen. The last thing she wanted to do was force Skylar to do anything but it was for her own safety… She began driving toward Rio and Skylar. She saw them talk and watched as things unfolded but right as she arrived Skylar took off. “Oh no.” Shiloh said as she watched her disappear in the darkness. What were they going to do now? Chase her in the car? Skylar could jump in front and hurt herself. Call the police? What would they do, honestly? Shiloh exhaled deeply as she just slumped into her seat. Hopefully Rio had an idea.

#p: bae #wickedswriting #tw addiction #tw drug use #tw body horror #tw car accident #//as always if youd like a tw free recap just let me know!#chatzy #p: nate santos #p: orion quinn #p: shiloh kent

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lilpuppiepaws · 3 years

Text

🧸 list of stuffie names! 🧸

A: abby, allen, axel, amai, artex

B: bub, belle, blue, barney, berri

C: cass, cupid, coco, captain, cheese

D: dill, diamond, dexter, dale, dandelion

E: ellie, egg, ethan, eel

F: forest, fred, fuzzy, floppy

G: gregory, griffon, gale, gummy, gloria

H: hammy, harris, hollie, huey

I: iris, isabel, izzy, iron, isaac

J: jerry, juju, jester, jammy, julie

K: kiwi, kiki, koo, kimmy, kai

L: libby, lemon, leah, lovey, luna

M: mocha, millie, max, mirror

N: nilla, nelson, nick

O: oreo, oswald, orion, olive

P: penelope, puddles, peewee, pompom

Q: quinn, quacky, quill, queen

R: riley, remmi, rain, rin,red

S: simon, sully, sammy, sweetpea, shilo

T: tommy, tilly, trixie, tip, tombo

U: uppie, uma, ursula

V: vee, volt, vinnie

W: willy, willow

X: xavier

Y: yuki, yellow

Z: zane, zim

#agere #agere community #agere blog #age regression #age regression community #age regressor #agere textpost #cglre

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eydika · 4 years

Text

eydika’s name list 2.0

more... names because the first name list I made isn’t enough anymore

Abaddon

Abbey / Abbie

Abel

Ace

Ada

Adam

Adrien

Agnes

Aiden

Akari

Alaska

Alchemy

Alec / Alex / Alexa

Alessi / Alessia

Alexis

Aliana / Alianna

Alice

Alison

Alistair

Alivia

Allie / Ally

Alpha

Alya

Amber

Amelia

Amity

Amos

Amy

Andie / Andy

Andrew

Andromeda

Angel

Anita

Anna / Anne

Annabelle / Annie

Apollo

Apple

Apricot

April

Archer / Archie

Arden

Ares

Argus

Ariel

Aron / Aaron / Auron

Arrow

Artemis

Arthur

Artis

Arya

Ash / Asher

Aspen / Aspyn

Astrid

Athena

Atlas

Atticus

Aubrey / Audrey

Audio

Auger

Auggie

August

Aurelia

Aurora

Austin

Autumn

Ava / Avaline / Avalon / Aveline

Avery / Avrey

Aya

Baby

Barbie

Basil

Bea / Bee

Bean

Beatrice / Beatriz

Bébé

Beck / Beckett

Beetle

Bella / Belle

Beryl

Betty

Bijou

Billie

Birdie

Bishop

Bitter

Blair / Blaire

Blaise

Bloom

Blue / Blu

Boheme

Bonnie

Bowie

Briar

Bridget

Brina

Brody

Bryson

Bunny

Byron

Cade / Cadea / Caden

Cairo

Cal / Calum

Caleb

Callie

Calliope

Calvin

Cameron

Candace

Canopy

Carly / Carlie

Carol / Caroline

Carter

Casper

Cassandra

Cassius

Catherine

Celia

Cetus

Chance

Charlotte

Cherry

China

Chip

Chloe

Cian

Cinnamon

Civet

Clara / Clary / Clarabelle

Claire

Clementine

Cleo

Clover

Cobalt

Colby

Colt / Colten

Constance

Cooper

Cora

Corey

Corvus

Cosmo

Cricket

Cynthia

Cyra

Cyrus

Dacre

Daisy

Dakota

Dalia

Dallas

Damien

Dana

Dandelion

Dandy

Dante

Daphne

Darby / Darcy

Darius

Darla

Davina / Divina

Davos

Dawn

Deacon

Deb

December

Deja

Delaney

Delta

Demi

Denim

Denver

Desmond

Dexter

Diego

Digit

Dion / Dior

Doe

Domino

Donna

Doran

Dorothy / Dot / Dottie

Douglas

Dune

Dusk

Dylan

Eachan

Ebele

Ebony

Echo

Eden

Edris

Effi / Effie

Egan

Elijah

Eliza

Ella / Ellie

Elliot

Ellis

Elodie

Elsbeth / Elspeth

Elsie

Elyse

Embla

Emily

Emlyn

Emma

Emmett

Emory

Erica

Erin

Ernest

Ernie

Esryn

Estelle

Ethan

Eugene

Eva / Eve / Evie

Evan

Evangeline

Fae / Fee

Faith

Fawn

Fawke

Felix

Fenris

Fergus

Ferris

Fig / Figgy

Finbar

Fizz

Fletcher

Fleur

Flint

Flora / Florence

Forrest

Fox

Frankie

Freya

Gage

Gaia

Gavin

Gemma

Gene / Genesis / Genevieve

Gigi

Gil

Giselle

Gladys

Gloom

Gloria / Glory

Goldie

Grace / Gracie

Greta

Griffin

Gus

Hadley

Hailey

Hana

Harlow

Harmony

Harper

Hawk

Hayden

Hazel

Hector

Henley

Henry

Hera / Hero

Honey / Honeydew

Hope

Hunter

Ian / Ion

Idris

Ieni

Iesha

Illori

Ilya

Imelda

Imogen

Imp

India

Indira

Ingrid

Irina

Iris

Isaac

Isara

Isla

Ivory / Ivy

Izzy

Jack / Jackie

Jade

Jake

Janice / Janis

Jason

Jasper

Jay / Joy

Jenan

Jericho

Jerry

Jibo

Jill

Jinx

Joan

Jude / Judith

Juleka

Juli / Julip

June / Juno

Juniper

Jupiter

Justice

Kaiven

Kale

Kappa

Kayla

Kellen

Kelly

Kes

Kimber

Kitana

Kitty

Kiwi

Knox

Kris

Kristy / Kirsty

Krull

Kumo

Laken

Lana

Lapse

Lark

Laurel

Lavender

Lemon

Lenka

Leo / Leon / Leonie

Levitt

Liberty

Lilac

Lilith

Lima

Lindsey

Locus / Lotus

Lottie

Luca / Luka

Lucia / Lucie / Lucy

Lucille

Lucky

Luis

Luna / Louna

Luther

Lux

Lynn

Mabel / Mable / Maple

Madison

Mae / May

Maeve

Magnolia

Mango

Mantis

March

Marcia / Marcy

Margaux / Margo / Margot

Marina

Marion

Marley

Marmalade

Mars

Martha

Mary

Mason

Maude

Maura

Maxine

Maya

Meadow

Medea

Melancholia

Melba

Memphis

Mercedes

Mercy

Mick

Milan

Milla

Millenia

Milo

Mina / Mona

Minerva

Minnie

Minnow

Miron

Misery

Mona

Monday

Montgomery

Monty

Morrigan

Morwenna

Myrtle

Nana

Nancy

Nasira

Nate

Nathaniel

Naveed

Navy

Ned

Nefarian

Ness

Nestor

Never

Newt

Nikki

Noah

Nora

Norma

Nova

Nutmeg

Nye

Nyx

Octa

October

Odessa

Olive / Olivia

Ollie

Omega

Omen

Onyx

Opal

Ophelia

Oriana / Orion

Oscar / Oskar

Otis

Owen

Ozzy / Ozzie

Paige

Paisley

Parker

Pat / Pattie

Paula / Paola

Pea / Peach

Pebble

Penelope

Pepper

Pepsi

Percy

Petrichor

Philippa

Philomena

Phoebe

Phoenix

Piccolo

Pip / Piper

Pixie

Poe

Pollux

Pomeline

Poppy

Portia

Primrose

Queen

Quentin

Quibble

Quincy

Quinn

Rachel

Radian

Ransom

Raven

Ray

Razzia

Rebus / Remus

Reverie

Rhubarb

Rick

Rider / Ryder

Rigby

Rilla

Roach

Robin

Rory

Rosa / Rosalie

Rose

Roux

Rowan

Roxanne / Roxie / Roxy

Ruben

Ruby

Rune

Sabina / Sabine / Sabrina

Sable

Sadie

Saffron

Sage / Saige

Salem

Sam / Samantha / Sammie

Savant

Savian

Scarlett

Scotty

Scout

Sean

Sesame

Shea

Skye / Skylar

Sloane

Solomon

Spencer

Sprout

Star

Stella

Sunny

Sybil

Syc

Symphony

Tabea

Tabitha / Tabs

Tali / Talia

Tasha

Tate

Tau

Temper

Tharan

Theodora / Theodosia

Theros

Thimble

Thirteen

Thorn

Tia

Tilda

Tina

Topaz

Tora / Torian

Trinity

Trixie

Trope

Tulip

Turnip

Twig

Ukiyo

Umara

Umbra

Ursa

Valentin

Valerie

Valora

Vargas

Vaughn

Vector

Vega / Vegas

Velvet

Venus

Vera

Vernon

Vesper

Vinette

Violet

Vivek

Volt

Waverly

Wednesday

Wendy

Wes

Whisper

William

Willow

Winnie

Winona

Winter

Wish

Wren

X + Y + Z

Xena / Xenia

Xeno / Xenos

Yuki

Yuri

Zafira

Zaria

Zephyr

Zero

Zoe / Zoelle

Zona

Zyra

LAST NAMES

Abbot

Abernathy

Alton

Arcanum

Ashe

Astor

Badger

Balker

Bass

Bennett

Benton

Blake

Bleu

Blunt

Blythe

Cable

Cabot

Cain

Carter

Carver

Castillo

Choi

Clemonte

Coldwell

Collins

Colt

Craft

Craven

Crimson

Croft

Dabney

Danvers

Dayholt

Delpy

Driver

Dyer

Eades

Edge

Epithet

Epps

Evert

Farley

Fell

Fenner

Fig

Finch

Findlay

Fletcher

Foley

Fowler

Fray

Freud

Frost

Geller

Gill

Guest

Hale

Hapley

Harp

Hart

Hearst

Hooper

Hunt

Hyde

Ivy

Jinx

Keller

Kersey

Kingsley

Knight

Knox

Kraft

Krav

Laveau

Lecter

Lock / Lockwood

Lowell

Lush

Marr

Mills

Mist

Morgan

Morrison

Murray

Myers

Oaks

Patel

Pierce

Pike

Powell

Price

Pruitt

Quint

Quiver

Random

Ripley

Ryder

Sears

Sloane

Sparks

Stele

Strom

Sutton

Talbot

Tate

Thorne

Twig

Twist

Tycho

Utley

Valentine

Vance

Vaughn

Vos

Walker

Wallow

Weaver

Webb

Wiley

Wilkes

Winston

Wreath

Wright

Wrong

York

Zella

Zepeda

#text #list #names #reference #inspo

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dcminicheizer · 5 years

Text

* 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭: gender-neutral names !

under the cut you will find 128 unisex names separated by letter. enjoy and like or reblog if this helped.

A,B,C

angel.

alexis.

andrea.

andy.

ariel.

akira.

adal.

addison.

armani.

austen.

avery.

ashley.

ashanti.

aspen.

arya.

bailey.

beau.

billie.

blair.

blue.

brighton.

blake.

brett.

brooke.

brooklyn.

bryce.

cameron.

camille.

carson.

casey.

charlie.

chris.

christian.

D,E,F

dakota.

dallas.

danny.

devin.

devon.

dominique.

dylan.

elia.

ellis.

emerson.

emery.

erin.

francis.

frankie.

G,H,I

garnet.

gayle.

genesis.

gerrie.

hayden.

hollis.

hudson.

hunter.

inge.

ivory.

J,K,L

jackie.

jael.

jamie.

jaylen.

jean.

jess.

jo.

jordan.

jules.

juno.

kay.

kendall.

kim.

kiran.

kylar.

lake.

laurence.

lee.

leighton.

lennon.

M,N,O

makena.

mel.

micah.

montana.

nessim.

noah.

noor.

orion.

P,Q,R

palmer.

payton / peyton.

perry.

qamar.

quinn.

raven.

remy.

rené

reagan.

river.

riley.

robin.

rory.

rowan.

rudy.

ryan.

S,T,U

sage

sam.

shane.

shannon.

shea.

sláine.

snow.

sasha.

storm.

spencer.

skyler.

taylor.

teagan.

toby.

toni.

tory.

tyler.

V,W,X

valentine.

willie.

Y,Z

yannick.

yeray.

yuri.

zain.

zane.

zell.

zia.

#masterlists #names masterlist #name ideas #rph #unisex names masterlist

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intomusings · 3 years

Text

﹒﹒ male names masterlist !

in honor of my third milestone on here ( thank you sm ) , i’ve decided to release a master list of 400+male names i personally love and think could be used more in the community . this was also requested by a few anons and names will be added to the list frequently . the names are sorted by first letter but not alphabetically within each letter category . if you found this useful , feel free to like or reblog to spread this !

A : alston, ander, adamo, alex, austen, ace, arian, adrian, atlas, augustus, axel, archer, angel, archie, aaron, abel, asher, amir, adriel, andrew, ace, alejandro, arlo, adonis, atticus, abram, ambrose.

B : bryce, bryson, benji, bellamy, banks, bear, beau, bentley, barrett, brody, brayden, bennett, braxton, bowen, briggs, baker, bruce, benson, bristol, boston, brycen, bryant, brock, brendan, bruno, byron, braden, bronson, braeson.

C : colton, cartier, cyrus, caleb, carter, cedric, carson, cohen, calvin, callum, casper, caspius, chase, cole, connor, camden, colt, caden, cash, crew, chance, clayton, cruz, cairo, corbin, colson, cesar, clark.

D : damon, damien, darren, dylan, dominic, declan, dean, dario, drew, dimitri, dakota, dawson, daxton, dante, desmond, denver, dax, deacon, drake, derrick, darius, duke, deandre, dash, dilan, dayton, duncan, dior.

E : eduardo, edward, elias, emilien, evan, easton, everett, emmett, enzo, ezra, elliot, emmanuel, ezekial, elias, emerson, eric, emory, edwin, elian, esteban, edison, emir, everest, eliseo, everley.

F : florencio, flynn, fabio, forester, francis, flynn, fallon, finn, finnick, felix, fernando, finnegan, fabian, ford, forbes, fletcher, fisher, fox, fitz, flint, fulton.

G : giovanni, gage, gomez, grayson, griffin, grant, graham, gavin, grant, gianni, gunner, gideon, gregory, grey, gustavo, guillermo, gentry, gadiel, gabriel.

H : halton, herman, holden, hayes, hudson, hayden, harrison, harlow, harvey, hugo, hank, henley, holland, hamza, hugh, houston, hakeem.

I : isaac, icarius, idris, ian, ivan, isaiah, ismael, ilan, irvin, iain.

J : julian, juniper, joao, joaquim, jordan, jaxton, joshua, josiah, javier, jayden, justin, jonah, jace, jasper, jay, jj, jackson, jeremiah, judah, joel, jensen, jaylen, jonas, jamal.

K : kai, kolton, kaleb, klaus, kyrie, kingston, kayden, king, kobe, knox, kyler, kaden, khalil, kane, killian, keegan, kian, kamden, kieran, keanu, kyland, kareem, kasen,

L : liam, lukas, logan, lucien, lawrence, leo, leighton, leon, lindell, lamar, latrell, larson, lance, levi, luke, landon, luca, lincoln, landon, lorenzo, london, lennox, leonel, lawson, luciano, layton, lux, leroy, lamar.

M : micaiah, mateo, marcell, manny, mac, malcolm, mckay, meechie, matias, mason, maverick, mitch, murphy, miles, malachi, maddox, marshall, malik, moses, marvin, milo.

N : noah, nicolai, nasir, nico, nash, neymar, naveen, nehemiah, nixon, nelson, nigel, niles, nolyn, namir.

O : orlando, ozzy, oliver, omar, orion, otto, odin, otis, oskar, osvaldo, owen.

P : peyton, parker, pearce, prince, preston, porter, pierre, penn, patton, paxton, paolo, pope, percy.

Q : quentin, quinn, quint, quang.

R : roman, rowan, reid, riggs, reece, rafael, ryland, roland, ronan, rhett, rhys, rory, rainer, roscoe, rocco, ryder, ryker, remington, russell, romeo, raiden, ruben, ridge, rex, rudy, remy.

S : sawyer, spencer, salem, salvatore, stefan, samson, sebastian, samuel, santiago, silas, sutton, sterling, sully, sergio, seth, santino, santibel, soren, saint, samir, saul, sal, santos, slater, santino.

T : tyson, tyrin, taylor, teagan, tobias, troye, tristan, tucker, theo, torrento, tanner, travis, tripp, trenton, trey, tomas, talon, thad, terrance, teddy.

U : uriel, ulysesses, umar, urbane, uri, ursel, usher.

V : valencio, victor, valence, valentino, vance, victor, vaughn, vincent, virgil, vernon, vander, vito, vero, villard.

W : wick, walker, weston, wyatt, wolfgang, wells, wilder, wesley, walter, warren, wade, winston, watson, wiley, waylen.

X : xavier, xander, xane, xavion, xavi, xiomar, xackery, xan.

Y : yosef, yosan, york, yasir, yoel, yuri, yannis.

Z : zane, zakhar, zavier, zion, zahir, zev, zeus, zacharias.

#male name masterlist #male names #writing help #name help #rpt #rph #m:masterlist #resources

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whatsortofschoolisthis · 4 years

Text

Name: Hecate Maran Ames

Gender: Female

Age: 16

Birth Date: October 31, 1972

Species: (Human, Lycanthrope, Metamorphmagus, Vampire, ect): Human

Blood Status: (Pureblood, Half-Blood, Muggleborn): Pureblood

Sexuality: Straight

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Ethnicity: English/Irish

Nationality: English

Residence: North Devon, England. Was born in County Kerry, Ireland and lived there until she was ten years old.

Myer Briggs Personality Type: ISFJ- The Defender

THE MAGE

1st Wand: Acacia Wood

A very unusual wand wood, which I have found creates tricky wands that often refuse to produce magic for any but their owner, and also withhold their best effects from all but those most gifted. This sensitivity renders them difficult to place, and I keep only a small stock for those witches or wizards of sufficient subtlety, for acacia is not suited to what is commonly known as ‘bangs-and-smells’ magic. When well-matched, an acacia wand matches any for power, though it is often underrated due to the peculiarity of its temperament.

2nd Wand: Silver Lime

The reasons for these wands’ desirability lay not only in their unusually handsome appearance, but also because they had a reputation for performing best for Seers and those skilled in Legilimency, mysterious arts both, which consequently gave the possessor of a silver lime wand considerable status. When demand was at its height, wandmaker Arturo Cephalopos claimed that the association between silver lime and clairvoyance was ‘a falsehood circulated by merchants like Gerbold Ollivander (my own grandfather), who have overstocked their workshops with silver lime and hope to shift their surplus’. But Cephalopos was a slipshod wandmaker and an ignoramus, and nobody, Seer or not, was surprised when he went out of business.

Animagus: Black and White cat.

Misc Magical Abilities: (Legilimen, Seer, Parselmouth, Obscurial, ect): Seer. Somehow linked with inherited Legilimens abilities but its not certain how or why.

Boggart Form:

Pre-Hogwarts- 1st year: The Hidebehind.

2nd-4th year:The Dullahan. She saw him once before her grandad died.

5th year- onward: The Dullahan as Rakepick standing over her friends dead bodies

Riddikulus Form: The Hidebend turns into a monkey symbol toy. The Dullahan flees as her friends bodies turn into bars of gold.

Amortentia: (What do they smell like?) Pumpkins, Hot Chocolate, and the seaside.

Amortentia: (What do they smell?): Old books, Tea, and broom wood (Andre).

Patronus: Dapple Grey Stallion.

Patronus Memory: Her older sisters taking her, Sean, Bryn, and Jacob to feed the ducks.

Mirror of Erised: Depends. As a child and 1-5th year its her family together again. Later its herself, secure in her relationships with those that love her and not needing the ones that don't.

Specialized/Favourite Spells:

Incendio: Hecate likes fire more than she should.

Bombarda: See above explanation.

Alhmohora: Hecate is like a cat. If a door is closed, she wants in.

APPEARANCE

Faceclaim:

Adult/Teen- Molly Quinn

Voiceclaim: Christen Mooney

Game Appearance:

Height: 4 ft 10

Weight: 94 pounds

Physique: Wiry build.

Eye Colour: Brown

Hair Colour: Copper Red

Skin Tone: Light

Body Modifications: Gets her ears pierced and that's it.

Scarring:

Long Thin Scar on her hand from devil's snare in her first year.

Claw scar on her shoulder from her duel with Chiara.

Scars on her arms from where the Giant Spider grabbed her.

Deep ugly scars on the back of both her legs from the Horntail.

Inventory: (what do they carry on them?): Wiggenweld Potion, Epilambanein Potion (a potion meant to treat Seizures), an Adder stone she got from her sister Fiadah, creature treats, and a photograph of her and her friends.

Fashion: Really loves robes. When she has to wear Muggle clothing its usually either boring and practical or overly girly.

ALLEGIANCES

Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff

Affiliations/Organizations: Circle of Khanna, Hogwarts, and her family

Professions:

- Becomes a Quidditch Commentator alongside Murphy McNulty after graduation.

- Teaches Herbology after Retirement.

HOGWARTS INFORMATION

Class Proficiencies: Flying, Charms, and Transfiguration.

Astronomy: T

Charms: E

DADA: AA

Flying: O

Herbology: E

History of Magic: P

Potions: A

Transfiguration: E

Electives:

Divination: T.

COMC: AA

Quidditch: Chaser alongside Skye Parkin. Later becomes a commentator alongside Murphy McNulty.

Extra Curricular: Quidditch, Sphinx Club, and Frog Choir

Favourite Professors:

Professor Flitwick: Hecate really looks up to and respects him. Cares a lot about his opinion, maybe even more than McGonagall's, and is afraid to let him down. One of three adults she trusts at Hogwarts.

Professor McGonagall: Respects and fears the woman, has never lied when asked a direct question. The second of three adults she trusts at Hogwarts.

Professor Kettleburn: The man is, without a doubt, barking mad but he is sincere in his love for animals and for teaching. Hecate respects that.

Professor Trelawney: Doesn’t like her much at first. However she does help Hecate learn to manage her seizures and understands how hard Seeing can be. She reminds Hecate of her Great-Grandma.

Least Favourite Professors:

Professor Binns: He's so boring. Hecate learned more from Rowan, The House Ghosts, and the entirety of Ravenclaw House than from Binns.

Professor Rakepick: Distrusts her instantly. Hecate only does what she says so she can keep an eye on the woman.

Relationships:

Brother: Jacob ‘Danny’ Ames.

Misc Siblings: Sean Ames (Twin), Rubin Orn, Wren Ames, and Fiadah O’Faud.

Father: Henry Ames

Mother: Saoirse Ames (Maiden Name: O’Malley)

Love Interest:

Murphy McNully: Dates briefly for a month before breaking it off- Mutual loss of interest. They stay friends.

Andre Egwu: They both admire each other mutually and become good friends. They go on TWO DATES but don’t really realize they’re in love until Duncan Ashe is forced to explain it them, much to his chagrin.

Best Friends:

Rowan Khanna

-Ben Copper

-Liz Tuttle: They knew each other before Hogwarts. Liz was Rubin’s neighbor and they used to play gobstones together through a gap in the fence and they would explore both of their gardens together. Became much closer over their mutual love of animals.

-Skye Parkin:

-Murphy McNully:

-Bill Weasley and Orion Amari

-Charlie Weasley:

-Tulip and Tonks

Rival:

Merula Snyde: Mostly at the Slytherin’s insistence. Hecate is over competing with her and just wants Merula to be better.

Diego Caplan: He will Not Leave Hecate Alone Ever.

Enemy: Rakepick and R.

Dormmates: (Who’s in your MC’s dorm with them?):

Rowan Khanna/ Skye Parkin after Rowan's death.

Chiara Lobosca.

Tonks.

Pets: A tabby named Freddie, a Europeon Horned Owl name Persephone, and a crup named Pagur Ban.

Closest Canon Friends: Yes.

Closest MC Friends: Robbie Donavan @amerrymystery

PERSONALITY:

- Loves Animals.

- Good at thinking on her feet but is generally bad at planning. Better in the moment.

- Stubborn and overly blunt.

- Good at putting herself in others shoes, even if she doesn’t like them.

- Gets frustrated with her physical inability very easily.

- Is a bit of a smart aleck and is very sarcastic.

- Blames herself for everything that happens after the first vault is opened.

- Teaches herself new things all the time and learns by doing.

- A hard worker and tends to be a workaholic. Like so:

- Well aware of her limits. Can and will ignore them.

- Brave. Isn’t afraid of anyone or anything even when she should be.

MISC

- Is closest to her older sisters and Bryn

- Originally wanted to be a Herbologist (Since Magizoologist and Keeper for the Holyhead Harpies were both out of reach due to her epilepsy) but fell in love with Commentating. Decided to do Herbology after she either retired from commentating or got sick of it, whichever came first.

- Jacob calls her Pip or Mouth depending on his mood. Fiadah calls her half pint. Rubin and Wren call her Redbird.

- Wasn’t allowed to have her own pet growing up. Her Grandma (who lived with them up until her death in Hecate’s Seventh Year) had a pet spider named Shelob that HATED children and would often terrorize Danny, Sean, and Hecate.

- Adopted as many pets as she could when she got to Hogwarts, because her mother made the mistake of telling her she could have as many animals as she wanted once she got to school.

- Hecate’s great-grandmother invented the Epilambanein Potion specifically for the Ames family, as seizures after waking visions had been quite common for centuries.

- Hecate’s waking visions are terrifying and usually end in an epileptic fit. Additionally, she often has nightmares. Fortunately, those do not end in a seizure.

- Pangur Ban can sense when Hecate is about to seize/have a vision and alerts her so she can take the potion.

- Joined Frog Choir because she thought there would be frogs. Merula teases her about it mercilessly.

Credit for the profile goes to @hogwartsmysterystory

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sofrpc · 5 years

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⌖*ﾟ— 400 UNIQUE AND UNDERUSED FEMALE NAMES

in honor of returning to the rpc, i have created a masterlist of 400 unique and underused female names ! these are all listed in alphabetical order, and although i dont claim any of these as my own, please don’t copy and paste straight into another masterlist. feel free to use the names in any way you like, i hope this gives you muse for your characters (my faves are bolded) — also smash that like or reblog if you found this useful, thank you !

aliyah, acacia, adabelle, adair, adelie, adelina, adley, adrienne, ainsley, alana, alaska, alessia, alfie, allora, amanita, amara, ambrosia, amelie, ambrosia, analia, anastasia, andrea, aneka, angelica, ana-marie, ana-sofia, anthea, ariel, arielle, arizona, asteria, astrid, atlanta, auburn, audrey, aurelia, aurora, autumn, avalee, avanelle, avery, aviana, axa

baila, bailey, baize, bambi, bardot, barry, beatrix, bee, benilde, bethia, beverly, bexley, billie, bindi, birdie, blake, blanche, blaze, blossom, blue, bonita, bonnie, braelyn, brielle, brinley, brinx, brona, bronte, brooke, bryce

cailin, calla, camila, camille, carmen, catalina, cecilia, celine, celestia, chanel, chantelle, chelsea, cheryl, claire, clara, claudia, clea, cleo, colette, corine, courtney, cynthia

dahlia, dakota, darlene, darodah, dawn, deidra, delaney, delilah, denise, desiree, destiny, dinah, dove, dylan

eden, effie, eileen, eiza, electra, elena, elise, ellie, elodie, eloise, elora, ember, emerson, esme, estelle, evelyn, evolee

farah, farren, faye, felicity, fern, finley, fleur, florence, frankie, freya, frieda

gaia, galiena, genie, gia, gianna, gigi, gisela, giselle, genesis, grecia, greer, greta, gwendolyn

hadlee, harlow, harlee, harlyn, harper, hayden, hazel, helena, heidi, holland

ida, ileana, imogen, indianna, indie, inessa, ingrid, inna, iris, irene, isabel, isadora, isla, ivana, ivory, ivy

jacinta, jadelyn, jamie, jamilla, jaylah, jenna, jersey, jocelyn, jodie, jolene, jordyn, juliana, july, juniper, juno

kaia, kalina, kalani, karina, katherine, kaya, kaylee, keegan, kelby, kelsey, kendall, kendra, kenna, kiara, kimberly, kinsley, kristina, kyra

lara, laurel, layla, leia, leighton, leilani, lena, lesley, leona, leticia, liberty, liliane, lilo, loraine, lorelei, lori, london, lorena, lucia, luisa, lumi, luna, lynn

maeve, maize, malia, marcella, mariana, marissa, margot, marisol, marjorie, marlene, matilde, mavis, mazikeen, melodie, merlia, micah, mikaela, mila, milena, miriam, mirielle, mona, myrsina

nadia, nadine, naomi, naressa, nathalia, naya, neila, neo, nicola, nikita, noelle, nora, nova, nur, nyla, nyx

octavia, odelia, odina, olena, olita, olive, olivia, olympia, opal, ophelia, oriana, orion, orla, orlena

paige, paislee, pandora, pearle, penelope, pepper, perrie, petra, peyton, phoebe, pilar, pip, piper, pippa, priscilla, priya, prudence

queenie, quella, quinn, quinta

raffa, rana, raven, regina, remi, rhea, rhiannon, river, robin, rome, rosabelle, rosalie, rosalyn, rosette, rowan

sable, sadie, sage, sahar, salem, samira, saoirse, saskia, savannah, scout, selina, serafin, seraphina, shani, shenae, sia, siobhan, sloane, solene, solstice, sonya, summer, suri, sydney, sylvia

tamara, tana, tasmin, tasha, tatiana, teagan, tessa, thalia, thea, tilda, toni, tove, tricia, trixie, tuesday

udelle, ulani, uri, urma, ursa

valerie, valentina, valentine, venus, vera, verona, vivian

weslyn, whitney, willa, willow, winnie, wynona, wynter

xahlia, xana, xandra, xanthi, xena, xylia

yara, yasmine, yana, yani, ysabel, yvette, yvonne

zada, zahara, zara, zariah, zaylee, zeina, zelda, zelena, zeriah, zoelle, zuri

#names masterlist #female names masterlist #name masterlist #masterlist #rph #my masterlist #mine #mine: masterlist

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steveconte · 2 years

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The video for my song “Flying” will be featured in the Manhattan Film Festival - it plays on June 20th between 5-7pm! Thanks to director/producer Peter Perenyi, producer Sean Quinn, editor Orion Perenyi and all the great crew members - and my co-star Sara Antkowiak! 😎🎶🎥 https://www.manhattanff.com/view-screening/1657 #steveconte #bronxcheer #flying #video #music (at Manhattan, New York) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cd-7znCOpYD/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#steveconte #bronxcheer #flying #video #music

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lucastheunlucky · 4 years

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Ease of Learning - Orion&Luke

Summary: Orion accepts a part time job at Yum!Pizzeria and meets Luke! They make food together, learn how to prep for a restaurant, and find great enjoyment in each other’s company. @3starsquinn

Set up: [text] I’m in the kitchen, just come in and on through. Bring some knives if you have them, and wear rubber soled shoes.

Lucas finally had help and he was probably a little too giddy about it. This week has been the nicest week he’s had since he was shot in the head. Almost five fucking years for him to have this, and to think people had such nice lives all the time. Lucas already had everything laid out, cleaned, and prepared, and to hopefully seal the deal with the trainee. He had taken the time to get a new white, chef’s shirt for them so it felt a little more official. It was completely a bribe, but he couldn’t help it. He could find help for the front, cashier, and waitress staff, but not in the kitchen because he always kept himself isolated. This was a huge step for Lucas. He sat down at the main station, writing out a new recipe he had worked on, not pizzeria related, but Lucas’ future fine dining restaurant that resides only in his head now. Soon. He had a photo on the wall now, a sketch of the new concept. Eventually this place will be truly his dream.

Orion only owned hunting knives, and he only kept them begrudgingly just in case the situation were to ever arise that they were needed. Luckily, Ricky was into cooking and owned some pretty decent knives, which Rio was able to borrow for the evening. He had been inside the pizza places for more times than he could keep track of. It was a local favorite and the best pizza place in town. Rio didn’t have a ton of experience with actual cooking, which made this position a bit more ideal for Rio’s situation. Pretty much the only thing his family had employed him to help with when it came to cooking was prep work. It wasn’t exactly a surprise that Rio was the most detail oriented and meticulous of the Quinn family. Plus, he had good reflexes, like supernatural reflexes. He got to the door to the restaurant and knocked at it, spotting who he assumed would be his boss through the window and waving towards him. It wasn’t until the door opened that the tingling sensation shot through Rio’s body. There was a werewolf, somewhere around here. His tried to focus his hearing out for a moment, to see if he felt anybody around the place. But all he could sense was Lucas, opening the door to let Rio in. A giddy smile broke out across Rio’s face. He could only imagine the meltdown his parents would have had if they knew that he was working for a werewolf. A werewolf! Amazing. Rio happily held his hand out as an introduction. “Hey there! It’s Orion. Or Rio. Whichever you prefer. I’ve probably said this a million times already, but I really appreciate this, I can’t wait to get started.”

Lucas felt the enthusiasm immediately, and fed off of it to ease any concern. The other was a handsome younger man, with bright eyes, and Lucas felt a slight pang at how the youth held this special kind of energy. One, he probably wouldn’t have anymore now that he was in his thirties. Lucas shook his hand with a firm grip, palms rough. “Come on--” he chuckled, walking him into the pizzeria, and back in through the kitchen doors. Not a lot of people have seen this area, and Orion, well-- he will be the first person ever to work next to Lucas in the kitchen. It was a strange feeling, to let someone else into his space, but Lucas was trying with everything he had, to not let this hunter have so much control over his life. And in here, his pizzeria now that the deed was transferred-- he wanted to make a work family. “The kitchen is simple in design, we cook in a stone oven, but he have gas ovens as well for other things, that’s a smoker for the meats, and all the prep gets put in here,” he hulled open a large fridge where a bunch of empty containers usually filled with ingredients. “You know how the menu works, since I change it every day, you will have a different prep list. Which is nice, it shakes it up. So,” he pulled out the chef’s shirt and waved it between them. “Put this on, and let me see how you cut an onion.”

It was a bit surreal, following his boss behind the counter and following him to a portion of the pizza place that he had never seen before. After spending so long at the counter ordering, it seemed weird to walk behind the counter. Or maybe the weird part was that he had never had a job before and this was all new to him. Either way, it was a mixture of excitement and nerves. He nodded, familiar with the new choices every day. It was pretty easy to tell how passionate Lucas was about the place, which could only be a good thing. When Lucas pulled the chef shirt free, Orion was so excited for the chef shirt until he realized that the chef shirt was short sleeved, which meant… Oh boy. He couldn’t not wear it, right? That probably wasn’t an option. Rio stood there for a moment long before grabbing it and slipping it over his long sleeve shirt. He sighed, rolling his sleeves up to the sleeve of the chef shirt, exposing a string of scars and bruises along his arms. He immediately jumped into washing his hands and pulling one of the knives that he borrowed from Ricky out to cut the onion, hoping that they would not talk about the scars or bruises and just focus on the prepping. “So, uh my friend taught me that we cut off both ends and then cut the onion in half, take the skin off.” He spoke aloud and did the motions as he said them, trying to remember what Ricky had done while cutting them. “Once you have it in half you can just kinda… chop it” He said, cutting sections from the onion into what looked like sort of a half moon shape. “You probably need it like chopped into tiny pieces, right?”

Lucas gave Orion some space, not wanting to be all up in his area quite yet. He noticed the scars, but Lucas was also a creature riddled with them. He hated when people looked at them or asked questions he couldn’t explain about them, so he just acknowledged how hard that motion might have been for Orion, and stood calmly, with that understanding without bringing it up. “That shirt makes it feel official right?” he chuckled to keep the mood light. “Well, first-- you should sharpen your knife.” Lucas had set him up for failure, but it was a good way to remember. “Always do that step first, so you don’t cut your fingers or squish the vegetables.” He pulled out his japanese blades, with beautiful orange handles, and sharpened it quickly. “You are close, from here, lay it like this and you want to aim for about half inch pieces of onion. Unless-- I call for strips which happens sometimes, especially with the bbq pizza’s. Chop down, take your time until you get the motions, hold your fingers like this so they don’t get caught. Then you can go faster--” Lucas showed the motions at a good pace on his own board, which was actually harder cause he does it so fast all the time. “This is called a small dice-- which vegetables do you think get cut up like this?”

Orion glanced down at the shirt that Lucas had given him, “It really does. I feel pretty legit.” He smiled, thankful that his new boss hadn’t mentioned the scars. It was stupid of him to show them off anyways. “Right, right. Sorry. Of course that makes sense.” He sighed. Strike one he supposed. Though it didn’t seem to bother Lucas much. He had told Rio that he would train him how to do it properly. So this was training, and a nice, peaceful training at that. “Woah Those knives are really cool.” He stared at the design on the blades. He watched Lucas cutting the onions, clearly way more fluid than his parent had ever been with a blade. Though they had never really claimed to be great cooks. “Got it. I can do that. I mean, I can do that with practice.” Luckily for Rio, he was a pretty fast learner. “Uh..” Rio tapped his fingers against the cutting board to think of what a pizza place would use for small cuts. “Onions, obviously. Peppers, probably. Maybe like tomatoes, if you add any in your pizzas. Something like that?”

“You will get it quick, don’t worry,” Lucas smiled about the knives, they were very special to him. “They are neat right? I worked years to get a legitimate set. There are a lot of knockoffs on the market.” Lucas nodded to the few he said, and pulled out a plate that had all of them cut correctly in the varying ways he liked on a beautiful spread. “Most are sliced-- mushrooms, banana peppers, jalapeno’s, the ones cut down the side like those. Then you have the smallest, minced. That, you won’t do for a while cause it’s the hardest. But, if you practice these other cuts, I’ll show you and you can practice at home. So, using that plate as a guide-- lets prep for tomorrow.” He quickly pulled over the menu, laying it out between them. “We are doing three pizza’s, see what we need? I always label it well. Lets just get some practice in, don’t worry about making it perfect. I’ll do it with you, and if you don’t know just ask alright?.” Lucas tied an apron on, and cracked his knuckles, and got to work.

Orion liked this. It was almost relaxing, in a way that cooking had never been for him before. But Lucas was a calming presence. Patient and warm, it was a welcome change. Lucas showed off exactly what the cuts were supposed to look at and Orion tried studying each one, hoping that just staring at them long enough would make it stick in his brain. It worked for books. “Perfect. My roommate loves to cook, I’ll make sure to help prep. Get some good practice in.” Despite Lucas telling Rio not to worry about it being perfect, Rio knew that he was going to worry about it. He had always been a perfectionist. But this was the new Rio. The one that didn’t bother with the Quinn name. He could be more chill now. The new and improved Rio. He looked at the menu, “Well this sounds amazing.” Rio laughed. Maybe he’d need to stop by and pick some up for himself and his roommates. “Definitely. Please just yell at me if I’m doing anything wrong.” He joked, jumping into it as well to get started on the prepping.

For the first time in almost five years, the sound of two knives against cutting boards echoed in the kitchen. It warmed Lucas’ entire soul, in a comforting and familiar way that he used to cook in the kitchen with his family before he went into hiding. He knew, all along, he wanted this feeling back, almost desperately, but always fear hid in the back of his mind. Luring him to be hesitant. The man who captured him, tortured him-- didn’t have to infect this place. His pizzeria, and maybe in the future, something more fine in nature. He paused Rio a few times to correct how he was holding the knife, pulling his hand back on it, or fixing the rocking of the blade, but Lucas could see that the other had some kind of experience holding a blade, maybe just not cooking ones. Lucas cleaned his knives, and watched the other work for a few minutes, cherishing the moment-- hoping, he’d like it here. A soft smile twitched his lips. “Two hours have gone by ya know--” he said with a knowing sound. “Set an alarm when you are here, time-- flies when you prep, especially while alone. How are you feeling about it?” Lucas pulled out a slab of bacon, slicing down thin pieces. “You hungry? Cause for some reason, I want breakfast right now.”

Orion fell into an easy groove working next to Lucas. Every now and again Lucas would help readjust his grip on the knife or show him some trick to make the cutting easier, but it was always done with good spirits and with the best of intentions. It honestly didn’t really even feel like work. When Lucas mentioned that two hours had already gone by, Rio barely believed it. “Seriously? Woah. I didn’t even notice.” He shrugged. “I feel great. Like this is too good to be true.” Rio definitely didn’t consider himself lucky enough to deserve this. He had been so nervous about starting to work that he had practically spiraled once he accepted Lucas’ offer and Erin’s. But both places seemed really cool. “Holy crap, really? I’m always starving. Like, all the time. This is amazing.” He bounced excitedly, a grin plastered on his face. “What can I do to help?”

“Haha, same-- same,” Lucas suggested, both because he’s hungry, but also to see how Rio would do with orders shooting at him. That’s if he eventually wanted to tackle the kitchen while open then doing prep. He pointed towards the cast iron skillets. “Turn the gas on the stove to high flame, get that pan hot for me.” He sliced down the large piece of meat to create a stack of bacon for them, tossing it onto a plate, and brought it over to the stove. “If you look in the walk in fridge, there are eggs in there, and cheese of course,” Lucas couldn’t help it, he loved cheese sprinkled on his eggs since he was a little boy. The pan heated up quick, and Lucas put the bacon in it, the sizzle immediate. He flipped on the hood, the smoke traveling up and out of the small space, and smell-- it was already to die for. “Crack those eggs for us, put them all in a bowl. I can eat six eggs-- if you can believe it. Haha. I haven't had dinner yet, so it needs to stick. Cube some butter from there,” he pointed, “and dice up some scallions. Don’t salt anything yet--”

Hoping not too screw anything up, Orion made a mental list of what he needed to do. He started with the oven, flipping it on high and grabbing a pan to start heating it up. He then slid over to the ginormous fridge and slid inside of it, searching around for a long minute until he hunted down the eggs and cheese, grabbing a carton of eggs and a few separate bags of cheese, “I wasn’t sure which kind of cheese you preferred so I grabbed… all of it. I can eat literally anything.” He set the eggs and cheese down on one of the counters and took in the smell of the bacon. Amazing. He laughed at Lucas, popping the carton of eggs open and pulling eggs out one at a time, cracking them into the bowl and putting the empty shell back into the carton for the moment. He wondered if large appetites came with Werewolf territory? Hunters tended to have a bigger appetite than regular humans, because they had to give energy for the heightened senses and strength. It was only logical that werewolves would be similar. After cracking all the eggs, he hunted down the butter next, starting to cube it before asking, “How much should I cut? Like a whole stick? He probably should know something like that, if he was an actual adult that cooked ever. After he cut those, scallions would be next. “Do you cook here a lot on your own time too? Or do you have your own fancy set up where you live?”

“No, about four tablespoons or four decent slices,” Lucas peered over at Orion working hard, making sure everything was right, and taking the time to find the right ingredients. A blossom of pride filled the wolf, and a kind smile surfaced while he flipped the bacon in the cast iron. “Make sure you separate the tops and bottoms of the scallions.” He didn’t even peer over at the stuff being prepared, accepting however he did them in a show of trust. “I, heh,” Lucas never bragged or boasted about himself, he always got a little shy over stuff which is why in high school no one really knew he wasn’t just a football player, but also a huge science club nerd. “I actually have training in fine dining if you can believe it. I also have been studying authentic Chinese cuisine for about five years now. My home set up isn’t as nice as this, so I do tend to cook here if I can. I experiment a lot, I want to have a really nice place eventually.” He reached for the eggs, pushing the bacon to one side of the pan to let the fat heat and coat the pan before tossing the eggs in. With a pair of chopsticks he grabbed each cube of butter, folding it into the eggs as he broke the yolks and let it all cook in bacon fat with gentle motions to fold them into stacks. “Get a small pan, heat a little oil, and toss those white scallions into the pan, keep them moving so they don’t burn. Hey, those don’t look too bad.” He complimented on the scallions. “Then get plates, this will be one in two minutes.”

Orion followed the boss’ instructions for the butter and passed it off to him when he began working on the scallions. Unsure exactly what to do with them, he resorted to cheating a bit, if this were some sort of graded test at least. He pulled a video up on his phone, watching a few seconds of it before following them himself, cutting up some not perfect, but decent scallions. “Chinese cuisine?? That’s so cool! You know back in the Zhou dynasty rice was considered a luxury. It was insanely priced and only the richest classes could afford to eat it. It’s crazy to think about that, since rice is such a common staple in so many cultures nowadays.” He rattled off, immediately happy to have something to talk about. Even if it was nerdy. “I think it’s really cool that you have this space. It’s easy to tell how much you care about it.” Orion grabbed a small pan and took a minute to hunt down the oil, pouring it into the pan and setting it on the stovetop. “Thanks! Full disclosure, I totally googled it to find out how to cut them correctly.” He laughed, outing himself and finally tossing the scallions in the pan, pushing them around in the pan. This was how people kept them from burning, right? After a minute, Rio followed Lucas’ directions and went to grab plates, “This smells amazing”

Lucas actually didn’t know that bit of information, and he’d have to remember it. “My neighbor has all these old family recipes, none of her family is here in the states, and she filled my head with them so they’d not be lost. If you really want some good cooking though, she is the one to stand next too, she’s got that grandma energy-- and love in all her food.” When he disclosed he googled it Lucas couldn’t even fault him. “I get it, just watch your phone in here, I have lost many of mine in a bowl of tomato sauce by accident.” Lucas placed the bacon, and eggs on the plates, taking the warm scallons to sprinkle on the side. The slices of the green parts of the scallions he mined quickly with his knife, then sprinkled it on top with a crackle of salt and pepper, and a dash of cayenne powder. “There,” he wiped the edges, and picked both plates up and moved them over to a table in the corner. Setting them down, he grabbed forks, and a water for them, and pulled his chef shirt off, tucking it on the back of the chair. He waited for Rio to sit before he did, and settled. “I’m sure you will be busy with everything, but know this place doesn’t need to be stressful. Even if you can only work two hours that’s enough to get me by. So-- thank you, for wanting to try it out.”

It looks like they had wrapped up for the night. Or at least to eat.Orion followed Lucas’ example, taking the chef shirt off and rolling his sleeves back down. He instantly felt better with his arms covered again. “Your neighbor sounds great, that’s nice of her to share the knowledge.” Obviously, Rio was a fan of sharing knowledge. He wasn’t sure who would major in history that didn’t like sharing information with others. Plus the whole Scribe thing. He slid into the empty chair at the table and took a long drink from the water. He had been so preoccupied with the prepping that he hadn’t even realized how thirsty he was. With the oven on, the place got pretty hot. “Of course. Well, again I really appreciate the flexibility. I want to help out as much as I can, and hopefully make your life a little easier.” It honestly seemed too good to be true. A boss that wanted him to work at his own pace and understood that he had a life outside of work. But this wasn’t the time for sappy admissions, it was food time. Rio used his fork to stab a large portion of the eggs and stuff them into his mouth. “Holy” He started saying, but stopped himself so he could finish chewing the food he had in his mouth. “This is amazing, holy crap. You’re like a food wizard.” He laughed once he was done chewing and right before inhaling another bite.

“Food wizard--” he repeated with a breathless chuckle, diving into his own meal. Highly amused, but Lucas always, enjoyed watching people eat his food, the way it lit up their face. The shock, the joy, the savoring. All good emotions and a moment of calm for anyone. They always settled down, sat, leaned, or just stopped worrying about their lives when they ate something he made. It was peaceful, and joyous, and it was why Luke wanted to be a chef. He seemed like a good guy, he hoped his life was okay, not too stressful, filled with more fun than pain. Maybe here could be enough of an oasis, it’s always been for him. “Text me when you are working, and I’ll work around it. I’m very flexible, and if we need to close for a day of scheduling it’s okay. Also, don’t forget, every once in a while we have that gross pizza challenge night. You should bring some friends next time, or, if you wanted to make up some bad concoctions for people, you can help me.”

Orion kept stuffing the food in his mouth as he listen to Lucas. He tried slowing himself down a little. He had spent so much time eating alone in the Scribe headquarters that he had sorta forgotten about manners. Plus he wanted to savor the taste and enjoy the food that he was eating instead of scarfing it all down in a single sitting. “Sure, of course. I can- whatever you need. If you ever need me to come in some night or another time just let me know and I’ll work around it as best I can.” He laughed, remembering the gross pizza challenge but never coming for it. “I think of at least three people that would very willingly come to that challenge. I’ll make sure to bring them along next time.” It felt weird even to him, saying that he had three friends. “I’ll definitely start brainstorming some ideas for that, it sounds fun I can’t believe I’ve never been to one.”

“Awesome, please do, not that I run out of many, most people have requests now after their friends fail some combination,” Luke continued to fill Orion in on the business, where things are, and how long things should take. Showing the times and the organized boards where the information was just in case he needed it. The night didn’t always move so quickly, so easily. But having another person here was already making the space feel like a real kitchen. One, that maybe someday could have two, three chefs in it.

#x: orion #x: ease of learning #{its soft :) }

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divineluce · 3 years

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Research Reunion || Orion & Luce

Timing: May 11th, 2021

Tagging: @3starsquinn & @divineluce

Location: The Scribrary

Description: Who else would know phoenixes better than a Scribe? Luce goes to Rio for help-- third time’s the charm. Right?

Grabbing her backpack from the passenger seat of her car, Luce glanced up at the Scribary. She remembered the last time she’d been here, vividly, in fact. She’d been asking Rio for help that day too. Help for… Swallowing, she slid the backpack over her shoulder, keenly aware of the books inside. They were the one she’d borrowed from Rio, months and months ago. Books about ghosts, about exorcisms. She’d poured over every single page, trying to figure out how she could do something. And in the end, she hadn’t even been able to help. She’d failed. Nadia was safe, but no thanks to her. It was like how Remmy was safe, how Bea was safe-- by virtue of being nowhere near this town, they were safe. Luce made her way to the door of Scribe HQ and knocked on the door. “Hey. I need your help.” She said, not looking at Rio. The last time they’d seen each other… She didn’t want to think about that. Instead, she awkwardly held up her backpack, “I’ve also got some overdue books.”

Orion hadn’t expected to hear from Luce. The two hadn’t seen each other since everything with Lydia. And the last that he had heard from her was the alcoholic apology for punching him. Rio just hadn’t been sure which time specifically she had been apologizing for. Maybe it was meant as a catch all. Broken cheek bone aside, getting punched was nowhere near the reason that Rio expected the two hadn’t seen each other since the incident. The whole situation with Lydia… it still weighed on Rio. People had died. Instead of getting to help, Rio had been promise bound into hurting his sister and friends all in an attempt to help a serial killer escape. He still hadn’t forgiven himself for being so naive. At the end of the day, Rio and Luce had never been particularly close. She was more like the sister of the best friend of the person Rio had been dating. Familiar with each other by extension, acquaintances by association. “Hi there.” Rio held the door open, scratching the back of his neck as a nervous tick while conveniently covering half of his face with his arm. Just the memory of Luce made his face throb. “I really hope we can do introductions without the uh- punching thing this time.” Rio smiled innocently, though the joke sounded more like a genuine plea than anything a normal person would laugh at. But if there was anything that could get Rio out of that funk it was the mention of his books. “Really?! That’s amazing. That means I can take you off my list. Come on, follow me we can head back to the library.” Rio waved her inside and started off down the winding hallways, “So uh- it’s been a while. How ya been?”

Grimacing at the memories of how she’d… greeted him in the past, Luce offered a tight lipped smile. “Nope. No punching this time.” She said. Christ. He was just a fucking kid. And she’d fucking clocked him. Twice. She needed to work on that. She needed to work on a lot of things, but decking kids was definitely on the list. Slipping the bag off her shoulder, Luce pulled out two of the thick leather bound books and tossed them to Rio. “Yep, right here. Ghosts and Ghouls and Diaries of an Exorcist. Real light reading.” She said before squinting in slight confusion. “A list?” She echoed as she followed him inside. The hallway seemed a bit brighter than the last time she’d been here and she realized there were lights installed along the halls. Lights that hadn’t been there before-- Winston’s handiwork, she realized. Winston must have fixed the place up before she left. Yet another person who was better off away from here.

Shrugging, she mulled over her response. Out of magic. Out of people to turn to. Which is why she was here, why she’d talked to Leah. “Keeping on keeping on. Just trying to fix some shit, that’s all. What about you?” She asked.

It felt like there were a million books in the Scribrary. Far too many for Orion to ever truly miss a random ghost book that Luce had borrowed a few months back. Still, there was something oddly comforting about knowing that one was going to be back where it belonged and he could mark it off the list. “Oh yeah. I sort of started a list. Like a book check out system, so that I can keep a better track where the books are. If I can’t find one I start to get stressed, so it’s a bit calming to know which ones are in someone else’s hands.” Rio shrugged following the explanation. Even he knew that it seemed a little over the top, but considering people had found their way in before without his knowledge he also thought it’d be a good idea to keep track just in case a book disappeared that he hadn’t lent out. Farther down the hallway, he couldn’t help himself from making further conversation, “For the record, what I said earlier? When you first got here? Totally a joke. I don’t blame you for either time you-” Rio held up a fist and motioned towards his face. “Just so you know.”

Rio wondered what Luce meant by that. What exactly was she trying to fix? It probably had something to do with what she was doing here asking for his help. “Good to hear.” Rio answered regardless. It hadn’t been the most positive answer, but keeping on was about as good as it got in White Crest, “Loaded question. I guess I’m alright, all things considered. It’s just been a long year already.” He didn’t want to bother Luce with all of his issues. It was just depressing and sad, “But I’m glad you dropped by. I’m happy to help with whatever you need.”

“Huh. Guess that makes sense.” Luce said, because it did on some level. She’d never liked books, never really cared much for anything that she couldn’t listen to or see or feel. But it made sense for Rio to keep track of shit. They continued down the hallway in relative silence, Luce aware of how fucking awkward it all was. She’d never really given a shit about Rio. Which was a pretty terrible thing, but it was true. Rio wasn’t someone she’d bothered to get to know-- he was just Winston’s boyfriend. But, he wasn’t just that, was he? He’d been there, that day… he’d seen what she’d done. He’d stood between her and Lydia and she hadn’t cared. And fuck. He was… human. Innocent. “You should. I shouldn’t have punched you. Either time.” She said, her voice dull, sounding almost as numb as she felt. The memories of that day still haunted her. Day and night, what she’d done, it stayed with her.

“Yeah.” Luce said offhandedly. “I feel that. A long fucking year already.” It was hard to believe that a single year had passed since she’d been pulled from her cabin by her parents, forced to live with Bea and Nell. Now, she would give almost anything to even see her parents, let alone argue with them over whether it was really necessary for her to live with her sisters as a grown ass adult. Clearing her throat as they entered a room lined with shelves crammed full of books, “Great. I’m looking for books on phoenix’s. Specifically stuff on what can cause corruption. I reached out to,” Luce paused, not knowing if Rio was exactly on the up and up with Leah, “someone who knows about phoenix’s, but they didn’t know much either.”

It was obvious from her tone that Luce didn’t want to talk about it. Orion couldn’t claim that he wanted to talk about it either. It was awkward. Especially with someone he didn’t actually know well. “I mean the first time was just a misunderstanding. I can’t fault you for looking out for Winston.” Rio shrugged. He hadn’t loved it when it had happened. And he had mostly wished that Luce would have given him at least a minute to try to explain himself before she chose to punch him instead. But Rio and Luce weren’t super close. Luce cared about Winston and owed nothing to Rio. “I can’t say I would have done the same, but that’s just because I’m very non confrontational. I’d rather silently second guess from afar.” The second time was an entirely different story. “And we all know that I wasn’t in control with Lydia. You had to do what you had to do. If anyone should be apologizing it’s me. I threw a knife at you.” The reminder of it flashed through his head. The snapping of Athena’s arm. The air whistling as the knife flew and landed in the back of Luce’s leg. He blinked the images away and tried to focus again. “I’m just saying, neither one was exactly unmotivated.”

Inside the library, Rio was able to breathe a tiny bit easier. Something about the place calmed him. Maybe being here with Luce was not any less awkward than it was in the hallway, but it felt less claustrophobic. Physically and mentally. “Phoenixes?” Rio repeated, crossing his arms and giving a huff as he tried to consider what might be useful. “Honestly? There’s not a ton of information on them in the Scribrary. I have a theory, but can’t really prove it. But I think maybe one of them knew enough about their past lives to take the books that were stored here. Or the Phoenixes that worked as Scribes never trusted them enough with the knowledge.” All of that was speculation, a theory mostly beginning when he learned that Leah’s past life had been involved with the Scribes. Part of Rio wanted to question Luce’s source. Given her sister’s relationship with Leah, it made sense that Leah directly might be the source. But he didn’t have any interest in outing the woman if Luce wasn’t privy to that knowledge. Leah was actually starting to trust Rio, despite his hunter heritage. He didn’t want to give her any reason to jeopardize that. “But I definitely have some stuff on them. Follow me.”

“I should have stopped to think. To ask questions, get some straight answers.” Luce replied dully, her boots falling heavily against the solid stone pavers of the building. How fucking old was this place anyways, she wondered absently. It seemed older than the town itself. “I should have done a lot of shit differently.” She said, but grimaced at Rio’s next words. You had to do what you had to do. No. She’d done much more than that. She remembered the way she’d set fire to innocent bystanders, people caught in the crossfire of a world they weren’t even aware of. She could feel the flames curl and crackle against their skin. She could remember the way rage and fear had coursed through her. “Sure. They weren’t unmotivated.” But they were motivated for the wrong fucking reasons.

Glancing around at the massive store of books, Luce had a hard time believing that the Scribes didn’t have much on the subject of Phoenix’s. They had to have something. They had to have information. Or else… what was Luce going to do? Give up. Go back to Adam and tell her she wasn’t the right person for the job. Her magic was gone, her sister was gone, her family had abandoned her for what she was. And now, she couldn’t-- she couldn’t even find a goddamn book. Luce wrapped her arms around herself as she listened to him, as though she could hold all the remains of who she was together. “Alright. Makes sense to me. Theories and stuff aren’t my wheelhouse, but sure. Lead the way.” She nodded.

Unable to argue that, Orion just shrugged. At the time, he had certainly wished that Luce had stopped to question Rio on the topic or tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. Partially because he didn’t enjoy getting punched in the face, but mostly because he had hoped that he ame off friendly and pleasant enough that Luce might have questioned the misunderstanding entirely. He had to remind himself that the two had not been friends at the time. He wasn’t even sure what they were now. “Yeah. Well I get that much. I would have done a lot differently too.” Like never promise a random woman that he would protect her at all costs. The only problem was that he wasn’t sure he would have done anything different. He still wanted to give people the benefit of the doubt. He just couldn’t help himself from making stupid decisions.

Rio didn’t waste any time leading her to the few materials that he had found on phoenixes. Most were journals by other scribes talking about their experience with them, though there were a few self-collected bestiaries that almost devoted a small section to them. Certainly not as vast as some of the more common supernatural creatures. Books about vampires or werewolves took up multiple bookshelves, while mentions of Phoenixes fit neatly on a single row. “I guess theories and stuff is sort of my area of expertise. If you want to call it that.” He honestly wasn’t sure what he would describe as his ‘wheelhouse’. When he got to the shelf, and pulled off a book and started flipping through it, “So if there’s anything about them it’s probably here. Feel free to start flipping through some of them. What kind of corruption do you mean?”

“Shoulda,” Luce kicked at a broken piece of cobblestone, “Coulda,” The stone bounced and skittered across the floor ahead of her, “Woulda.�� She said, a grim expression on her face. There were a lot of things she would have done differently. She wouldn’t have let herself get carried away by fear, by anger. She wouldn’t have called in a favor from a woman she hardly knew or understood. She wouldn’t have listened to the words of a kid, of a… fuck. She was more than just a kid. Athena was Rio’s sister. Christ. Rubbing her forehead, Luce followed him to a different section of the scribrary. The books here were all old, leather bound things, with worn spines. No doubt used by generations of Hunters and Scribes alike. And now… her. To try and do something good for once.

“The way I see it, you’re the expert here on books. Theories go right along with that.” She shrugged. Luce wasn’t a theory gal, wasn’t a reader, barely even gave a shit about learning things she cared about. Rubbing a hand on her arm, Luce thought back to the scene she and Adam had witnessed in the forest. The way the fires had burned an natural red, the way a curved beak had seemed to jut from the phoenix’s face, while their head remained human. Pulling another book from the shelf, she paused at an anatomical diagram of a phoenix, in both human and full form. How had the person who wrote this book figured out the anatomy? Had the phoenix in this sketch offered this knowledge? Or had it been taken? Luce cleared her throat. “The flames, they didn’t burn like normal fire. Or normal phoenix fire either. There were feathers, on fire, being shed all over the place. And they didn’t go out on their own. They just kept burning, like oil. And the flames, they didn’t look right. There was this shade of red, to them. I’ve never seen fire look like that before.” She frowned, “And I know fire.”

Listening to Luce’s description, a worried line settled across Orion’ face. “That sounds scary.” He didn’t know much about phoenixes, but that definitely didn’t sound normal. Plus, he trusted Luce if she said that it hadn’t been normal. “Definitely not something you see everyday.” Rio had a bad feeling that if the former Scribe phoenixes did know anything about this it wasn’t something that they would want stored in Scribe records for anybody in the group to see. His only hope was that something was left behind, or somebody was studying the phoenix without their knowledge. Just the thought of that made him feel gross, though. He didn’t want to operate like that. Studying someone that didn’t want their secrets out. He would be better. He had to be. “Do you think they were dangerous?”

Had it been scary? Maybe. At this point, Luce had seen so much shit in this town, done so much fucked up shit… it hadn’t really registered as scary. Which was a troubling thought-- one that she could deal with later. When she wasn’t trying to stop half the woods outside of White Crest from getting set ablaze. Shrugging, she continued to flip through her book, “Nope. Not at all. Apparently, they also were able to melt through a car. Which means they’re powerful. Real goddamn powerful.” She said, thinking back to the melted shards of glass and obsidian, the dried streambed. At Rio’s question, Luce paused. Yes, definitely. But not because they wanted to be. “They’re dangerous only because they’re out of control. Whatever happened to them, it doesn’t look like it was intentional. Magic might change someone’s appearance, but it wouldn’t be enough to alter their flames. I think they’re in trouble.” I think they’re afraid of what they’ve done. What they might do.

Orion continued flipping through his own book, but couldn’t help but glance up at Luce as she described the encounter. She sounded so casual while discussing so insanely powerful. Rio had been dealing with the supernatural his entire life and he still couldn’t quite manage to keep himself that calm. “Woah. Didn’t know that was something they could do. That’s like… insanely hot.” Rio had no idea exactly how hot, but definitely not a safe amount of hot. He realized moments too late what he had said. “Hot as in like actual temperature hot, I mean. Not like attractive hot. For the record. I mean melting a car might be very attractive. I’ve never seen it for myself.” Definitely time to focus on reading that book again. He pulled it up to try to head his reddening face and only peaked over the top to look back at Luce when she gave him the best news he had heard so far tonight. That she didn’t think it was intentional. She didn’t think they were dealing with someone evil, but someone that might need help. Now that he could get behind. “In that case, we have to find something. I want to help.”

“Sure is.” Luce said off-handedly as she read a paragraph about phoenix feathers and molting patterns. Hm. Nothing there. A bit late, she realized that Rio was sputtering over his words. Glancing up from her book, she offered a grin. “Keep it in your pants there. But no, I know what you mean. It’s real fucking hot. I’ve melted metal before, but that shit takes time. And I only did doorknobs. I could never cut something as huge as a car. Guess that’s what happens when you’re basically a living sun.” She said before going back to her book. Fuck, she hated reading. Why weren’t there like… audiobooks for this shit? Or some wise old person to tell her what was up? Well. There were plenty of wise old spell casters in town, the difference was… they just wouldn’t have anything to do with her anymore. She couldn’t exactly go to them for help. So, Rio and Leah were the next best thing. At Rio’s words, Luce looked at him again, expression pensive. “Why? This isn’t your responsibility, you don’t need to help me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you are. But why?” Was he trying to ease guilt the way she was, was he trying to atone?

“Ha ha. Very funny.” Orion laugh sarcastically, thankful that Luce didn’t spend much time teasing him on the subject. Instead, she surprised him. He knew about her family's power, but he had no idea she had been strong enough to use the fire to cut metal. “That’s impressive. I guess I should have known that fire magic like that could get that powerful.” The extent of his knowledge on spellcasters came from Winston and the Vural family admittedly. The Quinn family had never partnered much with spellcasters to help catch supernatural creatures. They had always been far too proud. He hadn’t been expecting Luce to question his intentions. It took him off guard, mostly because he didn’t really know them himself. Though he had more than a few ideas. “Um… I guess I don’t know the right answer to that.” Rio shrugged, but continued to consider the question, “I guess I’ve seen a lot of bad stuff in my life? I was raised as a hunter, told that supernatural people were inherently evil and unnatural. I knew that wan’t true, but I never got a chance to help them.” More often than not, Rio had stood idly by while watching them get slaughtered. It wasn’t a feeling that Rio would soon forget, the helplessness of knowing he couldn’t stop it. The disgust at himself for not trying anyways. He had failed so many people in this town. He just didn’t want to do that anymore. “Now’s my chance. I don’t want to waste it.”

“It can.” When it works. When it wants to. “But, I couldn’t do something like that even if I wanted to.” Luce said, saying the words her brain was thinking automatically. Luce’s mouth snapped shut and she stared at Rio. Fuck. Fuck. She hadn’t meant to say that. She didn’t-- she didn’t want more people to know about this than need be. She didn’t have the protection of the coven and Bea had only just gotten back from New York, she didn’t want to add more to her sister’s plate. Same went for Nell—she didn’t want to force her baby sister to watch her back. If more people knew that Luce was without her magic, it would paint a big fucking target on her back. “I didn’t say that. You didn’t hear anything about my magic. You got it?” She asked, voice shaking slightly.

Listening to his words, Luce couldn’t help but wonder how anyone could have thought that this kid could be a hunter. He might have the genes, but there wasn’t a cruel bone in his body. “Yeah. Don’t fucking waste it.” She repeated before looking blankly back down at the book that was clutched in her hands. Any other time, the pages would be scorched and smoking in her grasp, a byproduct of her stress and anger. But the pages were only slightly crumpled under her fingers. Fuck.

Orion was left confused and concerned about Luce’s comment. It had been said so quickly that it had almost completely gone over his head completely. But a few moments after Rio’s eyes narrowed as he became perplexed by the wording. His head tilted, glancing away from the book in order to get a better look at Luce. Before he even had a chance to question her, Luce was talking again. She seemed pretty adamant that this was not something to be spoken of. Or even remembered from the sounds of it. That only concerned Rio more. “Right. Uh- didn’t hear anything.” Rio bit his lip and considered if there was anything else he should say. Adam had experienced something similar with his own abilities. Why did that thing only happen to people that actually wanted the powers? “But uh- if I did hear something, I’d definitely be there for you. Like to help figure that out. But I wouldn’t tell anyone. If I had heard anything.”

Not wasting the opportunity would be a lot easier if Rio knew what to do to help. That was the first step in helping others. Still, he appreciated Luce’s energy. It was intimidating for sure, sometimes downright scary. But it was surprisingly motivating. It made Rio want to find the answer to this more than ever. “I won’t. We’re going to help.” Rio tried remaining confident. Good vibes only. “Even if we have to write it ourselves.”

“Nope. You sure didn’t.” Luce said flatly before looking back at her book. It was useless though. She wasn’t the studying type usually and even less so when she had an audience. She glared up at him, ready to tear him a new one if he kept up on this subject. But, as she looked over at him and saw the expression on his face, she couldn’t help but sigh. She didn’t want his help, but… “We’ve got more important things to deal with than my shit. But thanks. You don’t need to, though.”

“Yeah.” She said with a nod before flicking through her book. “Whatever it takes.” Luce said quietly, the words familiar to her tongue. Not in the same context, not in the same way, but the words were just as true as they were a year ago. Whatever it takes. She’d right her wrongs, one step at a time. As she skimmed over the pages, she paused on what looked like… an ingredient list. It seemed to be talking about some kind of illness-- not corruption, exactly. But something that affected phoenix flames. “Hey. What do you think about this?” She asked, pointing at the list. “Essence of the phoenix stricken by disease. White flowered herbs found where wild creatures roam, bound with sage and lavender to purify. Tears of another freely given and,” Luce squinted at the text, “Fire. Lots of fire.”

Clearly, Luce was serious about not bringing it up. Orion continued to peak over the book at her, trying to pick up on any signs without asking. Asking wasn’t the right idea it seemed. Rio wasn’t sure that he could necessarily relate. He had always hated his abilities, had wished that they would go away. For him, losing them felt like a blessing in disguise. But for someone that seemingly liked and enjoyed the powers they had always had, it must be a lot harder. Like an extension of themselves. Rio didn’t understand, but he could guess that it must feel like losing a part of herself. “Point taken. Subject dropped.” Rio assured her, though he hoped at some point it would come up again.

Rio continued skimming through his own book until Luce pointed something out in the book she was looking through. He bent around to get a better look at the list and scanned through quickly, noting a few words that stuck out to him. “A phoenix disease? Never heard of that before. But that could make sense.” If there was ever a disease specific to phoenixes, one of the first things Rio would consider was their fire abilities and temperature. “So is the list some kind of spell? Or potion maybe?” He squinted at the list further and sighed, “They kept it pretty vague. Except for the fire part.”

At least he dropped it. That was something. Luce focused on the list-- there wasn’t much to go off of at all. It read more like an old ritual that the coven would do, one of the ancient rites that they did on a yearly basis. Big magic, powerful magic. The books Bea had kept, the ones on necromancy, they had featured lists similar to these. They were written to be vague for a reason. “It’s a spell. A potion would have more specific instructions, discussion about tinctures or timing. This is a ritual, some kind of cleansing. The sage and lavender tell me that much.” She tapped the line on the book before flipping the page. But, there were no further instructions, no other words. “Whoever wrote this, they kept their cards close to their chest. And I don’t blame them. The Scribe who figured this out, they must have worked with spellcasters and at least one phoenix. Can’t imagine either of them would have wanted the specifics of a ritual to be written out.” She said with a sigh and pulled out her phone to take a picture of the list. “I don’t know exactly what all of this means. The fire is clear and the lavender and sage are easy enough to source. The specifics of it, though. Can’t tell you.” Not for the first time, and certainly not for the last, Luce wished she was better at this. Better at all the parts of magic that she’d scorned. Because then, maybe she wouldn’t feel so lost.

Orion listened to Luce’s description intently. He was thankful to have a friend well versed on spells like that. That is what Luce was, right? A friend? Today more than ever, it seemed like there was actually a small chance of that. “Good to know.” Rio nodded, making a mental note of this in the back of his mind. He may never be involved in a spell or potion making, but he would at least remember how to tell a difference between the two, hopefully. “Big shocker there, a scribe being cryptic and vague.” He sighed. For a group dedicated to cataloguing supernatural knowledge for historical use, a lot of scribes didn’t love putting things in layman's terms. “I can’t tell you anything for sure, but I have a couple theories. That part about wild creatures. I would bet they’re referring to more than just your average wild animal. Probably somewhere with a large population of supernatural creatures. And this part,” Rio paused to look at the part about the tears of another, “Phoenix tears are supposed to be special, right? Some kind of super healer or something.”

“Witches aren’t much better. Must be a paranoid magic thing.” Luce said with a shake of her head before shutting the book. She couldn’t make heads nor tails of what it meant and, honestly, she wanted to be able to study the book on her own. It took her time to parse through magical shit, she didn’t pick up written spells and rituals quickly. “Mind if I borrow this? I’ll give it back sooner than the last batch.” She said, shaking the ancient book in her hand. “As far as what you’re saying… It makes sense, but keep looking for anything that might help. We don’t even know if this would help a phoenix who’s been corrupted. This is talking about disease, but I don’t think what we’re dealing with is a disease. I’ve got some leads I might track down, see if they can help.” She let out another sigh. “But yeah. Thanks for your help with this.”

Magic seemed fickle. Orion nodded at Luce’s statement, wondering what made it so different from hunter strength or a werewolf’s ability to turn. In the end, it was all some kind of magic, right? Some unexplained phenomenon that made people stronger or more capable than regular people. None of it made sense. But without any insight, Rio decided to just nod in agreement and leave it at that. “Yeah of course. Take whatever you want. I’ll just make a note of them before you leave. For this archive thing.” He shrugged, sure that she wasn’t interested in hearing about his attempts to modernize this ancient library. “Definitely. I’ll keep looking. Keep me updated okay? So I can help with stuff.”

Shoving the book into her backpack, Luce nodded. “I think just the one will be enough for me. It’s not exactly light reading.” She said as she shrugged on her bag. As she turned to leave, she glanced at the young Scribe for a moment. He really did want to help. And fuck, she needed the help. She wasn’t smart enough, didn’t know enough about magic outside of her own fire. And she couldn’t do this alone. It wasn’t possible, not if she wanted to help this person. “Yeah, I will. I’ll keep you posted. And if you find anything… let me know.” She said before turning her back on Rio and walking back down the dark corridors of the Scribrary. First Leah, now Rio. Who else would know about this? Who else could help her? Who else would understand why she… needed to do this?

It didn’t matter. It really didn’t. “Whatever it takes.” She repeated to herself. Whatever it takes, to bring some scrap of balance back to the world. To right the wrongs in her past. Whatever it takes.

#p: rr #p: orion quinn #chatzy #wickedswriting

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