[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/FaCzAxe.png[/img]     [img]https://i.imgur.com/FePJtcZ.png[/img][/center]
 [right][b]Interactions:[/b] Naomi, Britney [@Punished GN] 
[code]Veni Vedi Veni - Parking Lot[/code][/right][hr]
Linqian's hand didn't get crushed under a car, thanks to the web girl's abstraction, which was nice. She'd been prepared to sacrifice it, in a move very unlike herself. Well, a crushed hand was better than being stung to death.

[color=CD5C5C]”Thanks,”[/color] she grunted to Naomi, rolling over to behind the same car as Britney (that she was now close enough to get to). Britney looked in about as good a state as Linqian was… Shot, but not bleeding out. Yet. It was difficult to think through the gunfire, the heat and the shouting. 

[color=CD5C5C]”Fuck,”[/color] she muttered, looking down at her side. It was bleeding more now. She could hardly feel or move her hand, limply pressed into her waist in a pathetic attempt to keep both wounds cool. It wasn’t working so well. 

But then the temperature dropped. 

Sweet, sweet coldness. Linqian's lowered body temperature was no longer fighting with the unnatural heat. The blood oozing out her wounds coagulated again, practically freezing as it touched her frigid skin. It was still fucking painful, she could feel the bullet underneath her skin and could barely move her injured hand, but she could last until she got a drink out of Sully's chalice... Or some other medical attention. 

She could actually think a bit. Linqian tried to figure out what was going on - it was difficult, with so much happening. She didn’t know who these girls (and one boy) were, but they were holding their own a lot more than her coven… And yeah, they had spells with range. Linqian wasn’t getting close enough to people with guns to do anything useful. It would be best to get away. Where was Sully? She didn’t care about the rest, they’d dug their own graves (Alizee and Eve) or could get out themselves (Stormy).

[color=CD5C5C]”We should grab Sully and get outta here,”[/color] she muttered to Britney, who was hopefully still with it enough to listen. [color=CD5C5C]”If you can move.”[/color]

If she could move. Linqian hadn’t actually tested it but… it’d be fine. So long as she didn’t increase her body temperature and let all the blood flow out of her! Which also meant she couldn’t touch anyone… shit. 

[color=CD5C5C]”Where is he- shit.”[/color]

Two of the other group dropped without her seeing who’d done it, and Linqian finally spotted Sully - with a gun pointed in his face. Fuck. 

[color=CD5C5C]”Can you, fuck, provide enough plant cover for me to get to him?”[/color] 

Her plan, to get over there and freeze the fuckers gun out of his hand, was a terrible one. She didn’t have the capacity to think of something smarter, she could barely think at all, her mind buzzing with static and pain. But she couldn’t just do nothing. Sully was the [i]one[/i] person she wouldn’t abandon.

[hr][center][h1]Bianca Manalo[/h1] [img]https://i.imgur.com/H0PZlqQ.png[/img][/center]
[right][b]Interactions:[/b] Greenwood Coven [@Punished GN], Stormy (indirectly) [@Blizz], Alizee [@Estylwen]
[code]Veni Vedi Veni - Parking Lot[/code][/right][hr]
Bianca snorted at Jessica’s comment, glancing down at her (rather lacking) exposed chest, before joking with a wink, “someone has to help keep up morale.”

But still, it was fucking freezing now, so she pulled back on her coat and consequently covered up.

This group was stronger than she'd thought… She squinted her eyes at Ruby and (the guy). Something about them felt vaguely familiar - ah, their weapons! She’d seen those in the file, so it was the Greenwood coven. Interesting. She considered sending another text update, but realised she couldn’t really while they were actually nearby… It was fine, they weren’t hostile. Probably. She'd planned to find a further away car to shelter behind, but that plan had been ruined by the bullet spraying technique of the Wolfpack. She couldn’t exactly move now, either, with the way her leg was. Thankfully she wasn't behind the same one as Linqian and Britney - close enough to be seen, though, if they paid attention. Which at least the one she didn't want to be seen by right now wasn't.

But the situation wasn’t getting much better. Not getting involved be damned, she couldn’t just let everyone die - Alizee was getting buried in sand, Sully had a gun in his face and bullets were still flying everywhere. 

Bianca changed tactics with her spells, splitting out her strength enhancement rather than just targeting Stormy. She murmured under her breath and directed her boosting in three directions - Stormy, Kashmira and Alizee. They’d all feel an increase in their abstraction’s strength, making it more powerful and durable, but to a lesser degree than when she focused on just one person. 

She hoped Stormy could still use his strengthened shields to protect himself and everyone else and that Kashmira could actually reach Sully. As for Alizee… Bianca didn’t trust her, but she didn’t want her to die. As soon as Alizee wasn’t in immediate danger she’d drop the spell on her.

[hr][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/QIUSezo.png[/img]     [img]https://i.imgur.com/ycOCuCr.png[/img][/center]
 [right][b]Interactions:[/b] Sloane [@Atrophy], Jack [@Blizz], Drake [@Punished GN] 
[code]Dairy Queen[/code][/right][hr]
Luca was unbothered by Sloane’s icy look, or her sharp words. It was typical Sloane and it slid right off his overly positive exterior. But, he didn’t agree. Luca coexisted with an apparition, and he didn’t always feel it. He knew it was there, feeling the physical effects, but the rot itself? Sometimes he didn’t sense it, when it lay dormant. 

But he didn’t have time to voice these thoughts, because Sloane went to a place she never should have, and Drake reacted just like he should be expected too. He had every right to be pissed. Luca was shaken by her question, and he wasn’t the one it was directed towards. But they couldn’t fight here.

Luca jumped up and got in the middle of Sloane and Drake, close enough to the electric sword to feel the sparks jumping against his skin. 

Close as he was, both of them were within the aura he'd been avoiding letting touch anyone. At first, all they'd feel was an itching sensation, the feeling of something scratching at their skin. Then a burning pain would start, slight and creeping, intensifying with each second near him. It would feel like their skin was peeling off, bit by bit - slightly, at first, until it felt like their flesh was melting off their bones. As if they were beginning to rot.

There was no actual damage without him touching them, paranormal as they were, but the pain was very real.

[color=6B8E23]"Please stop, we can’t fight here."[/color] He looked at Drake pleadingly, hoping that he would lower his sword. [color=6B8E23]”Jack’s right. We [i]can’t[/i] start infighting, that’ll just make us easier to pick off.”[/color] 

[color=6B8E23]”But Sloane,”[/color] he turned to her with a hard stare, lips pulled into a thin line. There was something unstable in his gaze, a flash of the unnatural, of something broken beyond repair. This wasn’t the normal cheerful, optimistic Luca. Something in Sloane’s words had damaged the continually fraying thread of his sanity. [color=6B8E23]”Sometimes you can’t prevent it. It doesn’t matter how much you want to, or how hard you try, it’s just not possible. That’s the thing with death. It always comes when you don’t want it to. It’s better to accept that. Easier, really. Will throwing around blame help anyone - help [i]you[/i] - feel better? It won’t. I promise you, it won’t. Just accept that it couldn’t be stopped. Not everything can be controlled.”[/color]

He looked away, biting his lip. No, he’d gotten too emotional. Was he even talking about the situation anymore? About Jade? Not really. He just wanted someone to be like him. To have to accept the helplessness of not being able to do anything. [color=6B8E23]How horrible.[/color] Why didn’t he just keep it hidden?

Luca glanced over at Drake, offering him an awkward smile. He was more like the normal Luca then, building back up his walls of happiness and false hope. [color=6B8E23]”Sorry, didn’t mean to make it sound like it was inevitable. I’m sorry.”[/color]