[center][img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/0198b4a8-8da6-76ab-ad78-99409e31ac48.webp[/img][/center][center][/center][hr][center][color=00f0ff][b][s]Location[/s][/b][/color]: [s]Stands[/s]
[color=00f0ff][b][s]Skills[/s][/b][/color]:  [s]It's Aliiiive![/s][/center]
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Franklin had gotten a few vials of Rohan’s ‘blood’ after everyone else had finally left. The ichor that was produced was labeled and stored where it needed to be as he bid Rohan farewell and began his work in earnest. Everything took time, tests took time, so running more than one was mostly to keep him both occupied and efficient. Beyond that, one of the tests was on a cadaver; there wasn’t much more to it than fixing up the appropriate pieces and attaching what needed to be in order for his spellwork to take effect later on in the night. Franklin had thrown on his lab coat, white with splatters of rusty brown coloration that was clearly from earlier work with the body from before Jake had come in. His gloves and goggles were placed, making sure no skin was fully exposed so that he had less of a chance of Rohan’s blood contaminating him somehow. He took the vial and set to the first test, turning his attention back towards Pedrito, who now was mostly put together save for the hand he had already begun to modify earlier. 

“Sorry man, no offense I hope, but I could use the hand and well…it’d be rejected now that I’ve done so much to it. But now that we’ve gotten the last of those vocal chords restored and attached, let's see how well you sing.”

He reached out for an apparatus nearby. It appeared to look like Tesla Coils, but smaller, like a portable car jumper. Franklin flipped a switch on the board and the machine began to hum to life, grabbing one of the coils, sparks of blue energy began to flow through him as he felt the buzz of life and electricity course within his body. Franklin took his free hand and touched Pedrito’s chest, the same blue energy flowing through the newly restored body, as Franklin leaned down and pressed his lips against his and blew air into his mouth to fill up the lungs. When he pulled back, letting the magic do its work, the body shot up with a large breathy inhale as it tried to take in more air before exhaling it all out. The scent of death taking over the space as his dead breath radiated outwards, while the partially living corpse began to steady itself. 

‘It worked! Now, you aren’t staying living for long I’m afraid to say, technically you’re not even living now more so just using the mystical energies combined with the pulses of electricity that I poured into you to help jumpstart the body in an attempt to figure out who or what murdered you. Its effects aren’t stable so, well…Who killed you? Did you get to see their face? Know who it was?”

The voice that came out of the animated body was raspy, struggling with the damage that had been done to it in the attack. There was a long inhale as it prepared to speak. “Yes! It was -” The body fell slack against the metal slab, silence falling over the room as the magic dissipated from the corpse. There was a warmth in Franklin's chest, then his stomach and as he looked down he stared in shock.
 
[hider=TW: Blood ahead!]

His own beating heart, cradled in a strange hand, beat once, twice, and stilled.

A hand had torn through him and he realized blood seeped down from his chest. The arm protruded through the wound and his magic had stopped because he was dying, because he was dead. He tried to turn his head to see his assailant, words gurgling in his mouth as he tried to call out for help to the one person who had wanted to offer it the most. [/hider]

“Jake… get... Connie… I…” The words barely a whisper as he felt his life drain away, a smile on his face before he fell towards the slab and then backwards onto the floor, laying there lifeless, heartless.

[hr][hr][center][img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/01989753-c0d4-751e-94b6-ac932f65638b.webp[/img][hr][@Achronum][@Trainerblue192][@Morose][@Blizz][@Kirah][@PatientBean][@Teyao][@KazAlkemi][@kittyluna45][hr][h3][color=57F287][b]Late Morning - Sat. Nov. 2nd, 2040 [/b][/color][/h3][/center][hr]


[H1][center][color=Red]The Statue of Ardyon[/color][/center][/h1]
[sub][center]Connie, Barty, Jake[/center][/sub]

The Statue of Ardyon showed no change since their last visit, stone uncaring of the turning of the world around it. There were two new additions on the table that offered both their protective gloves and the incense: an hour glass that flipped the moment the door opened and a note in tiny, neat cursive addressed to the entire coven. 

[i]If the muses designed to offer you inspiration in the night, one hour has been afforded you for additional examination. Should you think to linger longer, the Archivist has been instructed to remove you through any means necessary. 

Furthermore, offer this letter as evidence of permissions. The librarians will afford you access to an additional area of the library that may offer answers beyond what limited sources the masses are permitted. 

Either way, do not find frivolous distractions simply because I am unavailable. Your continued presence in this school is at my discretion.

Professor Varn Croan, Blood Magic Studies[/i]


[H1][center][color=magenta]A Trip through Magic[/color][/center][/h1]
[sub][center]Willow, Nicky, Callaghan, Cassiopeia[/center][/sub]

Nicholas knocked softly on Mikkail’s sitting room door and pushed it open, looking around for the flamboyant Professor. It seemed he was absent for the moment but he had offered them the space whenever and Nicholas didn’t know where else to meet the coven, so he wandered his way here after breaking his fast. It was much the same: tea and cakes laid out, the chalkboard still offered the unintelligible message, and the gramophone played the same song it did yesterday. Nicholas shook his head wearily, his night later than was probably sane, but he expected little less.

Nicholas dressed far less ostentatious than the day before however. A plain brown waist coat over a linen shirt, a pair of jeans, and sensible black boots rather than the broody ensemble of the day before, with a belt pouch hanging from his left hip and a bit of gauze applied firmly to his neck. Nicholas considered his seat for a moment before pacing in front of the chalk board. 

The evening before with Callaghan there had been strange, protective and caring feelings bubbling up when he’d suffered the strange magic of the notebook. Nicholas was protective over one other person and as much as he’d enjoyed the shifter’s presence, it hadn’t been him. 
The distraction afforded to him by a starved vampire could only keep his thoughts off it for so long and while he’d puzzled it plenty, he’d arrived at no real answers. What he did come to the conclusion was he had a choice to make here. Either get through this insane mystery and move on from it or leave and Nicholas was loath to leave a place they’d finally found a sense of stability and safety, severed head non-inclusive. There was a real sense that this was it for a while, that they could blend into the mulling students for a century before someone came knocking, and Nicholas was eager to let his roots settle for a while. 

So, Nicholas came to the conclusion he would need to work with the newer witches and after turning that over in his head, he realized he likely needed to set a new impression of himself. If he considered them co-workers rather than anything else, he might be able to do it. 

Maybe. 
 
[H1][center][color=gold]Into the Unknow[/color][/center][/h1]
[sub][center]Rohan, Finley/Dysphoria, [s]Frankie[/s], Annika[/center][/sub]

Much like the day before, the Coven was gathered deep in the bowels of the academy where the First gate stood. Power still pulse from it into cables and the room itself felt charged with static. Sariel stood in her lab coat, goggles pushed up onto her forehead and deep set google marks lined her eyes. Her magic sparked behind her eyes despite the clear eyebags forming under them. 

“Gooooood morning everyone! I hope you’ve all had your coffee, or maybe not. The Neverish isn’t for the weak hearted or stomached and today is your first jump into this horrifying dimension! Or wondrous, wondrous is also an option. It truly just depends. On what, we’re still trying to piece together!” Sariel cackled, maniacal and intense. “The Neverish, as I assume you all know, is an ever changing landscape - some think it may actually be a maze designed to hold something in, but no evidence of that has been produced. The places those diving freely beyond the surface change wildly, ignore the rules of physics and magic, and are at the whim of some unknown force, be that a being guiding these along some enigmatic path or true and genuine randomness is still to be determined, but your ability to alter what you experience will be drastically and severally diminished until you learn how the space you’ve entered works.”

“So, although I am sure you all have questions, let's review your steps and expectations and then you may ask your questions. Firstly, safety. Be prepared to defend yourself, do [i]not[/i] under any circumstances become separated, and should you find yourself feeling lost, focus on the item you created yesterday and follow the path out. Do not reach the exit and then decide you could proceed for a little bit longer - you will get lost and we have yet to find anyone who is. Secondly, what do you do? Simply walk through the gate and when you are ready to leave, walk through the [i]exact[/i] same opening you entered through. IF you walked through a door, memorize the door. If you walked out of a cave, walk back into the same cave. If you walked out of the eye socket of an enormous eye, walk back through the eye. Do not take any other option otherwise, you may not leave the Neverish or you may end up somewhere else in the universe.” Sariel counted on her fingers as she spoke, little sparks of lightning dancing along the fingertips. “Thirdly, you should be taking notes, details, diagrams, and sketches to the best of your abilities. We have precious little information and with more and more offered to us, we can look for clues, similarities, and threads that could help us navigate this strange and wonderful dimension!”

Sariel looked at her Coven once, twice, and then beamed. “Any questions or is everyone as eager as I am to see their first jump into the Aby- I mean Neverish!”