[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/PJoe9Sw.png[/img][/center] [hr] [quote=Lyss]“I understand if you want to seek shelter here. You don’t have to tell us the real reason why you’re here, but I hope you come to trust us with that reason one day.” [/quote] Isla raised an eyebrow, even as she flinched at Lyss’ words. It was so close to a callout that she feared but not quite there… thankfully. It was her own fault for stumbling up where she normally wouldn’t and forgetting the reason she’d given for a moment. [color=f26522]“It’s not like you’ll believe the real one, anyway,”[/color] she murmured subconsciously under her breath before giving Lyss her full attention. She shifted where she sat and held the potted plant slightly closer… even as she realised a potted plant was not in any way comfortable or normal to hug. Well, whatever. Part of what was said rang far too close to the situation she’d been in before… a group of Extra-Normals dealing with a hell of a lot of problems. Not that there’d been a multi-millionare there but there’d certainly been apparitions. She winced as she remembered exactly what had happened with that apparition. Yeah, she’d hoped to avoid seeing something like that again… but she’d also known it was unlikely. [color=f26522]“I can’t say I’ve had many run ins with multi-millionares or government agencies, but I’ve come across my fair share of strong apparitions,”[/color] Isla said as if it wasn’t just one really strong apparition she’d come across and ran from with a bunch of children. Yup, definitely counted as experience. Then, more genuinely, she continued. [color=f26522]“I’m sorry for your loss… I know what it’s like to lose someone from a group you're in.”[/color] She left it at that, smiling before any slight hint of anxiety or sadness could be shown in her expression. It wasn’t like she’d even known the albino girl that died in Paradise, or the others that disappeared. It just served as another way to get closer to this new group. [quote=Lyss]"Are you willing to protect the members of this Coven, at the cost of your life, in return for your protection?" [/quote] [color=f26522]“Yes, I am,”[/color] Isla replied confidently, without a single sign of hesitation. It wasn’t entirely true because she wouldn’t risk her life for others… no, she wasn’t that selfless. But she would do what she could to protect them and get them out of harm’s way. How else could she expect the same back. [color=f26522]“But I can’t guarantee I’ll be useful in any kind of fight, just getting places quickly and getting people out of them. Even that I can’t do that regularly but! I’m willing to give it everything I’ve got, even if that's my life... though I really do hope it doesn't come down to that, because I quite enjoy living. But yes, the answer is yes.”[/color] [hr] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/sjpVOIa.png[/img][/center] [hr] Maya was running late. Now normally she wasn’t exactly the eager timekeeper who arrived exactly on time, or god forbid earlier, but she didn’t tend to be this late. She very vocally cursed her mother as she got stuck in traffic [i]once again[/i] on her way to their new meeting location. Why did it have to be so far away from literally everything? Couldn’t Blake have given them a mansion in the middle of the city, or maybe a really nice apartment? Just somewhere closer that she didn’t end up stuck in traffic on her way. She would have been more on time if she hadn’t gone through hours of nagging from her parents. By the time she pulled up to the beach house, she was already on edge and just about ready to snap. She kicked a rock on the pavement outside her car as she tried to calm down just a little bit. Letting the road rage carry onto a coven meeting was the [i]worst[/i] idea. Finally, when she felt like she wasn’t going to sound blast the first person she saw, Maya headed up towards the door. [i] “...all that a few days ago, she was the one responsible for Izzy’s death. I only discovered this yesterday when Agent Liao approached me.”[/i] The fuck? Maya froze in place, one hand clenching around the end of the white skirt she was wearing. Izzy was dead? She hadn’t been close to the other girl but nonetheless… it felt like a stab in the gut for two members to die so close together. And unlike Ellie, Izzy had been nice to the others and even offered Maya alcohol. Wasn’t that close to friendship? She was fun and now she was gone. Fuck. [quote=Lyss]"Are you willing to protect the members of this Coven, at the cost of your life, in return for your protection?" [/quote] [color=FireBrick]“Since when was that the deal?”[/color] Maya asked loudly as she stepped inside, folding her arms and immediately leaning on a nearby wall rather than sitting down. She glanced around everyone there and as expected, she was the last one there.[color=FireBrick] “I don’t remember ever agreeing signing up to throw my life away, even if you all think I run headfirst into danger.”[/color] Which she did, but that was besides the point. That was for [i]her[/i] not for the sake of protecting one of the girls. She certainly wasn’t going to die for them. Her gaze flickered to Isla, and she made a face. Another weirdo new member… they really were springing up everywhere. She didn’t even bother introducing herself before looking back to the others. [color=FireBrick]“I’m upset over… what happened to those two, honestly, but that doesn’t mean more of us should expect to sacrifice ourselves too.”[/color] Her words were harsher than she’d normally like when directed at one of the few people she actually liked in the group, Lyss, but it had been a long journey there and she had [i]not[/i] signed up for some self sacrificial bullshit. Count her out.