AtomicEmperor

A Journey Through Space - A DnD story

NPC Cedric Titanbellows

Cedric.Titanbellows

323 | Cedric Titanbellows | Mountain Dwarf | He/Him
"It's a meal! A la carte is for paying customers!"

Description:

Long past his prime, stories of the heroic acts of the Banderbarius Party and their exploits across the land plundering tombs and fighting monsters are the only things Cedric has left of his old life. At one time, he was one of the most famous Dwarf Fighters in all of Faerun. He'd been there to reclaim Gauntlgrym, his ancestral home, from the horrors found beneath the mountain.

Or that's what he tells people... It's unclear at this point if any of those stories are actually true, since now he works for the Lady of the House in a very close, almost secretive fashion. While not the arm of the Patroness, Cedric is responsible for keeping the Inn in top condition, directing the cleaning and cooking staff, and keeping them stocked with whatever provisions are necessary to keep everyone fed.

Now that it's a big problem, considering everyone's floating in the relative nothingness, Cedric's become something of a banker and vault-keeper. Trading supplies for meals and favors for booze, the elderly and roughly scarred Mountain Dwarf stands two heads taller than his hill-bound kin, and wears simple if not comfortable clothing underneath a leather apron that he always seems to have on. His quarters are in the basement of the inn, beneath the Larder, where he can insure that pests aren't sneaking into their dwindling supplies.

Class and Magic:

While claiming to be a Fighter, and a seasoned master of martial combat, very few people have seen the way Cedric lights his pipe with the tip of his finger, or commands the stove to roar to life with flame. In truth, he is an Infernal Warlock, whose experience and skill with flames is second only to his fondness for amphibians.

Tavern Chef NPC, as I'd like to hang out with you all but lord committing to huge posts fucks with me on a mental and emotional level.

Recollections: Primal Sinister

Mood Music

Elay & Moriah

5th Ward: Bridge District, Northside - Elay’s Apartment

Elay had already slept… The day prior had been his cold moment, allowing Garf the run of his body to utilize in whatever way he saw fit. Predation, mostly. An Adept here, a mundane Blind there; nobody could really stop Garf from climbing into their minds for a quick meal. And yet, after such vigorous physical effort, Elay couldn't help feeling his eyes grow heavy. Garf sat perched upon the bureau in which Elay kept all his basic clothing. His massive tail swished back and forth, form shifting vaguely as Elay drifted in and out of rest.

But his phone echoed across the room in a mind-shattering ringtone that made him jump out of his skin.

“She's calling again, Elay. This time, you should answer it.” Garf intoned, mental link buffering the noise to calm Elay's heart rate.

The ringtone was indicative, after all: That ringtone which Elay was most prone to avoiding should one ever call it to begin with.
“~Maybe you're weeeeeeeak. Maybe you're staaaaarviiiiing~”

“Fuck, fuck, fuck! No, go the fuck away!”

“~and we're all hung-a-ry for iiiit~”

Elay tossed what little covering he had off, letting the bulk of it land across Nessa and causing a gentle turn-over. Elay stared at his bed for a moment, thinking about the girl within. Garf had been pumping him full of good vibes all night, which only felt worse… Like everything that was happening around him was all so intentional. That he had no other reason to not answer this phone call…

So he stepped across the room, Garf's eyes never leaving his right hand until it was holding the phone. A single button press answered it, and Lazarus held the phone up to his ear without speaking.

On the other end, a sleepless Momo Motta was white knuckle gripped to her drink. She'd been trying to get through all day, making the fact that he answered at this hour so much more frustrating. She wanted to snap at him and berate her only brother, picking him apart for his behavior without giving him so much as a second chance to think…

But she knew she couldn't. It was a phone; he'd just fucking hang up like always.

“Laz…” Momo's voice hesitantly spoke into the phone.

“What…?” Was the only answer Elay could muster.

“I'm sorry… Bryn came here, and I-” Momo started, but found herself quickly cut off.

“Whatever. Need something, or hang up. I'm not getting hooked into your usual bullshit, Mo.” Elay sternly spoke, wiping the sleep out of his eyes in sheer frustration.

“Elay? Please don't fucking do this right now.” The Matriarch pleaded to her younger brother, hoping to God that he didn't turn this into another temper tantrum over nothing big.

“I'm asking you what you want that you're calling for. If it's my bills, you already know what the deal is. I've spoken to Tatiana and Roman. If it's the current incidents that are bothering you, then just know Bryn and I already spoke about it.” Elay hoped to square away all the bases at once.

“You spoke to her before me?” Was a simple reply from Momo.

On Elay's end, there was only enough tonal shift to guess at Momo's level of displeasure. The truth was, the only person who could bring her feelings of misery and frustration capable of trumping her joy was Elay… In her eyes, the boy had been given every opportunity to seek and produce success.

Yet, no matter the situation, he seemed to be a missile on a downward trajectory at all times. Hopeless, and to shame the Motta name by severing one's Lux and becoming Adjoined to an Apparition!?
But Cadenza had truly loved him… Spoiled him as far as boys went in their organization. Not to mention the skirt he spent his childhood crawled inside of.

“Yeah, I did. She's my Coven Matron.” came Elay's curt, matter of fact reply.

“I'm your fucking Matriarch.-” was the hushed but clearly frustrated reply.
“-I have a stake in everything you do. The tithe is six months backlogged, your case volume is at an all-time low, and your secretary God bless her had the balls to cover for you regardless! You don't even pay her fucking salary! I do!”

And that was it. As if compelled by some unknown force to browbeat and belittle, Moriah began to unleash every little problem onto her brother by force. Money missing? Had to cover the Agency. Meal prepping massive banquets for him to take home, siphoning product from the business. Untimely stops at the clinic, more money she felt he owed her.

“Your life is a fucking debt. Every single fucking step, Lazarus Alonso, is a step paid for by someone else's hard work. You don't know what it takes to feed you, you don't know what it takes to keep you drowned in booze, or what the cost of the roof over your head is, or-”

“Shut up, shut up! Moriah!? Come here now. Come here and fucking fight me, I swear to God and the Deer above, I will fucking devour you. Did you call to complain, or did you call because you're worried about your precious fucking juice bar babies?”

Elay was trying his best not to yell, telling Moriah everything she needed to know about his status. That biting perceptiveness was a true family trait, after all…

“Oh, no… Elay? Is one of your victims there? Don't wanna wake her up from shouting? You fucking pussy… Go ahead! Scream at me like you want to, go on!” Moriah's scowl turned upward into a mocking grin.

“Either make this conversation worth it, or I'm hanging the fuck up.” he replied through gritted teeth.

“It's so worth it, little brother… Shitty little brother…”

The dead air on the other end made Momo cackle in her seat, and the laughter only increased when she looked down at the phone and saw there was no call. On the other end, Elay had crushed the flimsy piece of glass and metal in his hand… Yet his rage only had a moment to metastasize before a dresser drawer started vibrating.

It was only more infuriating that she had the numbers for every single spare line he kept. After all, he just supplied the money. Her accounting department handled billing… She had access to everything. Full of anger, Elay ripped a drawer open to get the new ringing cell phone. It didn't have his preferred tones, so the basic buzzer just grated around in his ear.

“You need to do something to make this right. If she's wo-” Garf said only so much before he was cut off by Elay answering the new phone.

“Moriah, I don't care how you feel about the bullshit. Alright? I just don't. Either you called because you want my help, or you called to drag my bare asshole through a coal bed again. Which is it?” Elay asked with an incredibly stern tone that even Moriah wasn't expecting on pickup.

It caused the Matriarch to take a second in consideration of what to say next.

“Both. You get both. But if you do what we need, you get bailed out again. On agreement, operating costs are covered until the case is closed.” She replied in a far more business-like mindset.

“You already have a pending case.” Was Elay's simple reply.

Over that, there was more silence. Yes, of course: the case that lingered on both of their minds. The Case of the Missing Matriarch. Their genetic progenitor, who had disappeared into the city to save her beloved consort never to return again… Yes. It was the case that their entire opening agreement was based on: That Elay would find Cadenza Motta, and hopefully in turn discover what happened to his own beloved mother.

But as days dragged to months, Moriah got tired of the lack of answers. An audit revealed that Lazarus had simply fucked off the case, and in spite of his protests, Moriah dropped the financial hammer at that point. Ever since, he'd been under the gun to pay his Sister, trying to keep everything afloat so she didn't take what few resources he had away.

After all, he couldn't rely on the Grove. Not for financial support to do his hunting. After he left Raven's Rest, the town's connection to Motta money dried up… The place he once lived in like a white trash prince had since reverted to that dead-quiet coal town it'd been before… The Woods’, his second set of siblings, didn't need him anyway. He hated the idea of facing them soon, still holding the shame of an unsolved case in his hands.

“Pending case my entire cock, Elay. My legacy is the priority now. You've had your chance to look around, and you've given me nothing about it. Either accept the terms of the new case, or tomorrow I'm sending people over there to repossess the apartment and the office. You'll be out on the street faster than that fat freak can meow.” Momo asserted, tossing a dig at Garf in kind.

Elay grit his teeth.

“Brief me then… Bryn said they're… Face Snatchers? Or are they doppelgangers?”

“I don't know, Elay… They were practically clay. They could be constructs of something else for all we know. When I checked them for organic signatures, the magical signature they gave off was chaotic.” Momo explained calmly.

Elay knew well what that meant. It, or perhaps they, we're connected to some kind of Apparitional force. Lux was always organized, well mannered, and funneled into a single path. Even if that path bisector a trillion times, light always had an origin and a ray to follow.
But Apparitions followed no such rules. It was as if they were existing in a specific set of pixels in the television static… No order, no commonality. Only random placements and oddball rules that one may never expect.

“And supposedly there’s more coming? Over the mountains, from the West, something is coming in a wave. Or, waves… Bryn mentioned it.”

Elay nodded as Moriah continued.

“She told me the same. What do you want, then?”

“Ranger shit, please… Anything to get an idea about what's coming…” Momo's voice sounded desperate, like she was on a shoestring waiting for him to say yes.

“That's not detective work. That's dangerous, especially in the surrounding area. I need equipment.” He chided, trying to take from the scenario.

“Whatever, Elay! Whatever you need to do it, just fucking do it.” she snapped in turn.

“Alright, fine Moriah. But don't complain when you get the bill from Toki.”

Moriah sighed, throwing her head back.

“Are you coming to Thanksgiving?”

“Maybe. We'll see.”

Then, like he'd never been on the phone, Elay clasped the machine shut and shook his head. Still staring at him, Garf could only grin.

“So… We're covered to get more food from the Trattoria?”

Recollections: Primal Sinister

Elay Motta

"I've got this knack for finding trouble I guess."

_______________________________________________ Lazarus "Elay" Motta He/Him | 24 | Italian American | 6'4" (193cm) | 205lb (92.9kg) _______________________________________________ Burning. _______________________________________________ Skills & Talents "They sold me to a bunch of coal miners. You learn a few things." ___________________________________ [+] Anthracite Child ⫻ Thanks partly to his unnatural genetics and partly due to the subtle influence of Green Lux on his body over the years, Elay has grown particularly robust and durable as an adult. Improvements include cardiovascular endurance, noteworthy self-healing properties and resistance to many common illnesses and toxins. Paranoid Agent ⫻ Elay has a keen sense for the mundane and supernatural world around him with a knack for reading intention. When applied fully and in complete focus, there are few actions capable of slipping past his web Sergeant Predator ⫻ During his time as a gifted Green/Pink Adept, Elay spent several years under the commission of the United States Paranormal Rapid Response Taskforce (PRRT). In addition to basic and advanced military training, Elay has become a studied and decorated Hunter of the Paranormal. Truffle-Sniffer ⫻ Like a pig with his nose buried in the dirt, Elay is a master at finding trouble like a truffle under the tree. He is fervent and dogged in his desire to get to the bottom of any case he's taken on, making him a natural detective.

Appearance ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "I don't sleep, no. You can tell?" Since coming home from serving in the PRRT, Elay has let himself go of many basic expectations and conventions. He is, as to save a great deal of time, an absolute mess. Not giving much care, he's let his hair grow long on both his head and face. Most of the time, to stay as respectable as he needs to, the thick mop on his head ends up tucked in any manner of tail or bun, with the beard typically splayed out in a ravenous mountain-dweller look. Sunken eyes are highlighted by big dark circles that force age upon his face where it shouldn't be, their deep emerald irises like beasts in dense undergrowth. His natural expression is that of death: Discomfort until expiration, with his only smile being a pained split that crosses through the matte black abyss surrounding his mouth like a blade wound. His skin is pale, pallid, and covered in tattoos, scars and hair that all meld together atop a body far more fit than the surrounding traits should allow. His clothing is only relatively clean thanks to a "personal assistant" employed with his business. If it weren't for her, the week long stretches of wearing the same thing from bar room to bar room would probably be more like a month. But, at the very least, he dresses like a North-sider. Smart suits, vests, rolled sleeves, gloves and pinstripes... He says that the bar stink, and the dirt from kicking around people's filthy apartments, make people think he's some dandy on a downturn. Whether that's some sort of excuse or not is up for debate, however. In his personal time, it's difficult to get him into clothing besides a pair of sweatpants. Going out anywhere requires a full redressing, which means it better be worth actually leaving the house and then hitting the bar afterward. Otherwise, Loretta's paid plenty to make sure the deliveries get brought to where they need to. If he's required to dress up beyond his usual means, however, he calls upon the aesthetics he was taught by his Mother. Much like the rest of his family, he's attracted to the dark and brooding Nuevo-goth aesthetic that's cropped up around a circle of the more freeform elite of Culla: A smart lounge suit, generally colored dark with some warm color accent to punctuate things. Leather gloves, great coats, slacks and polished shoes that rarely ever leave the box. Cufflinks, a tie; even the hair gets washed. All of it, and pulled up into intricate braids done as he remembered his Mother doing when he was a boy. No matter what, he's never without a precious gift around his neck on a chain of platinum. Given to him the day he was brought to the Grove as Bridge of the Tribe, Elay wears a necklace which holds a ring of precious sentimental value. Made by his Matriarch, the ring is made of titanium with craftsmanship that could only be accomplished by someone with a complex control over mineral growth environments. Dashing emerald and pink opal rivulets bubble from the ring's surface as if they grew there, each section swirling together into an altogether different crystalline composition before splitting apart again. Once his Channeler, it is now only a reminder of a life left behind. And of death without answers.

_{Psychology
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"You're asking a lot, and I'm not sure I've got time to hand out answers."

MAIN GOAL ⫻ While he's often bogged down in his hunt for funding to remain independent of forces that surround him, ultimately Elay's goal is to uncover the mysteries behind the disappearance of his Mothers. Both Matriarch and Concubine were presumably trapped and killed by the same force. But what could that have been? There have been no answers, and while the Cat claims to hold the answers to Elay's questions, the contract between them forbids him from simply spilling the beans. So, Elay's slow hunt across Cloverfield is constantly pushed aside in favor of whatever lucrative opportunities come before him.
Thus, Elay's main goal is unfortunately the same as most other South-siders, and further on in places like sleepy Raven's Rest: Survive. Try to find happiness along the way, and always keep an eye out for clues that lead to the prize. That's the ultimate solution to remaining at least somewhat motivated, after all. Things like "The Big Case" aren't just fictitious parody to the people exposed to them, after all. These leads, these clues, the rainbow of nothingness at the end is a constant donut to chase, and these two inexorably linked circumstances have become Elay's entire reason for pushing forward.

PHILOSOPHY ⫻ Shit runs downhill, but at least Sisyphus had a boulder. Nothing goes the way its supposed to, hard work is often fruitless, and nobody is doing anything for free. Green and Pink Lux left the building long ago, leaving Elay with a bitter taste for just about everything one can think of left wriggling in his mouth. Life became a bitter struggle long ago, with the worst of things filling his dreams at night, the daytime has become more and more prolonged as sleepless days roll into even darker sleepless weeks. Only extreme exertion is enough to bring Elay into an undesired comatose, found either in the mad scramble to apprehend a target, or some carnal pleasure found in the most lightless places one could think of.
These moments are punctuated by cat naps, thirty minutes here and thirty minutes there. Never enough to let his partner get the best of him, except on certain days of the week when they've agreed to allow the balance of power to shift. Slumbers as such are rare, and partaken only when absolutely necessary in order to preserve Elay's remaining sanity. But, because of his unyielding friction with life itself, Elay has learned to extract enjoyment from existence in whatever form it comes.

SECRETS ⫻ Elay's greatest secret is his underlying level of care and concern. That, out of all the lessons of his life, he's been taught to perform alongside a unit of some kind. Always part of a group. And that now, while he desperately wishes to remain solitary as possible in his own personal crusade, he still craves the love and affection that being part of a group typically provides. That comradery, the kind of group behaviors that come with the territory of being accepted, are the things that Elay has long since denied himself.

Tragic circumstances caused him to sever his Lux, and thus his contract with the PRRT was nullified. Without purpose, Elay found only shame and self hatred in himself; a condition further exasperated by the state of the city he returned to. He refused to return to those few people who were left to guard the Grove, making the harrowing trek through the deeps until he found himself in the lair of the Wampus. Their meeting was one of whispered promises, and of the kind of treatment Elay felt was best suited for his disgrace. In that moment of pain and the prospect of escape, Elay did the only thing he could think of: Adjoined with the Wampus under the nose of the weakened Grove, allowing the predatory prisoner an escape into the world above.
Ever since, the two have only confided in the company of one another for any significant amount of time. All outsiders are usually handled by Elay's insistent aggression, or the Wampus' constant mental prodding.

SEXUALITY ⫻ After his time in the service, Elay didn't think he was ever going to be sexually attracted to anyone ever again. However, with his Adjoining of the Wampus Cat, a great deal of carnal interest has returned. Now, there's no inhibition preventing Elay from indulging in every and any sin of the flesh short of barbarity.

FEARS ⫻ Oh, the typical good stuff. Crushing loneliness, perceived inability to stack up to expectations; not to mention the very real possibility that he could go his whole life without ever gaining any traction on the accord between himself and Garf. Garf has explicitly promised Elay that he knows exactly what's happened to both of his Mothers. However, the terms of their Adjoining and of Garf allowing Elay so much total control depend on Elay's total inability to access that information without prompting. Because of this, Elay needs to work on corroborating leads and witnesses and actually put together a case that is presented to Garf for commentary. Meaning that if he can't ever string together enough evidence himself for some kind of prompting, he'll never get any closer to knowing the truth.
It's this constant fear of never finding out what actually happened that horrifies Elay most, as his entire life's redemption hinges on that one obsession. The Case. What happened to Cadenza Motta, the greatest Witch of an entire dynasty? And more importantly, what happened to Nikkita Motta? What happened to the world's greatest Mother of all time? Why and how did they both disappear into the black hole of this city? And how could he have missed it happening right in front of him?

WHAT DID THEY DO DURING THE CATACLYSM? ⫻ Elay was fighting magical Russians for American interests in North Korea, and was half way around the world during the main events.

FLAWS ⫻ If Elay's carrying anything in particular around, it's guilt. Flawed, pained guilt that crowds his every movement and decision. Starting from a young age, Elay was intelligent enough to realize he was never going to live up to the example of his Matriarch, nor his rarely seen eldest Sister. They were simply unequal for all that was worth, and while his Mother attempted to maintain his self esteem, it all crumbled out from underneath him when he was passed along to the Grove as Cadenza's first born son. Guilt then was inability to perform, and perceived abandonment due to that underperformance.
As he grew, Elay found himself powerful among his peers, Kindling early and skillfully adapting spells to his own needs. With that, new guilt was born as he watched himself stepping high over his peers. Into early adulthood, Elay covered up his insecurities with negative actions toward local Blinds, even turning his strength toward his peers on occasion. By the time of his family's disappearance, however, he'd enlisted in the Military and was unaware of the events until his first return home. Upon realizing that he had been totally powerless to stop what happened, Elay's guilt compounded: Not only was he not strong enough to keep his family, he had abandoned any chance of being the hero they needed. He'd given them up, and he'd only left behind hurt and pain.

Things only got worse after he returned to duty, with his potent magical prowess carrying him through a bevy of situations from which he otherwise may not have come out. In his perception, better soldiers and better men died, leaving him to survive as the least among them. Cursed by God, perhaps, for abandoning his duties for another purpose. And as this same ability to dodge peril extended further, its tendrils touched the home he finally returned to. Death and destruction filled Cloverfield, and once again he was utterly powerless to prevent it. He abandoned his homeland, and once again he was being punished with the guilt of survival.

And so, the pivotal emotion compounds with each action perceived as a failure, and Elay continues to reach out toward nothing and nobody besides himself to fix the problem. Constant and persistent self hatred and isolation prevents him from ever coming to terms with the guilt he carries, and until he learns to trust again, he may never fully repair the bridges which he's burned over the years.

_{Backstory
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"I just want to know for sure that she's gone."

As the fifth child of the legendary Cullan Matriarch Cadenza de Motta, Lazarus Alonso Motta was born of a "natural" union between her and her consort Nikkita. The only natural thing about Elay's time in the womb was that, like his other true siblings, he was put there naturally, and left in there for at least a few months. Nothing else about the developmental choices surrounding him wound up being very normal... As two powerful Green Lux Adepts, both of Elay's parents made a very conscious decision for Elay to be born a male; while they gave him the same treatment their daughters got, they both knew that they were essentially creating Elay to uphold a deal. An ancient Rumpelstiltskin-like treaty that has allowed their cult to operate within the Holy Land of a group of powerful mountain druids. From the Matriarch leadership of the Untouched Glory, a child is requested from every single generation.
In olden days, it was most ethical in the eyes of the Whispering Flesh that a male child be given, as their symbolic necessity to maintain their female ranks made male children worthless beyond their price in the Tithe. Thus, for hundreds of years now there has been a Motta among the members of the Grove. Elay's eventual purpose was to fulfill that ancient bargain. Thus, for the first seven years of his life, Elay was raised by his Cullan mother and allowed the same luxuries that his sisters were afforded around him. Luckily for him, however, there was a bit more than meets the eye happening.

During her pregnancy and well into his childhood, both Nikkita and Cadenza took their time making subtle changes to Elay's anatomy. Preparing him as they would any Cullan soldier, he was placed on an intensive training regiment that often took most of his day away. Over time, they reduced his overall necessity for sleep, giving him access to days on days of continuous study and "play" time that further accelerated his mental acuity. Not that they weren't messing with that either; in addition to affecting his hormonal growth and the bodily changes that come with it, they made a great deal of subtle changes to his mind. Expanding its capabilities by increasing its overall ability to make and connect new pathways, Elay was quickly reading text books and scientific journals in his spare time.
Nikkita, responsible for the raising of all of a Matriarch's children, had her work cut out for her. But, her supreme organization and unique style of mothering allowed her to create an incredibly similar situation for all the children present in her home, meaning that while Elay was doing this, his elder sisters were just as capable.

Elay was simply... Studious. With a natural interest in the world around him, he more and more took to his routine as his infancy and young childhood blew away into the wind. His days were spent reading, running, and receiving communion from his Mother as she continuously tweaked her son's body and mind to make further improvements. For the Mottas, it was a sign of pride that not only were their Matriarchs powerful, but even their mundane Adepts. Thus, a great deal of effort went into insuring that the Grove received the best "product" their hospitality can buy. By the time of his seventh year, Elay was a tall and muscular child pushing dangerously close to moustache territory. Awakened to his Third Eye, something impossible to miss while being raised in a Matriarch's brood, the boy was ready to be turned over to the Grove at the specified ritual date.
It was said that things were far more "ritualistic" in the old days... For Elay's hand-off ceremony, there was a simple barbecue where he was introduced to his new "family", being the members of his foster family alongside the magical residents of Raven's Rest. Of course, Elay hated this. Ultimately, he was still a child whose biochemist parents never bothered to update the "unnecessary" emotional center of the brain. That was, after all, another five years ahead of them in the Cullan soldier program.

However, as expected, Elay adjusted to this new place. Slowly, surely, he came into the groove of life in Raven' Rest. Nikkita, his birth mother, also maintained a great deal of involvement with her son, coming to visit him with great frequency that never faltered as he grew older. Infrequently, his biological sisters would accompany, but as Elay's life and interests changed, so did his relationship with them. Not long after he was passed along to the Grove, Elay Kindled into a potent Green/Pink Adept gifted in atomic particle synthesis just like the Matriarch who had sired him. Only, this made him even more aware of exactly what had been done to his body to change it. The more he came to understand Green, the more he examined himself to find the strands of DNA irreparably changed by his previous guardians.
These discoveries spread across his adolescence slowly began to change his perception of his Mother. Of their lifestyle, and their family. Though, that never meant he lost his love for her. She was his main Pink Lux mentor, as it was from her that he'd inherited the proclivity. As he became a teen, she was more and more comfortable teaching him useful Pink spells, as well as techniques inherited from the Motta family compendium. Eventually, their relationship became less like mother and son, and more like student and teacher. When he could, Elay would sneak out of Raven's Rest and meet Nikkita in strange places to practice the more aggressive forms of magic that Elay was capable of learning.

Throughout this long stretch, Elay found himself in an ebb and flow between himself and the people he called "My Folks." Those folks, of course, being his adopted family and the people involved in the Grove. As is expected, anyone in charge of disciplining a child knows how much that changes the dynamic; Elay never did well being told to do something by people he never wound up fully respecting. It was harder still that he was so strong, forcing many adult members of the Grove to find unique punishments for Elay. However, the actual underground caverns and quiet places that members were privy to, the open belly of the Earth, was always alluring to him. One simply had to imply a denial of his access to his favorite peaceful places, and more often than not he'd settle down.

It was in the heart of the Grove that Elay met another important figure in his life.

For thousands of years, the monstrous Wampus Cat ﻮєɭ๔Ŧєггค๔ had been "imprisoned" within the Grove's deeper chambers. With access to a Dream Nexus, a powerful pool from which the creature could draw an infinite number of meals, the Cat was perfectly content to laze about as one of his kind typically does on a constantly full stomach. Charged for crimes against Nature itself, ﻮєɭ๔Ŧєггค๔'s sentence was hardly enforced at the point of Elay's discovery of this creature, with many of the members assuming there was little need for any kind of lockdown on the creature. While not exactly friends, ﻮєɭ๔Ŧєггค๔ took a great interest in Elay from their first meeting, at first trying to extract the nightmares of Culla through him.
Culla, like most magical cities, is protected from observation by the outside world. As such, the Dream Nexus was unable to reach behind its walls, making nightmares from Culla a rare delicacy. However, as he grew and became more comfortable, Elay would go to go to meet the "Garfield Cat" of his own volition. Happy to suck up anything he could, the Wampus would often accept Elay's requests for dreamless sleep, and in return feast happily on whatever he could from a fresh and direct source. This willful feeding did well to remind the Wampus of how delicious direct meals were, however, and while Elay grew into a young man, his pal "Garf" could be found breaking containment more and more often with Elay's help.

That's around the time the government came knocking. PRA recruiters, on behalf of the United States Armed Forces, came to Raven's Rest in hopes of scooping any help of age and bringing it into the fold of a newly forming and very secret fifth branch: The Outer Branch. At a ripe age, and causing more problems than he was worth in Raven's Rest, Elay was signed off by his legal guardians to begin his life in service to his nation. A step outside of the typical pathway for people in his situation, Elay was the first Bridge to ever be allowed into national military service. He said goodbye to his Folks, and was allowed a short leave in which he would also find himself saying his unknowing last goodbyes to his beloved Mother, as well as the Matriarch herself. During that visit, he made it clear that he understood why they had done what they did, and tried to make amends for a life spent wishing that he'd never had to leave at all.
He also said goodbye to Garf, who emphatically told him "You'll be back. More than once." This turned out to be true throughout Elay's time as a soldier in this new secret army for the USA. In the Cold War environment that Elay had grown up in politically, there was more need than ever for Adepts to take a stand against very openly evil things in the world. Programs with less ethics, less morality, which put people into bad situations, were presented with a flare of propaganda and a very strong sense of duty to the human race, no matter how outside of it the Outer Branch's agents seemed to operate.

For five long years, Elay served his country as a Sergeant-Master in the Outer Branch: A rank earned by duty in service and prowess as an Adept. Master is a designation that a relative few carry in the Outer Branch, and is a surefire ticket into any part of the branch one could desire. As such, from an early time, Elay essentially wrote his own ticket, finding a little unit called the Paranormal Rapid Response Corps. Joining one of the taskforces, Elay began a new chapter in his life of hard work, hard discipline, and hard fighting. Time and time again, his prowess as a mere Son of Culla was more than enough to insure that his work was completed and he returned alive.
The Taskforce itself was a loose gathering; conscripted assassins and killers, warlocks hundreds of years old and Aberrations whose companions were cut from the cloth of Gods, all with common ground in a reason to defend the United States' interests. Their duties typically involved raids on confirmed magical operations threatening assets, hunting and slaying or capturing of potentially dangerous Apparitions, and conducting clandestine operations as a unit within the confines of non-American borders. Wet work. Tragic and toll-taking, at first Elay found a great deal of fun and joy in the chance to use his most egregious abilities without restriction.

But with each visit home, the gap between himself and the people he found there only widened. Nikkita had disappeared, bringing Cadenza back to Cloverfield to find her only to disappear herself. Then a falling out with his eldest sister, the Matriarch Moriah, whose own position meant that she benefitted from both their parents disappearance. Suspicion clawed at his mind as he returned for his next tour of duty, and made him a miserable person while he was still in Raven's Rest with his Folks. And even they seemed to understand there was something different about him now. A man who had killed, when so many of them had avoided such a thing. He was less sweet, less manipulative, less saccharine in his nature and far more cold. It was hard to tell, however, if it was the war or the disappearances that had him more shaken.
Regardless, he returned for two more tours after that. It wasn't a good idea, and Garf's cryptic voice echoed in his head from the last visit: Get out while things are still good. But he couldn't. In his heart, he believed that he could convince the Brass to allow the taskforce to investigate the disappearance of Cadenza and Nikkita Motta. It wouldn't have been the first instance of detective work they needed to do, and he believed it was a justifiable threat to national security: After all, as a single Adept, Cadenza de Motta had been known widely as an Apparition-level Adept, whose grasp over Lux was unlike any other Adept on the planet. Sure, maybe she could be brought low by a large-scale concerted effort, but there were few things Elay imagined being able to stop Cadenza from doing whatever she wanted. Nothing ever came of it. Elay tried and failed, returning home again only to ruin more relationships and find people with pity or disgust on their faces. In a strange way of trying to reach out, Moriah sent Elay the information for a "company" started in his name, in which money had started to be deposited as a retirement infrastructure. Something Elay was more believing that he'd never need as the second tour had been far more intense than the first.

And then he tried again on his third tour, when disaster struck. Around the same time Nylah was wreaking havoc on Cloverfield, tensions were rising across the far East, bringing Elay's services across the ocean to Korea. It was during this tour that the taskforce he was a part of met the sturdy wall of Soviet Adepts in head on combat... What ensued was a bloodbath, leaving Elay and a scant few other members of his unit alive to tell the tale of Soviet Magical dominance. Now wracked with the pain of survivors guilt, Elay could no longer derive joy from his career as a soldier due to the overwhelming losses he witnessed on the Russo-Korean Front.
Worsening the blow, it wasn't until he returned to the United States that he found out what had been done to his home. To his Folks. The operations responsible for monitoring and intervention against Nylah were slow to proceed, assuming the magical nature of the city would be enough for its denizens to put out the fire as they usually do. This led to rampant destruction and loss of life, especially from the surrounding magical communities. Not only had his folks fought against the threat as it tore its way day by day through the city, but they had lost their lives. Many of them, including his fosters and his Bridge-Uncle among dozens of other senior and ranking members of the Grove.

Returning to this in-repair landscape, seeing how it looked so much like every other war-torn city he'd been in, sent Elay into a spiral. Days after returning to his birth city, Elay made the drunken decision to attempt suicide, finding himself with very little room in his heart for hope and a belief that the world would be ending soon. Its in that moment he recalled Garf, and his many cryptic expressions that had been pumped into Elay's head. About "coming back" and "seeing more" of him, like the Cat knew something he didn't. Like it knew he'd come to offer himself up. So, with few people to stop him and fewer people who cared to, Elay made his way into the mountain. Deep, deep under that mountain, until the caves began to glow once more. Until they were ablaze with life untended in the absence of the Grove Keepers.
Where a lazy Prince nestled upon a throne of bones and dreams. Elay pressed him, and ﻮєɭ๔Ŧєггค๔ pressed back, until in the final dream Elay found a reason to remain. An echo, which ﻮєɭ๔Ŧєггค๔ let skillfully slip into Elay's perception, brought him back to his childhood. To the disappearance of his Mother.

"All this and more. Open the way forward and accept the Seed of Life. Me, unto you, and all is yours in curiosity."

Elay severed then and there, taking "My Pal Garf" as an Adjoined Apparition and officially becoming the first Motta to ever Abberate. The Prisoner, the Prince, the Soldier and the Hunter immerged from that cavern together into a foggy new day with confidence that hadn't existed for some time. It'd been weeks without food and water, without alcohol or sunlight. Only the caves of the Grove's Heart. Elay had a mission then: To find out what exactly happened to his Mother, and what the Hell to do about it. Since then, he's set up shop on the dime of the Mottas as a North Side detective firm jokingly named "Columbo and Waiting."
Columbo had been Elay's callsign in the taskforce, his specialty of ground-level investigation and intelligence gathering combining with his proclivity for dramatic and oftentimes needlessly droning expositions earning him the referential name. Elay had grown fond of that work, the times where he was needed to find out what was going on, and scout ahead on his own for the good of the taskforce... Thus, finding himself in a relatively crime-addled and run down city, he believed it'd be the perfect platform from which to relaunch himself, always hunting for any information he could about the disappearances of Cadenza and Nikkita Motta.

Since the city's eventual rebuilding and the North End's strict clampdown on crimes, however, things have become harder. Once again, old feelings of loathing and apathy return to cloud his judgement. Where before had been burgeoning attempts to return to his families are now passages choked with poison and bridges actively dancing in flames. Further financing from Moriah has become scarce, with a loan from her having gone bad long ago. Monthly good faith payments are dropped monthly into the Matriarch's coffers, but ultimately the debt may never be cleared. Beyond that, Raven's Rest is a cold place now. One where only ghosts haunt Elay's memories.
His few remaining contemporaries have long since given up on trying to force him to do his job as a Keeper. So long as Garf remains Adjoined to Elay, there are no problems that need addressing, and his reluctance over the past couple of years has only reinforced the feeling that Elay is lost to all but his own selfish desires. Perhaps that's true, but perhaps a big break in the case is just around the corner too? He keeps that thought in his pocket as the only motivation forward, and keeps the ring that served as his Channeler around his neck as a reminder of his goal:

To find out what happened to Cadenza and Nikkita Motta. Then, maybe love can return? Joy? The feeling of Lux swirling through the body again? Or just someone to tell him they're proud of the good that he'd done...

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"Oh, Laz; you just never learn." "Yeah, yeah. Just get me up Garf."

TYPE ⫻ Adjoined Aberration (Former Adept)

ABSTRACTION ⫻ The Lazy Prince of the Wampus Cats: An Aberrant Adjoining between Elay and the Wampus Cat ﻮєɭ๔Ŧєггค๔, otherwise known as Garf, who promised the former with infinite knowledge in exchange for a lifetime of sustenance.

ABSTRACTION DESCRIPTION ⫻ As Prince of Dazzle's Wampus Cats, Garf is a particularly potent specimen indicative of his kind within the plane. Larger and more physically imposing than most of his kind, the Prince is said to have once consumed a seed from Dazzle's Tree of Life, gaining knowledge and power at the cost of a curse. Apathy is a malaise; a blanket across all Wampus Cats in Dazzle, causing them to become hefty and lazy, often bartering in exchange for power and tithes as opposed to hunting on their own. Man-things are easily swayed by the promise of wants and desires, leaving their chosen prey as willing targets to be used and used again. They are intelligent farmers of pain, who often place themselves in positions where their needs are met at a high standard with minimal input required.

To most humans, Wampus Cats appear just as a terrestrial house cat. Coming in all forms, these facades are specially made to reduce overall attention from affectionate humans; but they will never be immune, as they still wind up just looking like housecats. Utterly irresistible. Garf, as his nickname suggests, is most often seen as a rotund, tigerstriped orange tabby cat whose only real distinguishing feature are his four massive polydactyl paws. With an extra section on each reminiscent of human thumbs, one who stares at the paws long enough may find the illusion fraying at the seams, and only then will they realize that this cat is not just a cat. It is, in fact, a wretched beast. Fifteen feet in length, fur ragged and thick with gore and peeled flesh, with an extra pair of legs that press against the ground with human-like hands thickly padded for walking and grabbing.

ﻮєɭ๔Ŧєггค๔ is a nightmare of gluttony. Of excess and slovenly nature, whose true form is not fit to be witnessed by any sane human, his grimace of blade-like teeth stretching infinitely backward into the gaping maw behind them. The remnants of the Seed of Life tainted his gut long ago, a Song Demon taking parasitic root in Garf's internal organs where it whispers its secrets upward into the ears of the beast. Its arms have replaced the naturally occurring second set of forelimbs, its hands having grown thick pads to compensate for their job as supporting limbs necessary for the creature's locomotion.
Actual maximum sizes of a Wampus Cat have never been accurately recorded, as much of their time is spent bending perception around themselves to prevent their cover from being lifted. As such, its often speculated that even the worst "True Form" one can take is only the top of the iceberg. That there are things far worse far deeper, never to be observed by the feeble human.

As part of their terms, Elay is able to employ the full spectrum of Garf's abilities at varying levels of access. Based on Garf's willingness to place himself in a more vulnerable position, Elay is able to exert more and more power through a unification method called "Kingshawl". And, after two years together, Elay has become adept at managing the exertion levels of their unification. Taking a page out of the book of Motta, Elay has spread the components of Garf's many abilities across a spectrum of progressively more strenuous Kingshawl forms. These are categorized into three different disciplines, with Bare Neck acting as a baseline level of existence for Elay that is only negated by effects that separate the Apparition from their Aberrant hosts.

Kingshawl: Bare Neck ⫻ At their most basic level of connection, Elay and Garf are able to share senses between one another. From seeing to hearing to smelling, they can share and cross-examine their surroundings while pooling together their thoughts on both. While Garf can control whether or not Elay can perceive his surroundings on a sense-by-sense level, Elay is always open to intrusion by Garf, including cross entity telepathy and shared thought. This is a small price to pay, as the times Elay is privey to a near bird's eye view of his surroundings, or able to hear something he otherwise wouldn't have, are invaluable. This affect is heightened depending on proximity between Elay and Garf, with their maximum distance being a hundred meters between one another.

Limits: This whole situation is sometimes cripplingly confusing, which is why Garf is the one in the driver's seat as to which senses are used and shared from his perspective. Elay having access to all of these senses, especially at a far distance where they're weakest and most like television static from a bad signal in his head, would be catastrophic. As it stands, Elay is still prone to bouts of being "lost in midair" where his senses aren't directly attached to his body, but he can still feel himself on the ground. He often spaces out, especially since Garf has carte blanche to disturb him telepathically about any little thing. That being said, there's a mostly stable agreement to not tax Elay's brain too heavily on off days, and to limit the time using the ability in the field.

At arms reach, roughly three feet apart, Elay is able to access the more advanced forms of Kingshawl.

Kingshawl: Dashing Attire ⫻ Hanging close around Elay's neck, Garf comfortably projects a very stylish orange and black scarf, which Elay typically draws up and around his face as a mask. Interestingly, the distinctive orange color avoids eye fatigue by being muted with a distinct lack of desaturation in the color, and causes the fabric to be vibrant without being intensely reflective. It is this same property which many Blinds find themselves caught in as Elay channels Garf's mentally binding abilities. Functioning similarly to a form of Pink Lux, powers associated with Dashing Attire include a variety of hypnotic and neurologically affective abilities. In nature, the Wampus Cat uses this set of abilities to play the Pied Piper to potential prey, as well as ward off any would-be predators or captors.

For Elay, this breaks down into basic necessities for doing intrusive detective work. Mind reading, extrasensory detection, perception alteration and ultimately intrusive control over Blind entities. When used against Paranormal individuals, each power functions differently due to its interaction with the Emotional Field's barrier. Through millennia of survival, Garf has come to learn the best ways of harnessing these sorts of abilities against them in an affective deterrent. By using the same energies, Elay projects an increasingly uncomfortable and disturbing assault on the target entity's Emotional Field. A highly disorienting method of detecting Paranormal positions, irritation and eventual damage to the Field, projection of external illusions, and at its most potent a potential temporary inability to call upon the emotion required to cast spells can be applied to the target.

Limits: As is expected in a cat, these types of abilities are meant for proceeding unseen and lashing out as quickly as possible. Thus, the potency of these spells are strongest at the beginning. Most of the time, their use against Blinds is only as useful as the person using them and the person who they're being used on. While he can detect several life signatures using basic heart-beat monitoring, this method is rudimentary at best. Tracking Blinds more clearly requires more focus, both to filter out other noises and to magically hone in on the essence of life within the entity.
This is a weakness that can be applied to every single ability in this category, whether used against a Blind or Paranormal: The fewer things are affected by the ability, the more potent the ability is.

And in regards specifically to anti-paranormal techniques: These abilities are the ones a cat would use to evade an animal control officer. In the same way a stray would avoid sight, confuse by knocking the trash can over and scrambling in a different direction. They are actions of general desperation that are most often used to shake a tail with a flourish and hope one can lick their wounds later on. The effort required in using the abilities in this method, rather than the typical prey lure that they are, is great. Enough that the Host's limits are typically pushed, and either Garf needs to project himself by upgrading the form, or split while its still an option. Otherwise, the host could risk potential death through exhaustion.

Kingshawl: Cloak of the Night ⫻ Assuming a more active position, Garf crawls his way onto Elay's head and hangs there by his front paws. Forming a true shawl and hood, Garf drapes himself into a dark black cloth that hangs across Elay's shoulders and covers both his face and head. Looking close enough at the shawl reveals incredibly tiny points of orange, which shimmer with a tantalizing rhythm that isn't fully recognizable until you've stared for long enough. It's this darkness that Garf himself sleeps in, and which one can find themselves consumed by should they not be aware, or strong enough to repel the allure of its infinite slumber. This cavernous cape completely covers Elay's countenance, making any observation or interaction with him into a hazardous endeavor for both Blind and Adept alike.

While utilizing the Cloak of the Night, Elay has access to the more formidable magical technique that Garf uses to strike and consume his prey from their very dreams. The cloak can shape and twist itself into a variety of shapes, working its way into any nook or cranny it can. Able to project itself across glass, screens and other objects meant for viewing, the cloak attempts to force its target to look deeply into the darkness like a constrictor wrapping around its meal. Once fully entranced, the target is exposed to the secret in the dark: The little orange stars pulsing and dancing across its matte surface. These stars are the seeds that attach themselves to the target, growing into ripe fruits that allow Elay and Garf to step into the dreams of the victims.
With two methods of approach, Elay can either wait for the seed to ripen over time, with the ability to track the target freely for as long as they remain affected... Or, a method developed by Garf during his times as a predator, is to simply knock out the target. Upon falling unconscious, the target's seed is completely ripened and able to be accessed without trouble or concern. To do so, Garf has developed another technique allowing Elay to utilize the cloak to teleport short distances thanks to its strange properties.

Limits: First and foremost, Elay can only maintain a maximum of five seeds at any one given time. They're easy to get rid of from a Paranormal standpoint, as anyone with a strong enough Emotional Field will most likely notice the small disturbance they receive when observing the man with the black face mask and realize what it left behind. They have a pretty significant range; long enough that it's probably not going to make a difference. But, the seeds themselves have an overall lifespan of five days with day four being the ripest day. Knocking a target out, while ripening the fruit for Elay to access the mind, is less effective overall as it reduces the quality of sleep of the victim. That is to say sleep quality is overall very important for accessing the target as well, and Elay has no immediate or direct way of doing anything about it at this stage.

Additionally, Garf's comfort comes into play. As a lazy Prince, Garf is generally opposed to doing more work than is necessary. As such, he's got an aversion to taking shapes that aren't comfortable to him, though these things must be done for the sake of the Host. For Cloak of Night, hanging and draping across Elay's upper body isn't such a stretch that it's not worth a meal; but having to work too hard for a target by extending himself into other objects is never a comfortable experience. Ergo, the harder Elay pushes the cloak's abilities, the less time he has to use it.

Kingshawl: Tiger Wraps ⫻ Splitting his form in half and wrapping himself around Elay's hands and wrists, Garf accepts this discomfort only when deemed absolutely necessary. His body thins and twists over and over again until the wrapped hands are padded with an incredibly thorough and robust set of tapes. Their bright orange color is somewhat jarring, but Elay jokes that they're warning for caution like everything else made bright orange. That if you see one coming your way, the only option is to try and escape the aggressive combatant they're attached to. These wraps, while simple on the surface, are the most available method Garf has to channel his gargantuan physical strength into Elay. Initially attracted to him for his own magical robustness, Garf has found that Elay's physiology is well suited to handle the strain necessary to go forward.

Obviously, this is the most directly combative form of Kingshawl. A mostly natural part of Garf that he rarely "needs" to channel into, this is actually a compromise between the two individuals in terms of powers and abilities. Even the biggest cats around still use cover and stalking as their main methods of predation, their strength generally only leading to a better chance of whether or not they'll bring the prey down. For Garf, this meant not considering the transfer of these traits; a life spent living with them made it difficult to even ascertain where the magic in them was. In order to transfer them- Strength, agility, endurance, dexterity and robustness. -Garf had to discover where his own strength came from in the first place. An easy thing to remember when you ate a seed from the Tree of Knowledge, but Garf has a bad (or good) habit of making things difficult for himself.
Either way, the capability was found by channeling directly through the arms and following the old Lux channels through his flesh into his most important organs. From there, Elay can use the reactivated strength left behind by two decade old Green Lux rituals. He's able to increase muscle mass and bolster the infrastructure behind it, calling upon Garf's energy when necessary to deliver short range bursts of air capable of extending his melee effectiveness. Short term rapid healing can also be used, though the effects are often temporary as the patch job ceases to function after clearing the Tiger Wraps.

Limits: Besides the limited and fickle nature of Garf's healing abilities, this form is relatively strenuous on all parties involved. For Garf, splitting has never been an ideal strategy. Overall it leaves him weaker, meaning he's more vulnerable; even more so in this context, as he's not technically separated. Rather, like a circuit, Garf is using Elay's body to maintain a subtle connection between the two halves of his body. While Elay hasn't come to understand this concept, Garf is incredibly fearful of the vulnerability his need to remain whole creates: With most of Garf's energy trapped inside Elay directly, one could easily seal Garf, or kill both he and Elay at the same time. Rarely does Garf give anyone the chance to do him serious harm, thus usage of Tiger Wraps is solely left to his discretion.

Beyond that, no matter how well developed Elay's body is, it'll never be enough to handle the unbridled nightmare that is a fully awakened ﻮєɭ๔Ŧєггค๔. Ergo, Garf is constantly monitoring Elay's body for signs of weakness and fatigue. Unable to continuously pump him full of energy due to its eldritch sources, Garf is responsible enough to pull the rug out from under Elay whenever necessary. Meaning, Garf's often quick-to-act panic button often leaves Elay in a situation where he was fighting with that power in mind, only to have it stripped away and need to flee. Elay is, after all, incredibly good at looking for trouble. Its nothing to antagonize a group of twenty Blind bikers in a seedy bar just for the thrill of trying to beat them all into a pulp: And Garf is happy to scarper as soon as he's had enough.

Kingshawl: Royal Regalia ⫻ In times of great strife and equal triumph, Garf has held onto a "forbidden" nexus of the Kingshawl's unifying effects. Unnecessary, Garf finds Elay to still not be ready for this form's usage yet... Though, on the occasions where Garf is allowed the majority reign and Elay lays down for a true slumber, sometimes dreams are passed from the former to the latter involving a towering man in royal robes and a crown. On his shoulder sits a massive bulge, with almost useable paws resting on the figure's chest...

LIMITS ⫻ Individual limitations of each ability have been listed alongside their entries for ease of browsing. Besides that, there are few abilities that Garf clings to greedily. Among them, the Wampus Cat's potent ability to subtly pierce the walls of Lux-based Emotional Fields. More potent while used on a sleeping target, Wampus Cats of all realms are greedy gluttons whose main source of sustenance is the negative emotions created by humans and other sapient creatures. As such, a predatory instinct for bypassing Adeptal defenses was necessary to develop over time, like a bird's immunity to capsaicin or a scavanger's taste for rotted meat. This also means that at least once a week, Elay is required to go "dormant" while Garf takes the reigns of their Adjoined consciousness to hunt for fulfilling meals.
In addition, due to his consumption of the Seeds of Life, Garf has attained a great knowledge of many things beyond his own experience: Knowing accurate futures and photographic pasts, he has vowed to keep the truth out of Elay's hands unless he can manage to discover it himself. Thus, most of the secrets of Dazzle are hidden from Elay, waiting for a discovery that will probably never come.

Both of these benefits are totally unavailable to Elay unless the most desperate of necessities, as per their binding contract. As are several other agreements, including a clause preventing Elay from taking any actions that would knowingly end his own life without express agreement from Garf. If at any time the contract is broken, Garf simply leaves. No ceremony, no long goodbye; the cat unplugs itself from Elay, and most likely tries to eat him and whatever else he's dealing with before celebrating his unbridaled return to the surface world with a light lunch: Cloverfield.
Lastly, the more combative forms of Kingshawl unification are often left entirely to the discretion of Garf. The more openly aggressive he allows Elay to be, the more open and exposed he leaves himself as he's less able to hide due to proximity requirements and issues involving an increase in size.

WEAKNESSES ⫻ The primary weakness is how tied to Garf Elay's abstraction is. Unlike some other Adjoined, he isn't granted the abstraction in the typical manner. It requires Garf's presence - and him exposing himself.

First, he's basically useless when Garf is asleep or otherwise incapacitated. His senses are enhanced slightly and he has a weakened emotional field, but that's it. Second, Garf- and thus Elay- is weak to any magic that targets and harms Apparitions. Black Lux, Apparition destroying Artifacts... while Garf can't be sealed adjoined to Elay like this, he can be weakened and harmed. This has the knock on effect of weakening Elay, and the risk of Garf deciding to flee.

There's also the toll using Garf's magic takes on Elay's body. While Garf can monitor and choose when to leave, using the stronger forms leave Elay even more tired afterwards. It's just worse, and at risk of proper damage, if he uses them for too long.

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"Worst place I've ever been? San Francisco. And no, it's not what you think."

Garf often catches rats in the basement for fun, and Elay watches him hunt more often than he'd like to admit. Garf's always happy to show off, and typically lets his sport go as he's got an aversion to the taste.

While Garf eats dreams, its mostly for sustenance. As a ravenous eldritch abomination hiding a wretchedly amorphous creature beneath, he's constantly hungry and searching for his next meal. However, he derives great joy and pleasure from eating physical food, with a taste for good pasta dishes pulled directly from Elay's many nightmares.

If it isn't clear, a lot of Elay's feelings about people not liking him are total self-perceptions. Though, not entirely unfounded as interactions rarely ever go well with Elay; it's safe to say he's made himself look like an asshole plenty over his life, and people are right to hold a mixed bag in his honor.

Recollections: Primal Sinister

Cloverfield to Raven's Rest, 17 years ago.

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”Lazarus… Bim-Elay! Please, do not make us’uh wait!”
The Matron’s thick Italian accent echoed through Elay’s mind as he pressed the last box into its place within his trunk. She was like those people in the Army movies.
The Generals, standing up on tanks, right?
Flashes of television previously archived dug a narrow synapse through his thoughts, triggering imagination to blossom into the vague paints that made up an old technicolor propaganda cartoon. A man shouting out orders, pointed hat on, stars across his lapel…

But every fibre of his being told him not to go. To grab the bedpost and lift it, to slide under it and let it drive through his gut back into the floor. The vivid image of pain in the mind of a child wasn’t something they should have, but Lazarus Alonzo Motta was something of a free roaming child. Fifth of a collective eight children, Lazarus was the only boy; and rather than neglected, he was somewhat spoiled in a unique place between his two parents. He enjoyed solitude, long stints of playtime in the nearby woods punctuated by the warmth of a Mother’s affection.

His Momma, Lady to the Matron, would bring gifts of material and emotional affection- More than could be said for the Matron’s own mostly aloof demeanor. Curt, often chiding in her inflection, there were few rare moments where she privately showered a unique and strangely wholesome affection upon her only son. The two women were the dark and light that made up young Elay’s world…

But for the last year, they’d been making final preparations for this very moment. The moment that he would be expected to pack everything. To make his due, as it were. Both parents told him it was his duty, and Momma sang to him about valor and honor every night. She told him about how he would be safe, and that where he was going was a simple place where they were equal. Where the people didn’t suffer under an evil hand.

It only made him wonder if he’d lived under an evil hand so far.

The room he’d occupied since forever was barren now, devoid of the periodic table poster, and of his papers and notebooks, the bookshelf full of his favorites… The little shelf where his collection of rocks and stones had been. His fossils…
Without warning, his face balled up into a frown, and then his eyes tightened. Tears fell. Even as the servant pulled his trunk away and down the stairs, he stood in the middle of that empty room like a statue. And the boy just cried.

Downstairs, the greatest Matriarch of her time sat against the side of a limousine, her massive body causing the vehicle to lean in the opposite direction. The trunk of it was popped open, awaiting the last piece of luggage to be transported with them directly. The cool autumn breeze brushed against Cadenza’s skin. She could smell a small herd of deer some thousand yards off in the treeline of the property, partaking in one of the slowly ripening crab apple trees. The rotting fruit, slowly fermenting into a tasty treat for the creatures, caused her nose to turn up slightly.

Cadenza ran a hand through the long mop of curly black hair that cascaded down her back and evened out into deep chocolate waves behind her. She stared at the open door to the mansion and listened for the footsteps of her only son to march himself down to the waiting chariot. But what did she get instead? More delays. Things could not be delayed if they wanted to continue operations here in Cloverfield.

She tried to understand. Tried her best to be compassionate and joyful as was necessary… But this was a step beyond. It wasn’t like they were sending him to some of the shitholes she’d been in.
”Oddio Cristo, Nik!? Can you please go an’a get him!? We take much more time an they’ gonna’ think we pullin’ something!” Cadenza groaned, her free hand lazily waving like the paw of a great lion.

"They won't, they won't, you know they're not the sort. I'm sure he's just forgotten something." The much softer, almost nervous, response came from Nikkita- the Matriarch's consort, practically dwarfed in comparison beside her. She reached out to comfortingly touch Cadenza’s arm with an appeasing smile. It was her way- pacifying without pushing back, even if she was half lying.
"I'll get him, won't be a moment."

Another gentle pat and she went back inside. She just hoped their son was still inside, rather than fleeing into the surrounding woods he liked so much in an attempt to delay the inevitable. It would be an understandable reaction…
"Elay? Elay- oh, Elay, Gioia Mia." Warm arms wrapped around the crying boy, and he was pulled into his Momma's embrace. It was a tight, but gentle, hug and Nikki rubbed his back in comforting circles.
”Momma’s here… there's no need to cry."

The boy wasn’t prone to wails, having grown into an otherwise somber lad with few tendencies toward anything beyond placidity. He was a snorter; a genuine unable to stop himself from ugly crying little thing. His arms slipped upward toward his Momma, practically falling into her arms.
”D-don’t - Wanna - G-o-ooo…”

Each word, punctuated by deep nervous honks of choked nasal passages, only added to the sorrow of the moment.
”Please! I-i’m… I don’t- I didn’t think-”
He didn’t have the words to explain how he was feeling. No matter how smart he was, he was seven. Seven years on the planet, to come to know a place of some peace and comfort, to be told it wouldn’t be yours anymore. He could only assume he’d done wrong.

"Shh, shh, it's okay." For a moment Nikki just held him. What could she say? It broke her heart to have to let him go like this too. But there'd been the discussions, where she'd carefully questioned and tried to suggest to Cadenza that it might not be necessary gently. But it never went anywhere- and never could go anywhere, when the other part of her wanted it to happen. Her only son sent away… but to a place where he could be free. Yet she was the one left to deal with the fallout, his emotions crashing against her painfully.

Her arms loosened around him so that she could crouch down, getting at an eye level with him. Tired brown eyes crinkled into a warm, loving look at her son and soft thumbs reached up to try and wipe away his tears.
"I know you don't want to go, tesoro, I know. But you're doing this for all of us. For your sisters, for me, for our Lady... Because you're our strong, brave son, aren't you? You can be just a little bit braver for Momma, can't you?"

Tesoro… The Emerald Son. He had always been a special little treasure. But, one that was always contentious. Most Matriarchs and their immediate circles have little such love for the infrequent male offspring, and they typically serve as cannon fodder for the Children of Alezia. Few had opportunities like the child still honking away in the arms of his birth mother.
”B-but wha-t’d I d-o-o? M-omma! I-I… W-wan’t t-t-o… Come back! P-uhuh-leease!? D-don’t ma-ake me goo-o!!”

Cadenza huffed outside. Not something the child could hear, but Nikki’s trained ear would be more than enough to pick up on it. Though, this wasn’t the normal “Get it over with” huff that she normally shot at anyone taking up more than ten seconds of her time. It was almost empathetic. Private. Like she almost didn’t like it herself.

It would take a couple of extra moments before Elay could stop actually crying. He was still sniffling heavily with snot and tears streamed all down his face. His dark curls were pulled back off his face, and he was in his favorite little suit… But none of it seemed to make him any more confident. Not ready for what was coming.
”Please don’t leave me… Momma…”

"I’m not leaving you.” It was only a half truth, at best, no matter how lovingly it was spoken. It wasn’t her choice- it wasn’t really the choice of the woman huffing outside either, even if she could stop it… with consequences.
"I’ll visit so often you’ll get sick of me… And when your little sisters are older I’ll stay longer. I’ll never leave you.”

Nikki leaned back a bit, pulling a tissue out of her coat pocket. She gently wiped away the tears and snot that had covered his little face.
"Look at you, my big, brave boy. You’re going to do so well… and Momma will miss you so much, so you have to be strong, otherwise Momma will struggle too.”

She could still feel his small hands clinging to her arms with all the strength he could muster. Like some other force was holding him and pinning his feet to the floorboards. It wouldn’t be surprising to see his face bright red and straining, only he wasn’t. Just… Breathing. Desperately trying to do what he’d been taught by the Matron and accepting his beloved mother’s assurances.
”I c-couldn’t ever get sick of you… You’re-”
His voice hitched, and he sniffled again before coughing slightly. Even in his pain, he knew he was to be polite in the presence of his elder. His suit coat sleeve flicked upward to block the cough from going anywhere, and did so twice more before lowering it and sniffling one last time.

”M-maybe, sometime, I can come back? Like, to stay for a little while? I-i don’t have to have my room, I’d sleep in the barn… Wh-erever our Lady would have me…” he was in the bargaining stage now, but a foot shuffled forward as if he meant to move along. Hopefully there wouldn’t be another fit on the way down the grand staircase.

"I’m sure you could, if our Lady allowed it,” Nikki lied, knowing full well Cadenza wouldn’t. Not when it could risk the treaty. But it was an easy lie to tell to try and placate her son. She pressed a kiss to his curly head before straightening back up, removing his little hands from her arms.

"We’ll find somewhere for you that isn’t the barn. If she’s away, maybe you can share with Momma like we always used to? Your sisters can join too… Though last time Gia said she was too old, and I’m sure Rina will feel the same now. It would still be nice, wouldn’t it?” She gently patted his shoulder, a light push towards the door without much power behind it.

Slowly, surely, the boy’s feet shuffled in shiny shoes across the threshold of the door for what he hoped wouldn’t be the last time. It was something of a perp-walk, the sad little thing’s head so desperately trying to stay up at a respectable height. But he felt so rotten. Cast out without understanding what it was he represented.
He was, at least, downtrodden. But feet shuffled down the stairs and out into the front. Cadenza’s arms swept forward, wide open.

”Mi Bimbo! Il grande uomo forte è qui!” My boy! The big strong man is here!
As she yapped aloud in Italian, her boot slipped from the car door and her massive frame pushed forward until she was on her own two feet again. The limousine rocked to and fro for a brief moment.

”Issn’t chu Mamma a live-saver? C’aman, in di auto per favore! The clock, the clock, Dio mio…” She chided, throwing a subtle grin toward her partner for taking care of what needed to be done.
”We stop, maybe get’a gelato! Matrona gonna tell you a story ‘fore e’thing iss done…”

"I thought we didn’t have much time?” Nikki said gently, though it seemed to be less of a question and more of a light hearted rib after Cadenza sent her in to rush him out. She smiled slightly, hand moving to Elay’s back to guide him towards the car door.
"Why don’t you go in first, Elay? You can sit wherever you want, you don’t have to give up the best seats for your sisters today.”

It was a grim prospect not having any of the girls pushing him around for a better spot next to her. Next to the only real source of true warmth in their light.
”I’ll make up for ‘em, don’tchu worry.” Cadenza joked, her large hand pressing against Elay’s back to help him into the cavernous rear of the limo.
Seeking comfort as best he could the boy scrambled for the seat with two armrests so he could prop himself up. At best, he could bury himself in the seat and maybe then they’d change their minds about sending him away.

Cadenza’s hand slipped up for Nikki to take, and she gave another knowing grin. It was subtle, not malicious. It carried a weight of sorrow all its own. After all, neither of them loved the idea of getting rid of this… Little Emerald. His deep green eyes stared at the two women as they slipped into the vehicle on either side of him. The door closed behind them, and suddenly Elay didn’t have anywhere to go. This was really happening…

Maybe if we stop for ice cream, there will be an icicle that impales me and makes me stuck on the pavement…

”Ohhhh, Mi Tesoro…-” the large woman groaned as she let herself stretch a bit in her seat.
”-This is not so different than what would’ve happened! But you must understand… You do this, and in turn you are safe! And so far from all the bad things, Mi Smeraldo!”

This wasn’t entirely common behavior for the Matron. Her usually aloof nature was somewhat peeled back for a fresh coat of empathy and understanding underneath. Or, attempted. She wasn’t amazing at it. It didn’t come naturally like some other Matriarchs, and she didn’t care if it ever did. It wasn’t her breadwinning feature.

”You’ve been told this!”

Elay listened and felt shame. Great shame for being emotional, and for not being able to help himself as tears welled up again. He still couldn’t wrap his head around how this was all planned in some way. Like this was just supposed to happen, and he wasn’t somehow responsible for some great tragedy in his own life.

”B-but… Ma’am… Didn’t mean t-to uh-uh-pp-set y-”
As he started to well up with panic, Cadenza’s finger shot up.
”Do. Not. What’cha Mamma say? You are strong! So be it! Be. It! When you older, you’sa gonna get it all, okay? You’ll make sense of it, and you’ll know it’s what was’a best! Eh? Nikki?” she chided, hoping her partner would step in to bolster the argument.

"She’s right… You’re not going far at all,” Nikki said softly, her arm coming around Elay and gently rubbing his shoulder. She didn’t want to agree with it… but it was preferred to where a son of a Matriarch would normally go. He would be close and, more importantly, alive. She couldn’t say the same for her own brothers- wherever they may be.
"Momma would never let you go unless it was for the best, Mi Tesero. One day you’ll understand… And you’ll be so close! Just a car ride away when you could be so much further. They’ll take such good care of you- they’re all good, loving people. It’ll be like another family.”

”And! Annnnd… Mi Fratello! Zio Alphonso, do you remember? Nana A and B’s eldest boy! Jus’a like you, he make dis’ pilgrimage, and he’s a great man! If nobody else, he’s gonna take’a good care ‘o you!” Cadenza added, assuming that a child would automatically find comfort in immediate relations. She had no clue.

Elay tried his best to wipe the frown off his face, replacing it with some kind of childish determination. But it was difficult. Beyond such, to the point he felt a little desperate to get past this hump of grief in his chest.
”I… W-hat if t-they make me get r-r-rid of my rocks?”
Yet, a child is never above finding a new way to spiral themselves back out of control. But right now, nothing was permanent. No agreement was anything more than a temporary stoppage to a recurring problem.

”O-or they s-e-ll ‘em c-cuz they’re poor!”
He’d heard some of the Matron’s lesser servants talking poorly of the town of Raven’s Rest. Even his elder sisters. His complaints were obvious parroty, but grief was anything but easy to put down.

"They won’t touch your rocks, Cuore Mio,” Nikki tried to comfort him, unable to quite hold back a slight sigh. It wasn’t at him, but those she’d previously told to not speak negatively about Raven’s Rest in places Elay could hear them. It was just one small part of the problem, but one that could’ve been easily avoided…

"It’s true that they’re poor, but where you’re going is a tight knit community that would never take from their own. Instead they support each other. I’m sure all the other children will love to hear about your rocks.” It was soft honesty, Nikki seeing no sense in hiding the truth about Raven’s Rest’s poverty from him. He already knew…
"What they don’t have in belongings they make up in love. They’ll love you almost as much as Momma does, alright?”

”But not as much.”
His voice managed to eek out conviction in that moment, clearing his throat as his brows furrowed into a v-shape across his forehead. The young man’s fists balled up into two little boulders of fury and determination, and he tried to see it through. An argument, just as he was taught. Some kind of rhetoric… That was the word…

”But, maybe more… Since they’re not the ones giving up their son!”

”Hey! Don’t you dare speak’a like that to us! Y’don’t know, Ragazzino! You know nothing about what’a we goin’ through by losin’ you! An’ gettit’ tru’ your thick skull, eh!? You’a didn’t do nothin’ wrong, Lazarus Alozno! Dio Mio!” Cadenza groaned, her hand slapping her face and dragging downward.
”Apologize to you’ Ma! No way you goin’ anywhere talkin’ like that to us besides’a da grave! I make another one’o you in’a ten seconds!”

The look Nikki gave Cadenza over their son’s head could only be described as tired. The unspoken words of ‘you’re not helping at all’ were clear in it. But the exasperation along with the pain from what Elay said quickly disappeared, her gaze returning to its normal placid softness.
"Cadenza, we’re not-” She shook her head, stopping herself from going down that route. Parents should always present a united front in front of their children… even if she disagreed with what was said.

"Don’t say something like that, Elay. I love you so much. If there was anything I could do to keep you with me, I would.” She gently moved her hands to his face, forcing him to look at her. It was an expression so full of love- one that he was used to- but she let just a hint of the sorrow she’d been hiding slip through. Enough to show him how genuine what they were saying was without overwhelming him.

"We’re doing this because we love you. You’ll be safe and cared for… that’s all Momma wants. But my love for you will never change, no matter where you are.” Her thumb moved up to rub his cheek, and there was an expectation in her soft gaze. While her words were much kinder, she was expecting an apology too.

Elay had always felt the subtleties in his Momma’s gaze. The ways she looked at him almost always told him how he should be acting with express clarity, and with her hands on his face, he couldn’t escape it. Cadenza wasn’t so blessed, however. As Elay spoke and she answered, it was like everything had gone completely over her towering head.

”I-m-m sorry, Momma… M’sorry, M-matron…”
”You betta’ be! These people use-a to eat bad children whose disrespectin’ they Ma!”
”Eat!?”
”Well… Not-a no more! But you remember it all the same! In your dreams, in your sleep, yoooooou have to be a good boy, Lazarus!”

Well, Elay certainly didn’t want that to be an issue. Suddenly he straightened up, the Matron’s many tales of strange blood death in the far away places invoked his imagination’s wildest pressures. He looked back up at Nikki, mouth agape.
”Oh-kay! Okay! I won’t be bad, Matron, I promise! So, please don’t make me stay with the cannibals!”

Cadenza shook her head.
”Mio Dio, I can only take this so much… What’am I gonna do, huh? Back ‘inna day, they would-a never had you, Bambino! Figlio morto, capice?! This place, they take you’a cuz Nanas nev’a would’ve cared! They’a sell you! For corn, or grain! So we give’em to the Grove, lett’em learn!”

Cadenza’s voice was loud again. Not shouting, just naturally loud in Italian. Elay just wanted to crawl into a hole with a big rock blocking off the top. He wanted to be buried alive so deep they’d never dig him out. He couldn’t even fathom what they were talking about when the situation was discussed, and all reason flew in the face of that confusion.

”Ma’am… If I didn’t do anything wrong, then will you accept me back in your home!? Ever!?”
”A’m naat’a kickin’ you oooooooooout! Ah’m a gonna give you a boot in your ‘ead, you hear me!?”

"Elay, tesoro, listen to me. Take a deep breath. You're not getting kicked out, and you're not getting sold or eaten." Nikki's head tilted up to look at her partner over his head again, lips pressing together and eyes widening slightly in an attempt to silently tell her to stop talking. It was a look Cadenza should recognise- one used by both sides of Nikki when she said something especially wrong for the situation. Speaking about cannibals and death was just making Elay panic more. But just in case it didn't get across this time… a soft whisper brushed across Cadenza's emotional field.
You're scaring him, Amore…

"You're still our son, no matter what." Nikki looked back down at Elay again, still holding him in place. Her expression softened again. She leaned forward, face close to his as her voice dropped to a whisper. As if it was a conversation just between the two of them- not to hide it from Cadenza, an impossible task, but in the hope he'd feel like he had all of her attention.

"I'm sorry, Gioia Mia. This is out of our control. It's tradition- what you're doing is so important. Without you, we'd all have to leave." She spoke so softly, tenderly. And he would feel a warmth: love, tangible love, a gentle cloud of Pink Lux washing over him. So carefully, without actually doing anything to his mind. She would never use it on her children… she was just filling him with warmth.
”Some of us are born with a purpose, Elay. This is part of yours. But once you're an adult you'll be free to live however you want… and more importantly, you're loved. So, so much. It hurts to have to let you go, Cuore Mio. There's just some things we can't change… I'm sorry you have to learn so early. But it's not because of you, or because we want this… We love you. That’s why the decision is final."
Elay could feel his mother’s magic washing over him, wanting to curl into her to listen to the same lullabies he’d listened to since he was a baby. She was so warm, so welcoming, so absolutely perfect in her intention. Cadenza stared at her son as all of his attention turned to Nikkita. It was for the best, after all; she had no clue how to get this kid to shut up otherwise. It was just painful, and no matter how much they expressed it, she understood he was never going to get it. Children were simple. Things either worked, or they didn’t.

But Green Lux was what she was best at. As Nikki comforted him, Cadenza’s hand squeezed tightly. She could feel the very atoms of the material she was synthesizing from her flesh, layer by layer as it slowly but surely formed within that balled up fist.
In truth, there was no sensation more convincing than this for Elay. Like every little bit of his life was surrounded by love. He didn’t exactly understand how his mother’s powers worked, but he knew she had them. Knew he was being convinced by them too, but to him it was real.

An expression that most normal humans couldn’t make. Not even the Matron
”M-momma…”
Elay slipped over the arm rest he’d been stuck on, crawling onto Nikki’s side and curling up practically in her lap.
”I-I’m… Sorry…” he whimpered, little hands wrapping up into Nikki’s coat.

"It's alright, Cuore Mio… Momma's sorry too." Nikki's arms slipped under his, and she pulled him up properly into her lap. Holding him there like she had so many times when he was younger, before he grew big enough that it was unwieldy. Thankfully her Green Lux, though more dormant in this state, was enough that it wasn't uncomfortable. It might be the last time she could hold him like this… she could only imagine he'd be even bigger when she next saw him.

"Momma's got you… look, you're so big but I'm still hugging you just like I always have… that's how much I love you, Tesoro." She spoke softly, repetitively, as she blanketed him with warm comfort both physical and magical.
”I’ll hold you the whole way… you can even have your ice cream like this. How does that sound?"

”Woah, woah… Tangente, mi amore! We’a gonna be so late, there’s no stoppin’!” Cadenza did her best not to raise her voice or make Elay any more upset than she already had… But the ol’ ice cream promise wasn’t exactly the best option in this situation. She braced as she waited for Elay to start fussing again…
But he didn’t. He hadn’t cared about the ice cream to begin with. Being in his Momma’s lap was the only place where he felt safe, and if they weren’t going to budge, he had to take in all he could.

"Oh? Then you better develop Red Lux right away." Nikki shot Cadenza a deadpan look for a few seconds, before it softened into a slight smile. She could read her son so easily now that she was using her magic, light as it was. He was as content as he could be in this situation… Her arms tightened around him and she pressed a kiss to the top of his head.
"Would you like another treat then, Elay?" she asked without much clues as to what that would be.

Catching Nikki’s hint, Cadenza scrunched her nose playfully.
”I know what our Piccola Gazza wants, mi amore… An is’sa nat gelato. Figglio mio, turn’a to look at my face. Por favore…”

The Matriarch was doing her absolute best to be sweet how she understood sweetness. Her definition was giving, the love of the spread. The offering. In truth, their Little Magpie had always been somewhat bribable. Tangente was sometimes just the thing to get him to operate. There was a reason, after all, why he was such a young child with an incredibly extensive collection of geological specimens. Fist sized crystals, mostly indistinguishable from those formed naturally, would absolutely auction for an incredible price… The value didn’t matter to him. It was the luster, the surreal nature of those clear lattice structures which let light pass through them with such beauty.

He was interested in the Earth beneath their feet. It came naturally to him as breathing. A little connection between the son and the sire… Cadenza’s specialty was mineral synthesis above the hundred other disciplines she’d “mastered.” And each one of his collection had been made by her hand, with little pieces of her very magic strewn throughout them.
And this piece was no different.

The little ring that she formed in her palm was solid titanium, and throughout it’s design were inlays of green and pink stormy opal so small and thinly placed that they could only have been carved from the metal. At it’s head, the opal formed what almost looked like an eyeball, the thickness of the gem letting it display its inner clouds fully.
Cadenza had already strung it to a thin platinum chain, which caught the ring as she let it slip away from her hand and into the air.

Sitting forward, Cadenza leaned down across the cab of the limo to hover over Elay and Nikki slightly. Her free hand rested on the roof, pinning her where she was.
”Lazarus Alonzo… I’m’a not a good parent… But I’mma neva gonna let you tink fo one second that I’mma not tinkin’ about you. You an you sisters! You make’a me a little brighter, okay? So, you take this! An’a next year, I’mma gonna send you something else! An’a, if you start goin’ to school, like a normal little bambino? Then they’a gonna mail me you grades! An’ you keep ‘em up? You keep’a collectin!”

Elay had turned enough to pay the Matron the respect he’d been taught to, and was sitting next to Nikki by the time Cadenza took a breath. He looked at the ring on the chain, and for a long moment he thought about what it would be like to wear that ring. To feel it on his hand.

”But this’a one: Special! It’sa me and you Mamma! Together, you see? It’sa titanium, an’a you get the green an’ pink. When’a you look at this, I wan’ you to tink of the both of us! You unn’astand? Capice?”

She held it out of his reach until Elay accepted what she had said. He did understand, and looked back at Nikki with tears in his eyes.
”Promise me you feel that way too? Y-you both mean it?”

"I promise, Cuore Mio- and I mean just that. You're my heart. This is a little piece of us, just like you are. And there's always a little piece of you in here.“ Nikki's hand lightly tapped the left side of her chest, where her heart was.

"We'll always be there with you." Pink Lux filled the cab- pure love, almost tangible. It washed across Cadenza's emotional field and focused on Elay. But it wasn't a bombardment. It was precise, carefully crafting a lattice of love around his mind. Subtle hints of Green here and there to bolster it… a mother's protection against intrusion, until he came into his own magic and didn't need it anymore. It was like a warm, protective embrace.
”Can you feel how much we mean it?"

He could. Even with his own emotional state so scrambled, Nikki’s influence over the boy was something he’d grown used to enough that it was a comfort in itself. He associated this feeling with truth, because it’d never happened to him only for her to lie. She always told the truth…
So he wiped the tears away from his eyes, looked from Nikki to Cadenza, and cleared his throat with a nod.
”T-then… I understand, Matron. I promise, I’ll… I’ll keep it close. Thank you… Both of you.”

Cadenza’s hand slipped downward, handing the trinket to her only son. Her massive hand rubbed the top of his head, and she smiled.
”An’ besides; is’sa no backwater! They’gota telephone! You call-a you Mamma, she right there…” she laughed, looking up at Nikki.
”Right, Mamma?”

”Mhm, call whenever you want, I'll always try to answer," Nikki smiled softly at them both, eyes creasing warmly. Concentrating on the Joy and Love… it was as much for herself as it was her son.
"It'll be like I'm right there. I'm sure your sisters would love it too… I might have to wrestle Chessa for the phone."

Their second youngest… who was especially attached to Elay. All the other children's emotions had been an extra layer of difficulty for Nikki to deal with…
"And by the time you're big enough to wear that ring I bet you'll be able to drive yourself, and can visit too."

Consumed by the latticework of love and joy, Elay finally felt himself relaxing slightly. Back into Nikki’s arms, he curled up slightly while holding tightly to the ring. But it would only be for so long… His breaths loosened, and he closed his eyes for a moment. It’d be a long time before he’d be able to make it to that moment where he could return, but he had to. Had to make it.

He would show them that he was brave. That he could get there.
”I will, Momma…”

---

Raven’s Rest, an hour later

Raven’s Rest remained ever rested in its notch in the mountain. The town bore witness to a myriad of colors that exploded across the landscape. Various hues of red, orange, and yellow filled the branches of the trees that seemingly stretched for miles and miles outward from the top of this mountain village down to the bustling city far in the distance. Fall was here, and the air hung heavy with anticipation as this scene meant winter was going to arrive soon. Still, the towns folk tried their best to get everyone in the spirit for the holidays. Spooky skeletons, ghastly ghouls, and monstrous monsters decorated the town as it prepared for the Halloween trick or treat event in a weeks time. Even the church had gotten into the festivities, with a large inflatable ghost staked in the yard.

A small congregation waited by the steps of the church, led by Pastor Frank Miller and his son John. Behind him was an eclectic woman with messy, but clearly curly, hair pushed into a bun and a man who had equally long hair that was matte black and completely straight. Both had their hands on the shoulders of a young girl. She had an oversized puffy coat on and was more invested in a Gameboy than anything else going on around her. The Wren family was here, and they had nothing but smiles as they looked towards the driveway to the church.

“I know we were late but come on, where is everyone else,” Jasmine Wren asked as she shot a side eye towards the pastor.

“You come back t'me ‘bout bein' late when you got four kids t’ wrangle, Jasmine!” Coming up to the church was a taller woman, her dark hair in neat box braids tied back off her face. One eyebrow raised, green lux ears easily picking up what Jasmine said. She was pushing a stroller with a toddler strapped in, her coily hair in two puffy balls.

There was a girl about half her size following behind, her own box braids falling loose to her shoulders. She wore mud covered dungarees over an oversized, worn wool jumper. She held the hands of a little boy and girl, the little girl trying to hide behind her back.

But as they stopped she let go of her brother's hand, pointing. “Ma, why's Elara on ‘er gamin' thing- ain't it rude ‘round other people?”

“We just got ‘ere, ‘m sure she'll put it down,” Eloise Woods responded to her oldest daughter, who nodded seriously and stared at the younger girl.

Elara did not notice the new arrival. They had managed to snag a new copy of the ten-year-old Pokémon game and were currently fighting their way through a gym. An out-of-town traveller had “lost” their device in the restaurant when they went into the restroom, and the device became a gift from Jasmine soon thereafter.

“Elara.”

Elara smiled as they landed a critical hit. She was so good at this game. She was the best at this game. There was nothing that could stop her. A second later the Gameboy was removed from her hand and Elara tried to protest, her head shooting up to her mothers, but quickly pouted and crossed her arms.

“You’ll get this back when you learn yourself some manners,” Jasmine whispered as she placed the game in her purse. “They’re gifts, right Elosie?” Jasmine shot her eyes down to Elara and then back up to Elosie, before she chuckled.

“Gifts, ay, that’s one way’ah puttin’ it,” Eloise snorted. She put one hand on Bryn’s shoulder to keep her at her side, rather than going over to Elara to start her big sister act. “Who else is comin’? Ain’t they late too? Our… visitors. Not a problem s’long as they ain’t got stuck somewhere… y’know, city folk cars.”

“We’re not late,” a panting woman shouted as she ran up the driveway, carrying a small girl on her shoulders. It was Teresa, matriarch of the Ash family, and her daughter Sierra. Teresa was a powerful woman who normally carried herself with dignity and grace yet today it seemed like both were missing as her hair was in disarray, mud was spattered over her clothes, and a frantic look was on her face. “Are they here yet?”

“No, no not yet but what happened to you,” Jasmine asked with a raised eyebrow.

“We decided to enjoy nature and walk here, and the heels I wore were not suited to the trail,” Teresa chuckled as she put Sierra down and walked over to Jasmine and Eloise.

“Speakin' of unprepared rich folk,” Eloise muttered underneath her breath to Jasmine.

"Ma, how rich ‘r they? Rich enuff to buy one of Elara's gamin' things?"

Rich enough that, somewhere a few hundred feet down the road, there was a problem spinning the limousine around in the narrow street they were told to come up. Cadenza had, in fact, seen an ice cream parlor that looked incredibly quaint. There was little resistance keeping her from directing the pull-off so they could all enjoy a cone in a cup. She still called it gelato, which it absolutely wasn’t, but who was going to tell Cadenza Motta that it wasn’t gelato? Nobody in their right mind.

But it meant that the limo had to back out, and with it being such a narrow street, there was a bit of finesse required…
Except the finesse wasn’t enough, so Cadenza had to get her hands dirty. Finding the opportunity to avoid the gaze of the few people in that little downtown area, the Matriarch did her best to muckle up underneath the vehicle, bench pressing it by the frame and spinning it fully so it was once more facing the correct way.

Only once the situation was rectified were they able to progress to their ultimate goal. Around the time Bryn was asking about their wealth, the sleek black monstrosity was crawling up the hill and into view. When it finally rolled to a stop in front of them, it was like the thing was made out of a foreign material. Pristine, with windows so black one couldn’t see through them and metal accents so polished that one could only see themselves staring back. It was audacious for this area… But it only came around once every twenty-or-so years.

It was a treat for the eyes.

But as it came to a full stop, the driver popped up out of the front, practically sprinting around the car to the entryway before pulling it open fully. First came Cadenza, whose massive frame and immaculately tailored suit would’ve made quite the impression among old and young. It was expected that the Grove would come in force to meet them, but…
If this was a force, then nurseries were just army barracks to these people.

Turning her body slightly, she offered a hand to Nikki to help her out of the vehicle, assuming that ultimately little Elay would follow his Momma’s lead.

Nikki looked at Cadenza’s hand with a slight smile, Pink Lux gently wafting out. Undetectable to her Blind son as she carefully checked his mental state. She knew what Cadenza was assuming, but she didn’t think it would be quite that easy without a little more coaxing. Hopefully she would be wrong. She stood up, taking a step towards the entryway before pausing in front of Elay.
"Come on, Cuore Mio, let’s go. Do you want to hold Momma’s hand?"

Despite the belly full of chocolate chip ice cream, Elay still found the time and energy to be incredibly sensitive. Crying again, coaxing him out became just a little more difficult as he did his best to stymie the flowing tears. There were things that felt right, and things that didn’t, and he couldn’t tell anyone that he felt this was wrong. It wouldn’t have worked anyway. The plans were set, and he was so far from being in control that he couldn’t have possibly seen the bottom of it.

But she asked him to be strong. So, he held out his hand and grabbed ahold, even though he didn’t exactly move to get up…
Granted, it wasn’t easy to make him do much of anything. For a seven year old, he was as robust as one could hope. Not rotund or hefty, but densely packed. Coiled and tightened, Cadenza had been pumping him with extra growth for years. At almost ninety pounds and several inches taller than his peers, he was more like a crying boulder than he was a sad little boy, even if he still acted like the latter. This kind of difference would’ve been clear between himself and the other similarly aged children now standing before them as he finally emerged from the car.

Like his parents, Elay’s wardrobe meant he was almost always immaculately dressed, and he was personally fussy enough to detail his appearance by way of styling. His elder sisters helped, of course, but he liked looking nice. He imagined that he was cool, like the men in those gangster films he’d seen Anana and Banana showing in their mansion. This time, he had a waistcoat and a pristine dress shirt (sans tie), along with perfectly pressed pants and a scarf that hung around both sides of his neck without being fully wrapped up.

”Buongiorno.”
Cadenza’s voice cut her son’s internal thoughts, and his head automatically snapped upward to look at her eyes as she spoke. Exactly as he’d been taught.
”Madonna Cadenza Motta-” she flourished a bow, one arm across her stomach while the other splayed out behind her slightly.
”-and you are the Matriarchy di Boschetto, no? The Grove-a?” she questioned with a stern but calm voice.

Nikki stood beside Cadenza silently, one hand on Elay's shoulder. Her smile was well practiced, polite and calm, with her eyes carefully shifting between all of the adults. The neat blouse she wore tucked into a dark, knee length skirt didn't seem to lend itself to the chilly weather- but there were no signs she was cold. While she wasn't as physically impressive as her partner and son, she managed to hold herself in a way where she didn't blend into the background while still remaining relatively soft.

“Yes, I’m-”
"Ma, why’re funny words comin’ outta her mouth sometimes? ‘N why’s she bendin’ like that?" Bryn interrupted her mother with blunt questions. Though she was the oldest of the Grove children, clear by her tallest height (now beaten by Elay), she wasn’t great at knowing when to not ask things. Or, she knew and just didn’t care. A grimy finger pointed at Elay.
"And why’s he so big?"

“Bryn,” Eloise hissed, hand going to her eldest’s shoulder and squeezing. Bryn wriggled, frowning.
“Don’t ask somethin’ like that.” She looked up and back at their guests, a polite smile forming. Noticeably, though she did chide her daughter she didn’t apologise to their guests, rather just continuing.

“Eloise Woods, one of the leaders of the Grove.”

“Benvenuti! Mi chiamo Teresa, sono anche una delle leader qui,” Teresa smiled as she waved. Her family had just gotten back from their yearly trip back to the motherland and her Italian was extra crisp today. Still, the unfortunate quality of the Italian indicated that Italian was never her first language despite being born in Italy.

“And I’m Jasmine,” Jasmine reasoned as she walked forward and offered a hand towards Cadenza, “mind the children. They’re delights normally I swear.”

Both Cadenza and Elay’s ears perked up as Italian was spoken out of the crowd. It was a warmth for both of them, that told them maybe this wasn’t so bad. Cadenza instantly trusted the syntax and found it genuine. Elay was just happy to hear the Mother Tongue, making him feel like there was comfort even in this strange place.
Looking down at the many daughters that surrounded them, Cadenza shook Jasmine’s hand as best she could before stepping forward and squatting down in front of young Bryn. Her grin was huge, and there were far more teeth in her mouth than any normal human.

”You ask’a good questions… Why I so big?”
She looked up at the other grown women, still smiling, then at Jasmine before her gaze returned. It was naturally conspiratory, and it was almost like she was sharing a secret with the gathered children.
”I’a so big ‘cuz when I meet a man’a I no like…”
She paused again, leaning in just a little closer.
”I eat him! Bones’an all!”
Her head tilted back, and she started cackling before standing back up to her full height.

Bryn’s little mouth fell open, and she gaped up at Cadenza. Her look of shock very quickly turned to one of awe. The little girl practically hiding behind her. Robin looked terrified, as if his sister was going to eat him right there. Of course she wasn’t going to eat him… but nasty men? That didn’t seem off the table.

Elara finally looked up at the big woman and chuckled. The chuckle quickly turned into a full laugh.

Watching with a slight, soft smile, Nikki stepped forward towards Jasmine and held out her own hand. "I’m Nikkita Motta, but please call me Nikki. It’s a pleasure to meet you all."

“The pleasure is ours,” Jasmine smiled wide as she tossed Elara a side-eye. Maybe that was the key to getting her daughter's interest—crude jokes about eating men to get big and tall. “I am Jasmine. This is my daughter Elara!”

“And I am Pastor Frank Miller,” the Pastor said as he walked towards the assembled group. “If you need anything while you are here do not hesitate to ask, my children.”

“It has been far too long since a member of the Motta clan has graced the Grove. I hope the drive up was easy, and the journey without hassle,” Jasmine added as she placed her hands on her hips.

"We had a slight issue turning down the street after we took a quick detour to treat our son to some ’gelato’, but it was smooth otherwise. It’s quite beautiful out here," Nikki smiled, easily continuing the small talk. But her hand went back to Elay’s shoulder, gently pushing him forward. "This is my son… Why don’t you introduce yourself, Mi Tesoro."

Elay had still been hoping that his Moms would forget they were dropping him off… That they would get distracted talking, and that they’d all just get into the car together to leave. An unsuccessful hope as Nikki pushed him slightly forward. It felt like being led to the executioner’s block… Like he was a lamb. His voice wavered as he tried to introduce himself.

”M-m’names…- ay”
His voice barely came out of his throat. Even though she hadn’t been looking at him, Cadenza’s head snapped around completely. There was a loud pop that everyone would’ve heard.

”Lazarus Alonso! Usare correttamente la voce! Now!”
Her stern voice did work in that situation. Rather than continuing to mope, Elay snapped to attention. Tears rolled out of both corners of his eyes.

”My name is Lazarus Alonso Motta! Please call me L-A. Elay.” he forced himself to speak loudly, choking on his words at the end of his statement.
”Please t-take good… Care… Of me…”
He couldn’t stop himself from letting it go. From making a fool of himself as he started shaking more than he had in the car ride. It was all real now, especially as the driver had started pulling his luggage trunks from the limo’s rear and placing them down where they were easily accessible.

"Hi, L-A! I’m Bryn! ’m the oldest, so I’ll be your new big sis! This is my brother, Robin," she gestured to the boy beside her, then the girl beside her and the one in the stroller.
"That’s Laurel and Marigold."
She let go of Laurel’s hand and stepped forward, slinging an arm around Elay’s shoulders. It was almost a hug as she spoke quietly.
"Why’re you cryin’ n’ shakin’? Is it cause you think your Ma’s gonna eat you! Don’t worry! The Grove protects its own, we ain’t gonna let her do that."

“Oh yes, your mama is totally going to try and eat you. I would be sooo upset if I was you,” Elara said in a monotone voice.

“ELARA,” Jasmine shouted as she placed her forehead on the palm of her hand.

“Oh. I’m Elara, nice to meet you mister,” Elara looked towards their mom and spotted their game device. A plan was forming on how to steal it back.

Cadenza started laughing louder. She couldn’t help but think of how things were at home, and it reminded her of her own household long ago. Her own mothers had to do the very same thing.
”Ayyyy, you’a see, Elay? They treat you jus’a like Gia an Rina! Dis’a not so different!”

Squirming against Bryn, Elay could only be honest as he was taught to be.
”You’d cry if your parents were giving you up!”
”I tell you, mio Dio, nobody is’a givin’ you up! You’a just gonna live here, Elay!” Cadenza groaned again, her hand in her face.

"She’s right-"

"Why don’t we swap and I go to your fancy place and see if I cry!" Bryn interrupted Nikki before she could begin her comforting. Her arm was still around Elay’s shoulders, hard as it was when he was tall, and she leaned in. A conspiratorial glance was shot towards both of his moms.
"Your smaller Ma looks real young, too, is that why they’re givin’ you up? I heard a lotta teen Mas do that, it ain’t just you."

“Bryn.” Eloise said warningly, though it didn’t seem to have any effect on her daughter.
Nikki was staring speechlessly at the young girl.

Cadenza hadn’t batted an eye, looking between some of the adults.
”Where’s’a my shithead Brother anyway, eh? He was’a sp’osed to be here so Elay had a familiar face…”

But Elay wasn’t doing well. Not after what had just been said to him.
”They wouldn’t want you either.”
His tears had dried up, leaving little streaks down his face as he stared directly into Bryn’s eyes.
”You’re not good enough for them.”

"Well you ain’t-"
Simultaneously, two mothers sprung into action. Eloise went in and physically dragged Bryn away, quietly chastising her while stopping the brewing fight.

Nikki stepped forward, crouching down to pull Elay into a hug. She gently rubbed his back. It was a difficult thing to manage, suppressing her own frustration with Pink Lux. Cadenza had moved on, and she shouldn’t undermine her authority… but what Bryn said wasn’t okay. She leaned back, hands moving to her son’s shoulders as she looked him in the eye.
"Look at me, Cuore Mio, none of that is true. We already discussed this… We aren’t giving you up. I love you too much to do that willingly. But even if someone says something that hurts you, you shouldn’t retaliate. You don’t say things like that." She used a tone Elay would recognise - the soft but firm way she always spoke when she was reprimanding her children. Her head tilted up to look over him as she straightened up, and at Eloise and Bryn.

”Children will be children, but I’m allowing my son to come here-" as if she had any choice-
"- for a treaty under the condition he be treated well and equally to your own children."

“I understand, and ‘m sorry for my idiotic daughter,” Eloise looked down at Bryn, who was now pouting, with narrowed eyes. She had her shoulder in a death grip.
“It ain’t gonna be like that. We treat our members good and equal… And don’t worry, Bryn will be punished when we get home.”
"But Ma my-"
“I don’t care, Bryn. Now, apologise.”

”Woah, lets’a not be too hasty. The girl tells’a little joke, an’a my son is just’a sensitive poco fika. He’s’a little afraid iss all, girls. Give-a him a little space an’a time, an’ he’s gonna be just’a like you brother. Real brother. Elay’a good boy. No apologies… Just time, eh? It’s a scary thing.”
Surprisingly introspective, Cadenza’s voice was calm, and she found herself stooping to the children’s height again as she crouched down low… But her head cocked slightly as there was the shuffling of running. Huffing.

A portly man with thick black hair was huff-puffing his way up the hill to the church. Here he was…
”Alphonso!?”
Cadenza’s body was already standing again, staring down at Al as he was rushing up the hill.
“My Lady! Oh, oh my God, I’m so sorry!”

All the kids would know Al. He was a fun man, someone who would always bring pastries and other goodies to the different families of the Grove. Looking between him and Elay, the similarities were oddly striking. Same hair, same general face… Only Al was nearly six and a half feet tall weighing close to six hundred pounds. By the time he wobbled into the group, he was grasping at his knees.

Elay was surprised that this uncle was the one who was sent to join these people… He’d seen him at his own home before, and had been treated to the exact same kind of pastries that the girls had in their own life. But he was quickly standing by his elder sister with something of a big smile on his face.
”Grosso, we were’a fuckin’ late! An’a you don’t even have snacks!?”
“‘Course I do, Ma’am!”

He pulled his satchel to the front and opened it, pulling out a bag of confections and handing it off to Cadenza. She popped one in her mouth and squealed before crouching down again and opening the bag.
”Ahhhh, so good. Elay? Come’a here.”

Though he’d been clinging to Nikki, both knew he was meant to do what he was told, and stepped forward. Cadenza’s hand raised up, finger beckoning Bryn.
”You too, Bambina… Feisty’a little shit…” she grinned.

"Ma, what does Bambina mean?" Bryn asked, wriggling against Eloise’s grip. Eloise shrugged, and let her go. The young girl hopped forward, not seeming at all intimidated.

Elara suddenly appeared next to Elay, a careful eye would have spotted her, but to the untrained eye it would appear like she snuck over in the commotion and the fighting. In her hand she held a Gameboy, and she stretched it out towards Elay. “You like Pokemon,” Elara asked.

“How did,” Jasmine started as she looked at her hands, and realized Elara somehow stole it from her, “you little shit better not get a champagne taste on a beer budget.”

“I think this would be an appropriate time for us to, maybe, head inside? We’re preparing some barbecue out back and there are more members inside waiting to meet you Elay,” the pastor added as he held out an arm and motioned for the group to actually head inside.

”Si, una memento, Padre.”

Cadenza was surprised at the other girl popping up, but giggled and turned her head back to the two who had already managed to make problems with one another. Elay nodded to Jasmine, but he was trained to keep his focus on his Matriarch when she required it. Two of the bonbons from the bag were pulled away, and handed to both Elay and Bryn.
”Eat’a the treat, and shake hands.”

Elay didn’t think about it. He just took the treat and stuck his hand out, chewing and tasting the amazing flavor of it. To be fair, it did make him feel a little better.

Bryn did the same, throwing the sweet treat in her mouth and munching on it. Her hand went out to shake Elay’s.
"Ma told me to treat y’like my brother, so I was just doing that."

“You don’t get used to it,” Elara said in a monotone voice but had the faintest smirk that Bryn would instantly recognize as the one Elara had when she tried to rile up her friends.

"You just ain’t tough enough," Bryn teased back, free arm coming up to hook Elara in the dreaded Bryn shoulder hook. She knew the look, so she didn’t get pissed over it.

Cadenza’s hands ruffled both their heads. Elay knew what this meant, and smirked right before her powerful arms shunted their skulls together like two pool balls smacking against one another. It wasn’t hard enough that they were both unconscious, so he counted himself lucky that was all. Granted, Elay wasn’t quite aware of how hard she had to do that to knock him and his sister out… Hard enough that this girl’s unmodified skull probably would’ve caved in.

”Now you’a really siblings! Da Motta Smack, eh?”
Patting both of them on the rear ushered them forward, and with his release, Elay was free to speak again. Not that he had the chance…
”Go! Go, go, and watch for your clothes’a catch on fire, Elay… Chiesa is not our place.”

As the rest entered, Cadenza hung back with her younger brother, quickly grabbing him by the collar and dragging him close. It was quite horrifying that she still stood several heads taller than him. Their private conversation faded away as the majority of the group headed for the church.

Bryn took getting her head smacked against another's surprisingly well. There was no crying or complaining, just a bit of pained grimacing. She grabbed Elay's hand, and then Elara's, and tugged them both along.
"We ain't get barbeque often, so this is the real treat. I bet they'll even let us eat first."

Nikki followed right behind the three children after a quick glance at Cadenza, making sure her son knew she was there with a light tap of warm pink lux against him. She didn't want him to think he was going inside alone to face even more strangers… she'd be there with him as long as she could be.

The pastor was already ready for food despite the beef for the group to discuss business first. Three thoughts of ribs, chicken, and an assortment of greens and sides filled his mind as he looked towards the front door. He led the way up the creaking steps, his broad shoulders hunched slightly from years of hard labor and heavier burdens. His son walked a step behind, the family resemblance unmistakable in the sharp line of his jaw and the quiet determination in his eyes. The Pastor looked back on his son and smiled. He was going to continue the family legacy, and work had begun to prepare him for the rigorous journeys ahead. He turned his attention back to the door and with a heavy push the church doors groaned open, revealing a dimly lit sanctuary with wooden pews polished smooth by years of use. The air inside was cooler, scented faintly with aged wood and the lingering sweetness of past potlucks. A single cross hung above the pulpit, its simplicity a reflection of the congregation’s humble means.
“I’d say make yourself at home but this is the lords house,” the pastor spoke again only this time his voice seemed to boom more than before. He was truly at home here, even if he was just the voice of God above.
“Elara, I’ll let you hold onto your game but you mustn't play it while we’re here, okay,” Jasmine said with a stern side eye to which Elara gulped and nodded in understanding.
The back door, behind the pulpit, was open and the group could see a bulky Asian man behind a grill, who spotted the group and simply waved with a smile. His name was Daniel Harrington, and he motioned for an unseen person to enter the building. A moment later a small boy’s head looked out past the doorframe shyly, before he too entered the church and walked up to Bryn.
“Hi, who’s your new friend,” Lucas asked as he avoided all eye contact altogether.
The smell of the barbecue seemed to follow him, and the church was soon filled with the aroma of sweet and tangy meats grilling to perfection.

"Elay! He gonna be my new brother- sorta. I ain't sure how it works!" Bryn grinned, once again slinging an arm around Elay's shoulders.
"This is Lucas… you better be nice to him or I'll beat you!"

Elay stuck his hand out politely as he'd been taught, the frown still filling his face.
”Hi… Our names are similar… Lucas, Lazarus. The L sound, and the vowel/S on the end.

Elay had never been amazing at making friends. These were trained reactions, being taught how to socialize “like a proper little boy should.” It was taxing, and dishonest which was something he was also taught to avoid being. He couldn't figure out when certain rules applied or didn't, and it had become a mire of duplicity in his mind.
It was anxiety inducing.

”The food smells nice… Is that your Dad cooking?” Elay asked quietly, his stomach still working despite every other feeling going on.

Lucas looked up to Elay and nodded. “He is a really good cook,” Lucas paused as he looked towards Bryn with a crooked head, “but you’re not nice to me all the time. Who is going to beat you when you’re mean to me?”

”I'm biggest. Come to me, and I'll win every time!”
The most verbose and braggadocious thing the young man had said all day… Very tough talk coming from someone who was pretty much just crying.

"You-" Bryn pointed a finger at Lucas, then at Elay.
"It ain’t all bout size. Bet I hit you once and you’ll start cryin’... You city folk are all the same, all talk!" All of this was declared with a wide grin, no clear aggression in the girl’s expression… though she did mean every word.

”You shouldn’t talk about fighting so much. My Lady always says ‘Don’t cash checks before the chickens hatch.’ I think it means, like, you don’t know if you’re gonna get stuff before you see what people can do.” Elay did his best to dissuade this Bryn girl from further violence…

Not because he was afraid, of course; rather because he knew there wasn’t anything he could do about it. Ma, and the Lady of course, would tan his hide if he acted too far out of turn. But he wasn’t comfortable conceding the point to his “new sister”. Hierarchy was important, and Elay didn’t like leaving it unsettled before it was tested. After all, these people were outside the Clans: Just because she was a girl, didn’t put her above him now.

Thinking about it deeper, a smile cracked across his face. He stared at Bryn now, waiting for her response to his seemingly insightful figure of speech.

Bryn stared back, tilting her head. She looked confused. She had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. What did that have to do with fighting? It wasn't like she was trying to get stuff out of them? She wasn't a thief.
"Well my Ma says ‘if someone acts outta line, give em a good beatin'.’ Cause you gotta show your strength."

“That's not what Ma says at all!” The little boy who'd trailed behind Bryn, holding their younger sister's hand, finally piped up.
“She says she'll beat your ass if you keep actin' up.”
”Is the same." Bryn waved a hand.

”B-but, you ain’t a Matriarch! Seems like your Ma is, but she’s not as big as Our Lady. So, either you ain’t all that tough, or she hides her powers real well… My Nana’s like that! She’s a real little lady, but I seen’er pick up a whole car when it was in a spot she ain’t want it in!” Elay enthusiastically spoke about his grandmother Bella, who had shown him a great deal of affection in their infrequent meetings.

"What d'ya mean ‘a May-tree-arc'?" Bryn enunciated the word she'd never heard in her life, looking towards her little brother in the hope that maybe he had. He always read books more. Robin just shrugged.
”And Ma can pick up a car! And she can do it with vines too! Pa too, he's always carryin' tons of shit on his shoulders… and he can hear us all round the house!"

”But they ain’t from Cullo! So, they ain’t Matriarchs! And, I mean… Dad? I know a few people who have Dads, but usually they’re not… Y’know, doin’ much. They kinda take care of the kids, don’t they!? Like Lucas’ Dad! He’s cookin’, cleanin’ probably… What’s your Dad carry!?”
Now Elay was just confused. Vines? He knew some Matriarchs fiddled with plants, but personal strength always came first. So why would the vines be impressive?

"Rocks! Pa works down in the mines… he ain't just at home takin' care of us. That ain't normal… he's gotta earn the money so Ma can be a Grove leader. Tha's what I've heard. I don' gettit cause she works too, just less…" Bryn trailed off, still with absolutely no idea what a Matriarch was or what the fuck Cullo was. Was it another mountain town?
"I ain't sure where you've been, but it ain't normal to have two Mas. How they even have you? It ain't… possible, is it? Y'need a man and a woman to make babies." Bryn spoke with the infinite wisdom of a nine year old who'd pestered her mother so much she'd been given a vague explanation of the birds and the bees.

Elay was, at the very least, educated in human biology enough to know what made him different from his sisters. Suddenly his face became incredibly smug.
”I don’t know, Bryn… Sounds like your Ma’s not that strong if she can’t make a baby with another Lady. Y’ever think that?”

”No! That ain't how bee-ology works! Strength ain't to do with that!" Bryn frowned.
“Biology,” Robin corrected quietly.
"Whatever! It ain't possible for a lady to make a baby with another lady! Your Ma's just lyin' to you… it ain't possible."

Elay turned instantly, searching for the Matriarch whom he knew for a fact was the main contributor of his own genes. She had finally come in with her brother, though talking to some of the other people gathered for the welcome. This left only Nikki to deal with his pleading.

”Maaaaaa! Bryn says you and Our Lady couldn’t have me! Am I allowed to say!?” he groaned, knowing full well that he could shut this cocky girl up with one assertion.

Nikki had been talking with a few of the Grove members, but she'd stayed close while keeping one magically enhanced ear on the children's conversation. Just in case… but she'd left her son to navigate the discovery and explanation of families different from theirs. As Elay called for her she turned, glancing over towards her partner in the distance before fully focusing on him.

It wasn't forbidden to say. In this situation… she didn't want him to have to keep secrets around the people who'd hopefully become a second family for him. There should be an understanding both ways about what their families were like.
"You are allowed to say… but Elay? Not every family's like ours."

”What do you mean? Like, how!?” Elay asked innocently.

Nikki smiled gently at him, while internally regretting not talking about this before they arrived. But how could she? She'd grown up in the same circumstances. It was easy to forget that it wasn't normal.
”Well… most families don't have a Matriarch. It's more common for families to be like Bryn's, outside of the Matriarchal clans. So while me and Our Lady had you, for most it's like Bryn said. Neither is wrong or more normal, just… different."

Elay pointed at his Ma, head fully spinning to look at Bryn.
”See!? She said they did it! Our Lady’s got a big cock! And she says I will too when I grow up, ‘cuz it’s in our family!” Elay exclaimed as if it wasn’t the most impressively out of pocket thing a seven year old boy could say.

But Cadenza had never been shy, and her rather crude sense of humor left all of her children using words and phrases they never should’ve known to begin with. He still looked smug, but anyone else listening to the conversation would’ve had to deal with that revelation however they felt was right. She heard Elay say this, and while she didn’t react at all, she gave her only son a very clean and loud high five in her mind.

Nikki's hand came up to cover her face, and the expression of dismay she couldn't keep off it. She should’ve said he wasn’t allowed to say… because she should’ve seen this coming. Hand covering her mouth, she mumbled a few curses in Italian - primarily directed towards Cadenza, who would be able to hear them if she really wanted to.

Eloise looked at Nikki, then Jasmine, before her eyes turned to the children. She wasn’t so upset about her oldest two hearing it- though she hoped Laurel didn’t entirely understand what was going on. Bryn and Robin already knew… she was just concerned that Bryn would take this and become even more annoying about certain things.

Jasmine listened in to the kids conversation with a nervous expression on her face. The kids were young but knew a surprisingly detailed understanding on how babies were made. She hadn’t had that talk yet with Elara. Her eyes slowly shifted over to her daughter, who also had a very puzzled look on her face. “Oh no,” Jasmine muttered. She’d have to have the talk later. Her eyes shifted over to Seren and saw that she was not even paying attention. Lucky for Teresa.

“Why would you want a big rooster,” Elara asked as she crossed her arms, “they’re mean enough when they’re normal sized.”

Bryn had been staring at Elay, mouth slightly ajar, but started laughing the moment Elara asked. Her chest puffed up slightly- because she knew about these things. She knew exactly what Elay was talking about!
"He ain’t talkin’ bout Roosters, Elara! You dunno bout that yet? Y’should ask your Ma!" She put her hands on her hips, turning back to Elay.
"I don’t believe you! Ladies ain’t born with those… and we don’ need em! They’re disgustin’! The bigger the worse!"

“Elodie,” Jasmine whispered as she stifled a laugh, “how dare you have the talk with Bryn without telling me. Now I need to explain so much when we’re gone.”

“She asked, I answered,” Eloise whispered back, shaking her head. “I didn’t expect… this…”

”Well, I saw it! So, quit sayin’ mean things Bryn! My Ma just said, we're not like everyone else! So throw your rules away, cuz I'm here and I'm alive! It had to happen like that!” Elay asserted, growing frustrated like he did around his elder sisters when they acted like this.

”And don't make me get Our Lady, or she's gonna smack our heads again!”

"Oh yeah? Cause I don’t think she has a big-"
“Bryn.”
"He said it first! It ain’t like I’m being mean- he’s just talkin’ bullshit! Your- your Ma’s in on it too! You’re just tryna mess with us cause you think we’re dumb! So get ‘Our Lady’ over I can take another head smack!"

"I’m so sorry for this," Nikki said quietly to both Jasmine and Eloise.

“To everything there is a season,” John started as he walked in between Bryn and Elay, away from his father, “and a time to every purpose under the heaven,” John paused as he smirked, “is this the right time to have this conversation when there’s fresh food waiting for us outside?”

Bryn rolled her eyes.

”He's right! Elay, quit it with this topic, Eh? I'm not'a gonna whip it out here in da Church infronna dees people!” Cadenza growled across the room.

"Or anywhere," Nikki said quietly.

“Oh thank the lord,” the pastor mumbled with a chuckle.

“Amen father,” Jasmine sighed in response, before a soft chuckle escaped her loops.

“I’m John, son of the good pastor here. Pleasure to make your acquaintance,” John said as he offered a strong handshake.

Elay nodded at John, taking what he had to say and absorbing it.
”I like what you said, John… I'm Elay. Lazarus. Like the Bible character! Did you get named after the Saint?” he asked, taking John's hand and shaking it firmly.

”Ma says it's just a book, but a useful book. Good at teaching lessons if you aren't stupid.”

“The Baptist, yes sir,” John responded as he shifted his attention towards Bryn, “a very useful book. If you ever wanted-”

“Why you talking about books Bryn when you can’t even read ‘em,” Elara chuckled as she ran behind the back of John.

“I’m sure Bryn can read just fine, Elara, besides arguments separate friends like a gate locked with bars,” John paused as he turned around and patted Elara on the shoulder, “do you want to start another one when the first one isn’t finished?”

"Fightin’ someone is the best way to get to know ‘em," Bryn rolled her eyes as John went on another one of his little quote readings.
"Anyway, it is done. And I can read. I just ain’t into it."

Elay turned his head to look at the woman he knew to be Bryn's mother.
”Is she like this at home, Ma'am? With all due respect, I don't feel very comfortable around her. I'm afraid she's gonna try an’ beat me up…” he said as innocently as he could, pivoting away from being aggressive in hopes of getting something sweeter out of the deal.

“Look, Bryn, you scared him.” Eloise’s hand shot out to lightly hit Bryn around the back of the head. She pouted grumpily up at her mom.
"But Pa’s friends-"
“I don’t care. Now, Elay… ‘m sorry she’s made you feel like that. She ain’t. My daughter’s real rough soundin’, but she ain’t a bad kid. She’s tryna act tough, but she ain’t really.”
"I’m right here, Ma."
“She only beats up people who deserve it.”

A small hand grasped Elay’s shirt, lightly tugging on it. It was Bryn’s younger sister- Laurel, the third woods child. She tugged downwards, looking up at the much larger boy shyly.

The smaller girl instantly made him think of his younger sister Kiki. He practically melted at the sight, and frowned as he crouched slightly. Just like he'd seen Cadenza do a million times.
”Oh, hi… I'm sorry, I'm Elay. Don't worry, I ain't gonna fight your sister.”
Turning back to Eloise, he smiled.

”I'm sorry for causin’ so much stuff to happen. Are you sure I gotta stay here? I can't go back home after this?”
He figured he'd try one last time.

Laurel nodded with a shy smile, her hand staying grasped into his shirt.

Eloise looked at Jasmine, then Teresa. She didn’t say anything for a short moment. The answer was, of course, that he had to stay. It was part of a centuries old agreement. Tradition. Throwing away tradition meant risking everything they’d built.

Nikki watched out of the corner of her eye, finding herself hoping that one of the three Grove leaders would turn around and say that he didn’t have to. If it came from their end… and the agreement remained in place, then there was no reason for them to leave him here. Maybe they’d finally move past an outdated tradition.

“I’m sorry, Elay, but you gotta stay,” Eloise said eventually. That’s all there was to it. They had to protect the Grove over anything else.
“It’s part of the agreement.”

”But nobody's even told me what that means! Ma keeps sayin’ it's something we all gotta do to make everyone happy!”

There was a throat clearing. Portly Uncle Al wobbled his way past his elder sister and up to his own Bryn: Eloise, whom he had grown up with just the same as Elay would do now with her daughter. Despite whatever shortcomings Cadenza perceived, it was easy to tell that Alphonso had come fully into his role as a bridge between the two groups. That was the expectation. He placed a hand on Lazarus’ shoulder, thumb pressing into his neck comfortingly. It was a Motta thing to do, something Nikki knew and did too.

“Maybe I can help?” Al looked at Elay lovingly, then at his Coven Matron.

Eloise glanced at Jasmine and Teresa again, before looking at Alphonso with the hint of a smile. She nodded.
“It’ll be better comin’ from you. I suppose it’s somethin’ he deserves to know.”

Al nodded and got down to his nephew's level a bit more.
“You listen too, Bryn. One day you're gonna take a Motta in too, so you gotta understand why it's gonna happen.”

While he and Elay were family, it was plain and simple that Bryn and her siblings simply knew Uncle Al better. While he may’ve been down at his family estate once or twice a year, he was in the Wood household once or twice a week. And despite not having his own, he loved Eloise's kids like blood: He understood the crucial nature of this situation.

Lazarus squirmed a little bit, frowning but still giving his Uncle the eye contact he asked for. He could feel his Matriarch's eyes burning into the back of his skull.

“Our family came to America a long, long time ago. Before cars, before lights, before roads and bullets and trains… But we didn't get here first. There were already people here. Magical people, just like us. So rather than hurting one another, they made an agreement. Now, what's most important to Ma, and to Nanna AbBa?”

Elay took a guess.
”Matriarchs?” he asked innocently.

“Technically… It's their daughters! Our family puts a lot of emphasis on strong women. And back in the day, they were even more important, to the point where we boys weren't worth much of anything. So they would give the boys up to the people here, so that we would all be connected. A part of a bigger family, see? So, that's why you gotta be here, and you gotta live with Miss Eloise.”

Al paused, taking a deep breath to consider his next words.
“And you treat her like you would treat Our Lady, ‘cuz she's just as important. And plenty strong! So don't be afraid, eh? You want a little taste of home, I live just down the street. You just come down, or come to the bakery, and I'll be there for you too. Understand me?”

Elay nodded, scarcely understanding more than he did a few moments ago.
”So Nanna AbBa did the same to you? Did you… feel like they were abandoning you?”

Yes… But a show of solidarity and strength was more important here.
“No. I knew my duty to my family. To maintain the way of life my little sisters would be able to enjoy. It's because of you and me, and… Well, Uncle Rocco is still alive technically, but mostly up to you and me to make sure we keep the agreement sacred.”

Elay seemed to consider this for a long moment. Uncle Rocco? He didn't know who the Hell that was, but he did accept what his Uncle Al said. About not being scared, and protecting the little ones. He looked down at Laurel again, and Kiki's little voice echoed in his head.

“I wuvvu Ewway!”

It was only natural that the little boy would start crying again. Al took him in his arms, waving Eloise in and turning his head to look back at Nikki. A subtle head nodded to her, trying to reassure her that it would be okay.

Nikki’s lips managed to pull up into a slight smile towards Al. Her own eyes shone with unshed tears which she quickly blinked away. It was difficult for her too. Holding herself back from comforting her son, because she knew she wouldn’t be able to be there for him in the future. She had to let others step in.

“We ain’t tryna replace your family, but we’ll treat you like our own,” Eloise said, one hand coming up to rub Elay’s back. It wasn’t the most gentle, but the intent was there.

Another, smaller body wriggled its way into the hug between Elay and Al. Arms awkwardly wrapped around Elay’s waist, and Bryn’s rough voice spoke up.
"I’m- I’m sorry I was mean. But I ain’t gonna let anyone hurt you! I’ma treat you just like my other siblings."

“Gross,” Elara said as she looked away from the affection and instead towards the food.

”If you promise, then I believe you…”
Elay hadn't been hugging his uncle back, but as Bryn pushed her way in, he felt the compulsion to comfort like he would any of his other sisters. So, one arm wrapped around her, and the other hugged his Uncle in an attempt to channel whatever good energy he could get.

Then there was another set of arms. Shockingly, the Matriarch herself had stepped forward from her position. It was entirely uncharacteristic of her to give this kind of affection, and even more so in such a setting… But there she was, pressed into her own younger brother's back and wrapping her long arms around to Bryn. She pulled everyone tighter.

”You meana lot more to us than the old days. You Ma an Me don't wanna do this. But we gotta, Bim-Elay… Is'a like you goin’ an gettin’a married. You gonna make us all a big family, Unnastand? Capice?

Al nodded in agreement, shocked as much as Elay to receive any kind of affection from Cadenza Motta.

“Exactly. Our Lady and I are siblings, but I'm absolutely part of the Grove, Lazarus. And Miss Eloise here has always been there for Me. I trust her a thousand percent. And if you ever need anything at all, our family is still bound to us for assistance.”

”Ye, like someone'a wanna Bakery, so all of a sudden, he gotta Bakery!”

Al sighed. Of course it wasn't all perfect.

“Right. Just like that. Nana AbBa are responsible for building my business… I asked, and they did it. So, those comforts you're used to aren't ever gonna go away. Understand?”

Lazarus did… Or, at least he thought he did. His hand slipped up, grabbing hold of Cadenza's sleeve and remembering the gift she'd given him earlier. But he was smothered at this point, and feeling a little cagey because of it.

”Okay, okay! Fine! I'm sorry, I didn't-”
Cadenza laughed, letting everyone out of the vice grip and standing back up.
”Good! Now you want me to beat you to da food? No! So go!”

"Whoa, I don’t wanna fight someone who eats men for food! C’mon!" Bryn gasped, suddenly feeling a threat to her rare bbq food. She bent down to pick up Laurel, hefting her up. She wasn’t going to leave the smaller and weaker behind… but the smaller girl was almost four now, it was getting more difficult to carry her.
"I ain’t gonna miss out on so much meat!" Then she started waddling slowly towards the back door. It was pretty clear she was struggling with another human in her arms.

"Don’t worry, I’ll hold her back," Nikki said with a soft smile, stepping back towards the group from where she’d been keeping a slight distance. She put a hand on Cadenza’s arm.

Eloise let out a quiet laugh as she watched.
“I ain’t sure if it’ll be what you’re used to or up to your standards, it ain’t any fancy food, but it’s proper, good shit.”

"When I was pregnant with Elay, I craved a good barbeque for weeks. We tried everywhere, but nothing was quite right… maybe it’s because the food was here all along." Nikki looked at Elay with a soft smile, then up at Cadenza with a slight twinkle in her eye. She’d had the exact same craving with another two of her children as well, during the shorter time she insisted on carrying them, but that didn’t matter. It was a nice coincidence.

“Come and get some food,” Daniel spotted shouted and the congregation was quick to form a line. Daniel himself prepared a massive feast for the assembled masses, from pulled pork sandwiches to a smattering of ribs, sausages, hot dogs, and a skillet baked cornbread. As well, Jasmine had brought a homemade mac and cheese dish, as well as a fried okra side that Teresa had made at her house. Sweet tea was plentiful, as were the petitions. An hour later there was nothing left of the mass of food. Everyone who ate was full, and Daniel could only smile at his work.

---

Mingling for a little while longer, the day turned into the evening, and things were beginning to wind down.
“It’s time,” Jasmine said to Daniel in a hushed tone. Daniel simply nodded his head and stood up.

“Thank you all for your hard work on this feast, and for making this welcome ceremony as good as it was. It is now time for the initiation. Only grove members may attend the ceremony,” Jasmine looked towards Elay and offered a weak smile, “we leave in five minutes.”

Elay had managed to forget for a little while, the food a perfect kind of distraction. But now they were saying that there was more, and that people weren’t going to be allowed to stay. This meant that he’d be saying goodbye. Like a rocket, Elay was back at Nikki’s side now, clutched to her and holding on for dear life. He hadn’t said anything, but she would absolutely know what it was that he was going through.

Nikki wrapped her arms around Elay, holding him in a tight embrace. Her head tilted forward, pressing a kiss to the top of his head. She pushed down her own deep sadness. There would be a time for that… afterwards. When her son was gone. For now, she concentrated on him.
"I love you, Cuore Mio." She pulled back slightly, one hand still around him while the other gently tilted his head up to look at her. Her warm, loving smile and soft eyes with a hint of wetness at their corners.
"And a little part of me will always be with you. You’ll be good, won’t you? And you’ll phone when you can? I’ll miss you a lot. And this isn’t forever."

”You wrote the numbers down in my ledger, right?”
He was doing his absolute best not to cry. He and Bryn and Lucas, Elara, had all been talking over dinner. He didn’t feel awful now… Just gutted. Just longing for it to not be true… But it was. The Matron’s gift still hung from the chain around his neck, and he felt it warm against his chest.
”And, if I need anything? You’ll do it, right? Can we still get… Y’know, the others? Gameboys, like I asked earlier when we were eating? It’s not fair that Elara had to steal hers…”

The sweet boy was already thinking of the others in a way that benefitted them too… Fairness and equity. The charitable spirit.

"Of course. Anything you want, Tesoro, within reason. Gameboys for everyone, any other comforts you want… I’m so proud of you for already thinking about the others. My loving little boy." Nikki said softly. If only she could do more. Sending material goods was no replacement for being there with him. But there was no choice.
"You’ll be taken care of here… Treat them like a second family. But your first will always love you, and I’ll be just a call away."

Cadenza had approached from behind, crouching down and also hugging around Nikki’s legs… Only, her hug engrossed her consort and their son in an embrace.
”I’ssa time… Elay, you be strong. Am’a beggin’ here. Tough as’a nails this kid. Capice?”

Elay nodded in turn, feeling affection like he hadn’t in a long time from the source of their family’s power.
”Capice, Matrona… Will you ever visit too?”

”Unlikely… We leave’a that up to you Momma… But, you visit with Uncle Al? Maybe I see’a you then. Or, maybe you birthday, eh? You know I’mma busy lady.”

He did. And he could accept it as long as his Momma would really actually come visit like she said. He believed them.
”Then I’ll write you letters… I hope you read them.”
”Every single one. I promise.”

And then she pulled away, placing a hand on Nikki’s shoulder and whispering something into her ear.
”I see you later, Elay… Remember, goodbye’a forever. You never ever say it unless you’a done with someone! Never ever! So, I see’a you soon enough, eh?”

The boy had tears streaming again, but at least he wasn’t actively sobbing now.
”See you… Later.”
Cadenza gave the boy a playful salute, turned her back, and disappeared out of the Church within a few steps. This left Elay looking up at Nikki, and he was clearly trying to say something, but was choking on his words regardless.

”S-so… S-s-see you, Momma…”
His hands released Nikki, and his body intentionally drew itself back despite every fiber it was struggling against.
”Sooner? Rather than… Later?”

"Sooner rather than later," Nikki repeated softly, hands falling down to her side. She had to let him go. She couldn’t hinder him as he forced himself away. And she couldn’t drag it out, both for him and her waiting partner.
"I’ll visit as soon as I can. Be brave, and remember we love you." Her head turned around to look behind her to where Cadenza had disappeared, before going back to her son. A light, comforting blanket of Pink Lux brushed against him. One last magical hug. For now.

"I’ll see you soon." Still smiling, Nikki took a few steps back. Then she turned around, and was gone.

Elay could only hope that the woman meant him too, but as Eloise and Bryn both approached him to bring him along, it was very clear that wasn’t the case.

---

The pastor led his son out of the church, locking the door on the way out leaving only the leaders of the grove, Uncle Al, the children, and Daniel.

“Alright, Elay, you ever teleport before,” Daniel asked as he placed on his hips.

Elay nodded.
”Yes, Sir… One of the revered Sisters in my Grandmothers’ compound is the Teleportation Mistress responsible for ferrying our chosen to Italy. I’ve done it four times in total.” Elay spoke plainly, as formally as he possibly could.

“Good,” Jasmine responded, “the location of the grove is a closely guarded secret. You may never actually learn where it is, and if you do you’d be expected to defend that knowledge with your life,” Jasmine paused as she looked towards Daniel, nodded, and back to Elay, “we’ll travel there now.”

Daniel spread his arms straight forward, extending both pointer fingers out and channeled his magic onto the tip of them. The teleportation magic was advanced. It had two components to it. A powerful masking spell that would make it impossible for anyone to track where they went with any certainty, and a very focused and fast teleportation aspect to it. Sure, Daniel could teleport faster with normal magic but when it came to the Grove he had to be safe. He began to move his fingers in a circular motion, one clockwise and the other counter. As he did this, a solid blue glow emanated from his fingertips that lingered in the air. He continued the motion until his fingertips touched again and he pulled his hands back. The blue circle he painted in the air stood still, and Daniel reached into the circle with his right hand and gripped. Blue streaks shot down and impacted all across his hands, dancing across it like lightning before they burrowed into the hand itself, and the ground rustled as a massive blue circle formed underneath the group. He pulled his hand back, causing the blue circle to extend with it until it formed a cone like shape. He thrust his hand back forward and the group was instantly transported to the grove.

The group was in a relatively empty cavern that was illuminated by bioluminescent plant growth along the walls that seemed to rage to life with the arrival of the group. Even though it did little to truly illuminate the area, it did provide enough to act like a soft night light in a dark area. Elay would see jagged rocks, shadows, and a complete lack of anything in the nearby area. The corridor was narrow, no larger than the blue circle that Daniel conjured which indicated that this location was very much well known to Daniel. Yet he would also see a light down the corridor, and this light would feel both warm and inviting.

“Welcome to the Grove, Elay, hold my hand while we walk to the waters,” Jasmine said as she extended her hand through the darkness and into his field of view.

Elay wasn’t aware of how complicated the magic was… Only that his Momma’s own magic didn’t follow him here, so it had to have been wiped away. Clean slate. But they couldn’t take his inquisitive mind. Couldn’t take the processing power, the ability to detect and discern, and the knowledge he carried with him. As a solitary boy, his main interest was in the treasure of the Earth: Precious metals and minerals. Atomic elements that one could hold and handle, what their properties were, how they developed. He was instructed to, and pushed into such an interest as part of his education to this point.

It was expected that he’d Kindle soon. That the Green Lux inside him would be the main source of his power as a Motta, and that in order to keep up, he had to use more than his personal talent and prowess. He’d need knowledge. To be an expert. To that end, his body was changed and affected daily by his family, opening his third eye before he could speak in full sentences and leaving him beyond a child his age.

Thus, bringing him to a place like this… He couldn’t help but release Jasmine’s hand to stare at the bioluminescent fungal material up close. And with it, he found himself staring at some of the thickest and most comprehensive Anthracite deposits he’d ever seen. This place, the weight on his chest, meant they had to be thousands of feet underground at least. Tens of thousands.

”The Grove…”
Elay turned, eyes wide before he moved back to the group.
”It’s all coal! I’ve never seen mushrooms like that in my books!”

“You’re about to see a lot of stuff that isn’t in any book,” Jasmine said with a smile, “it’s not all coal, mind you. These caverns stretch for miles, and miles, and some many miles more. You’d think it would be hard for you to find your way back to the waters but there’s always,” Jasmine paused as she looked ahead towards the light, “a guiding light home. Can you see it yet?”

Elay looked down the hall, and he could.
”Yes Ma’am… Is it common to make passage down to this place on one’s own? Or, is it just some chance that you may have to travel, and you’d be lost?” he asked gently, curious of why she would make such a specific mention of the light. And what else would be here that he wouldn’t know about?

Probably plenty… They were already in a subterranean cavern system that, by rights, probably wasn’t a hundred percent naturally made.

“You can travel as much of this place as you want, provided you don’t do so alone. There is magic in these corridors, magic that has a story to tell even if you’re not ready to listen. So I ask that you always have a friend with you if you want to explore the caverns beyond the Grove itself,” Jasmine paused as she leaned closer, “as to traveling to the grove alone you won’t learn the location for a while. The first rule of this order is to never reveal this location, no matter what. Once you’re old enough you’ll be given the secret knowledge of how to travel here on foot. Until then, you’ll need to use our teleporters.”

”Will I ever be denied passage?” the boy asked very simply, walking along with the group as best he could without trailing off.
”The Earth holds beauty. And if it’s peaceful down here, I’d like to spend a lot of time…” was his explanation. Definitely didn’t have anything to do with the hunt for naturally occurring crystal formations at this depth. Not diamond hunting.

“Access is open so long as someone is free to take you,” Jasmine chuckled, “I’m sure we’ll be able to work something out so that you can come down as often as possible. Sound fair?”

”Yes Ma’am… And I promise I won’t take advantage of it. Someone says no, I’ll accept it. And I’ll never… Break that promise.”

“We know you won’t, Little Brother.” Uncle Al spoke calmly from the rear of the group. Everyone could tell he was smiling from ear to ear, probably the most enthused about not being the only one bearing the burden of bridging the two groups.
“Now, be still: The real surprise is up ahead.”

Jasmine motioned for the group to follow and led them down the corridor until they finally arrived at the grove after a series of turns. Instantly the group was bathed in the most warm of lights that seemed to uplift, and calm all who felt it. The Grove was the name of the cavern, and it was massive. It stretched upwards an impossible amount, with the ceiling feeling more like the sky than the top of a mountainous cave. The walls were far away, and to the engineering mind it would seem like it was impossible for it to hold itself together. All around the cavern there was yellow paintings that seemed to cover most of the surface areas of the walls and it was this paint like substance that gave off the light and its warmth. Plants, from trees and bushes to the grass under their feet was everywhere the eye could see. In the vegetation there were animals, deer and rabbits were common but there was all manner of animals that seemed content to live in perfect harmony regardless of if they were a predator or prey. There were various waterfalls that fed into numerous open ponds. It was this water that held the magic, and it was this water that would serve as Elay’s baptism.

“So. What do you think,” Jasmine asked.

As they came into the cave and Elay’s eyes adjusted, he took in the scent of the Earth itself, the constant rotation of life and death among this magical cavern and the waters within it. It was everywhere, and he felt like he’d been transported to a world from a piece of fiction. Though, now he assumed Orwell was actually onto something.
He stepped ahead slightly, looking around until his gaze finally passed a bit of water that cast a reflection. His eyes were still red, dry from crying so much previously. His jacket was half on, pulled across his chest and perfectly fitted for his small, albeit robust frame, and his hair had become disheveled from the heat of all the people gathered above.

Now that he was so close, the rushing water was causing enough of a breeze that his hair was being blown in all sorts of directions now. Ultimately, it was pinned back and slicked with a bit of moisture from the water hitting the rocks and misting upward.
”It’s… Amazing, Ma’am! Is it all like this? How many chambers could have this kind of life in them?” the young boy asked, voice full of excitement and wonder.

“There ain’t as much life outside of the main chamber- but many have their own habitat,” Eloise answered from her place in the middle of the group, hands on Bryn’s shoulders to stop her running on ahead. “And many honor our dead. You gotta respect each you enter.”

”You mean like, there’s ghosts down here!? Or… Appa… Apparitions?” Elay questioned with some amount of panic in his voice.

Eloise laughed lightly. “Not that kinda dead… I’m sure there’s some Apparitions down here, all friendly. I mean graves of Grove members long gone.”

”So, it’s like the Catacombs underneath Culla… Where the Matriarchs sleep… Does anyone live down here? Besides the animals?” his questions would certainly have no end, so preventing him from asking any would be the only solution.

“They don’t. It ain’t allowed,” Eloise answered, before looking at Jasmine, silently urging her to start the ceremony. She recognised the childish questioning - she’d suffered it enough from her children.

“Come, Elay, let us begin the ceremony,” Jasmine added as she began to walk towards the biggest pool of water in the center of the cavern. As the group approached Elay would see a horn shaped cup sitting on the side of the pool. Jasmine reached down and scooped up some of the water with it and held it out. “Are you ready, young Elay?”

”A-am I drinking it!?” Elay asked with a little bit of panic in his voice.

“Yes. Don’t worry, you won’t fall ill,” Jasmine chuckled, “the living waters can cure everything, even death in rare cases. You will likely feel even better after drinking it then you did before.”

Naturally filtered, charcoal caves, silicate undergravel, please God and the Mother Deer, don’t get sick…
Elay nodded without words and stepped forward, taking the cup from Jasmine and bringing it up to his lips before tucking in.

The water would taste like, well, water. There was nothing particularly remarkable, even if the taste left a gritty texture on the tongue. Elay would feel a warmth fall over him like someone wrapped him in the warmest blanket. It was snug, it was comfy, it was wet. Elay would quickly realize he was now flowing through the living waters at the center of the grove. He would see that the Keepers were all around the pond, chanting and calling forth something. He would not know how much time had passed between that first drink, and the current moment.

“A new disciple,” a strange voice whispered into Elay’s ear, “how curious. It’s been a while since your bloodline crossed through my waters. What is your name?. Elay would feel a pressure on his shoulders as if something was placing a hand there to comfort the young boy. The voice and presence would feel welcoming, and it would carry a feeling that would betray its incredibly old magic.

Elay’s head was echoing now, his brain wriggling in its fluids as it received a message from whatever was being channeled by the Grove members. He’d drank the water so assuredly, and of course it’d be something far more than what he imagined. It was incredible… And now there was this thing in his brain. Speaking. Comforting. He did not weep, but once again tears fell from his eyes.

”W-what… Oh… Oh, they… I didn’t think getting sacrificed would feel so nice…” Elay groaned.

A coy, cute, laugh would filter from one ear to the next as The Entity found the comment humorous, and waves of warm and happy emotions would flood over Elay. “You’re not here to die, young disciple, you’re here to be reborn,” The Entity clarified, “do you often use humor to deflect from your scary thoughts and feelings?”

”I didn’t tell a joke…” Elay’s little voice echoed upward toward the ceiling of the cavern. He was genuinely concerned thanks to the eerie nature of the transition.
”But… Reborn? Like the Matriarchs? Like the butterfly from the chrysalis? Please, it’s okay! I promise, if you ask my Ma, she’ll do whatever you want to make it right for you!”

“Oh he’s talking to the water now,” Jasmine said to the group. While Elay thought he was talking coherently, to everyone present it would sound like he was mumbling nonsense.

“Reborn as a keeper! You are a sacred warrior! Someone destined for greatness. Are you ready?”

Elay’s body outwardly twisted, reacting to the invasion of this mysterious force with undirected convulsions and the occasional mumbling gibberish.
”No! No, no I’m not! What about Momma? And Our Lady? They never said this would happen, I was just supposed to live here! W-what about the Holiest Mother Deer? The Matriarch, and the faith! I’m…”

Making a lot of excuses. Elay found himself absolutely terrified by the prospect, but totally unable to avoid what was happening. It was all so real, and worse, overwhelmingly powerful.

“Don’t worry, my little guardian. You are home. You are safe.”

Struggling, all Elay could do was exactly what his Momma had told him. Be brave. So he tensed up, took a deep breath, and spoke as calmly as he could.
”F-fine! Do… Do whatever you’re gonna do! Just, don’t make me forget my family!”

“We will never take that from you.”

The words echoed in Lazarus’ mind. Over and over, he imagined the faces that had surrounded him through his life to that point. Each sister, even Big Momo whom he’d only seen twice in person, the many servants and members of the Twin Hills Coven. His grandmothers. The Matriarch herself…
But all faded away to that one single face. The one tender, with love and joy in her eyes. The thousand on thousand mornings of waking up and walking into the kitchen for their morning gathering, just to be embraced by her arms and held there for a moment longer than the others. The special love between a boy and his mother. He didn’t want to lose it. Didn’t want to lose them.

A memory of the “best day ever” crossed through his head in a final overwhelming gut punch. A single wailing sob rose up from the deep green pool… Then, everything went up in a deep emerald flare, the edges of the Luxal outburst not fading into dull pink, but rather shattering the light from one color into the other. The vacuum it caused rocked the ceiling above the pools, causing little debris bits to crash down toward the floor. The green colors formed a stable platform upon which pink fractals danced and sputtered across the cave’s roof.
Magic poured into the boy, whose body was primed and waiting for the right supernatural nudge to awaken itself. The many machinations of Cadenza and Nikkita Motta had paid off, the sheer amount of Lux crowding the boy’s influence showing the fruits of their labor in real time.

Deeper, far below the pools in the dumping basin of the caverns, a nightmare perceived time in slow drips as it caught up to the present perceived in its mind. A moment of the future perfectly perceived from so many years before. A way out. The time to leave was rapidly approaching, and massive paws gripped at the soft moss beneath them in little massaging motions.

Just a little more patience…

---

Mood Music

Elay

Present Day - Bridge District, Northside - Elay’s Apartment

Cold roads walked alone in the morning,
Whose cobbled steps hardly add up.
If I asked you to love me again and again,
Would you free me from these chains?

Mourning, grief is sticky with a dead tree’s last tears,
And things are worse than yesterday.
Crawl like a snake into the pot,
And boil off the worst of it.

But it burns.
The worst is yet to come.
Whether or not legs will be there to stand on?
Is anyone’s guess.

Elay laid bare in that dark room, staring up at the ceiling fan and feeling every little pain in his body. The last bottle was empty, and Loretta was home for the weekend on family business. Not that she ever got him more booze anyway; said she wouldn’t be caught dead buying that much alcohol from a liquor store. He offered more money all the time, but she wouldn’t budge.

Fine.
Probably better that way. He needed her good image in places like the post office, or the dry cleaner’s. Places where her charms could get things cheaper, or special offers on the side that others didn’t get. That’s really what he paid her for, so… Whatever she thought helped. But that meant he had to get up. That meant he had to… Be out. So, what was the point in being out if he didn’t make the most of it? Transport the shit in the trunk and go check out the board? No. No way.

But…

His torso lifted almost of its own volition. Like something else was calling him out there into the dark. But he didn’t want to. He wanted to die in this box, quiet and spared of all the noise and the fuss. The faces that didn’t know what was happening under their feet to keep them propped up. They didn’t know what it took to make something actually happen. He did… But what did he do with the knowledge? What could he do?

Scars on scars lined his body where the wounds had been worst. Total amputations. Wounds that would’ve killed him had he been any other thing besides whatever freak he was. Hands were swiped away and put back so many times he had a hard time remembering now. The right leg. Entire torso chunks. They still ached and stung after a decent bender, as dehydrated as he managed to get himself…
Standing wasn’t a great idea. Even his reinforced body had a hard time dealing with the lack of nutrients and actual water in his blood. It was a miracle he made it up to his feet and out of his bedroom.

The place was immaculate, which meant she still had someone else come to make sure things got cleaned. Which is also what he paid her for… She could afford to live in one of the smaller apartment complexes down on the actual front of the river, which Elay would’ve if he didn’t also need the office… This setup was just convenient, so here he was in this big apartment. With nobody. Just himself, the ghost in the shell as he was. There was a sorrow to it, but in the same breath, he felt it was the prison he deserved.

More than they got. More than he could give them. More than he deserved. A reminder that he was smaller than the things around him no matter what. That he was less than. The gilded cage was a mockery of his miniscule place. The servant that brought home the money to feed the beast day in and day out. And that beast was on the counter, massive orange paw scooping out of a lasagna pan.

”Ooooh… Whatever your sister’s been doing with this crème sauce? Please tell her to put more into the mixture next time. The texture is like velvet, and the way it brightens up the flavor of the tomato is a brilliantly refreshing kick to my palette.”

The cat’s face was totally covered in Lasagna, and his tail wagged back and forth in a rapid fashion as big yellow eyes stared with playful interest at Elay.

”Gaaaaarf… I was thinking about that one…” he groaned, shaking his head.
The lasagna certainly had been something he was considering. A nice big slice in the oven while he brewed some coffee to try and feel like a normal person.

Normal… Yeah. Normal.

”Having a hard day today, Kitten?” the cat mocked, hearing every single one of Elay’s internal thoughts. The depression was normal, so Garf wasn’t entirely concerned.

”Don’t condescend to me, asshole. I’ll toss you out the window again. Right into the river.” Elay grunted, moving toward the espresso machine and beginning the intricate process of busting out a double shot.

It wasn’t so much the coffee itself, as the caffeine had little to no practical effect on him. Rather, the ritual of doing so, symbolizing the first thing actually done after what one would consider a “sleep period” to be. He didn’t sleep like others. It came in small waves, never dipping below a certain level of consciousness. Before, it’d been maintained magically through a Pink and Green spell that flushed all of his bodily chemicals in a single piss. Any unnecessary acidic buildup from sleep deprivation or overexertion of the muscles came out with a single bottle of water. He hadn’t slept for an entire month during one operation.

But now it came from the beast. The Master. With him, the agreement was simple. Sleep once a week, but he could be free to roam.
Sometimes, Elay wanted to say the Cat’s real name just to make him antsy. He knew he could, but the action had to be spontaneous. It couldn’t be premeditated, otherwise the subject of the prank knew what was coming. So he just kept his mouth shut and continued to pour his espresso, the two accepting a mutual ceasefire for now.

Because as much as Garf loved messing around, Elay could get him into the river. And he wouldn’t have much of a shot of transforming to get out of it, as Elay was in possession of the majority stock at the moment. Fresh off a meal, Garf’s lethargic temperament only sealed the deal. Cordiality it was.

”It’s good you’re up. You’d be proud, when the cleaning woman came I didn’t even actually mess with her. I mean, I kept moving furniture around, but nothing too extreme. She was getting pretty mad though, I don’t know what Loretta told her to get her to work here, but-”

”Garf… I don’t want to know, man.”

”Fine!-” Garf responded dejectedly.
”-To business it is, since you don’t want to joke around! That woman came by. I posed as you and got the scoop. Apparently the last credit card purchase was at Walter, Fiskin and Devons for a few thousand smacks. The hard part now is that the old woman said Ol’ Billy also snagged a few hundred grand out of an Express account they shared. Apparently a lot of it was their emergency money.”

As Garf spoke, Elay was accepting the information both verbally and between their minds as something close to a recollection. After all, his body had been used. He was technically present at these meetings. Probably reeked of alcohol too, which definitely didn’t go well with this dandy lady he’d been dealing with.

”So there’s a paper trail. Awesome. Did he do it himself, or by proxy?” he asked, the final seconds of the pull on his coffee giving way to a moment of silence.

”Seems to be him. Someone reported him using the bills to the authorities in the South. There was actually a responding officer who supposedly confirmed that it was William Finkle, and that the money was legitimate. Gave some phony excuse for being down there, like he was looking at property renovation or something else.”

Elay was hearing Garf’s voice, but it’s like he was sitting there at his desk talking to the woman again… And it was awful. She went on and on about things in droll.

”Do we have a number? Precinct? Any actual information?”

In Elay’s mind, he could see the woman turning over some scribbled piece of sheet paper. He reached back into his pocket and pulled it out, then nodded and went for his phone. Only, when he picked it up, it vibrated back at him.
15 Missed Calls. At least none of them-
He stared daggers down at the phone. Five missed from Elara. Another three from Bryn… Seven from Moriah. There was no way in Hell he was returning that one. But, Bryn? She was technically his Coven Matron.

So was Moriah, but… She was also his sister, and probably wanted to beat him up for past dues. And also hated him… So why was she calling? Why had all three of these-
His hands were already moving. The phone came up to his ear.

Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring. Ri-

”Bryn…” his voice echoed through the phone line.

"Fuckin’ took you long enough, Elay," came the responding grunt from Bryn on the other end of the line.
"Y’better not’ve been drownin’ in a bottle- fuck, I ain’t callin’ to lecture you… though I’d ‘preciate you not droppin’ off the face of the earth. You still run that detective agency, right?"

She knew him too well. He didn’t need the lecture.

”What I do is for my own safety. I won’t let anyone take Garf, and I won’t let you lull me in, Bryn. Yes, I’m still a Private Investigator. If I was a detective, I’d be a fuckin’ cop. Why, you need me to sniff something out for you? I won’t charge if you guarantee me fifteen minutes of safety passing through Raven’s Rest to visit Ma’s grave.”

The paranoia was still so real in his mind. One of the many reasons for the cage; to protect his only chance at the truth from the Coven that kept him as a prisoner for so long. They’d surely try and lock him up again, and Elay along with him if things got to that.

"I don’t give a fuck about the fucking cat, Elay! And you have safe passage in Raven’s Rest all the fucking time! Please visit her grave. Visit all of them." There was an edge of frustration to Bryn’s voice, from an argument had too many times. But also a subtle wavering behind it.
"Yeah, I need you to sniff somethin’ out, but I ain’t payin’ for it with somethin’ you already have. I’ll scrape together the cash… And I keep tellin’ you, you ain’t a fuckin’ outsider. I don’t care if you ain’t doing your fuckin’ duties or if you stole a fuckin’ cat."

”Just… Spit it out, Bryn. I don’t want your money, you’re my Sister for fuck’s sake.”
He didn’t want to have the argument either. He didn’t want to talk about how if she didn’t hold any standards to anything, then the Grove truly was dead. Because if it wasn’t, she’d want Garf locked back up… Because he was a part of the ecosystem down there. He played a role, despite his status as a prisoner.

That if she didn’t care, then why should he? They should all put themselves to the pyre and let it burn away.

”And tell me that Elara was callin’ me over the same shit.”

"You got a funny way of treatin’ me like your sister," Bryn let out a short laugh.
"She will be… I dunno if it’s reached you, but there’s been a buncha shit for us at home. Monster incursions everywhere- today we fought a face stealer. Fuckin’ got Bill… And John’s sure there’s gonna be more. All comin’ from the West. Like somethin’s pushin’ em outta the mountain. We ain’t got the people to follow it. That’s why I’m callin’- and Elara too."

”And let me guess… You went to Moriah to try and find me. ‘Cuz now she’s fuckin’ blown up my phone too, and I woke up to fifteen missed fuckin’ calls between the three of you! And you don’t lead off with Bill being gone? What the fuck, Bryn?”

This all sounded like what an Elay in the Service would’ve dealt with. It sounded like a four-years-ago Elay problem. One that required a rifle, and gear, and a helicopter full of people equipped like that, and heavy ordinance on the helicopter, and air support for the forest terrain, and napalm to burn the woods down, an-

"Look, I’ve had to deal with enough shit that you’re gonna have to forgive me for gettin’ side tracked by you yellin’ at me." Bryn’s eye rolling was practically audible.
"I didn’t go to Mo to try’n find you. I’ve got you’re fuckin’ number! I went to Mo cause she’s our ally and we need all the fuckin’ help we can get. She told me she wasn’t gonna fuckin’ call you… So don’t blame that on me."

There was a deep breath, though the following words weren’t any less sharp.
"If you don’t wanna help cause she’s involved, that’s fine. We’ll stop whatever this is. I’ll protect the fuckin’ town with my life if I have too."

”Oh, sure… Big, Bad Bryn! Grove Matron! Doesn’t want Little Elay involved, ‘cuz he bailed out when it counted, right? Go ahead, blame me for what happened like everyone else does behind my back. How I wasn’t there… Garf told me! He told me I was right!”
Elay was a sick man… Sick with grief. Anything to avoid seeing those people again. But, he couldn’t avoid it. Not because it was impossible, but because there was a Cat staring at him.

A beast that stared deeply into his eyes and knew every single thought he had. Every. Single. Thought.

Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Repent. Repent. Repent. Repent.

”Just tell me where I should start, oh great Coven Matron… How may I serve our Mother Deer?” he sarcastically huffed through the microphone of his phone.

"If I didn’t want you involved I wouldn’t have fuckin’ called you!" Bryn snapped, volume rising. She really did love Elay, under all her gruff layers, but it didn’t change the fact they’d always clashed. And when he was like this.
"The cat’s lying to you. Nobody fuckin’ blames you! D’you really think that? Y’think I blame anybody but myself? That I want to be shouldering all these fuckin’ responsibilities again? I don't blame you for anything. I just wish you’d come home for once!"

Her breathing was heavier, easy to hear even through the phone. Pissed, upset… the latter a reaction not so many could get out of her.
"I ain’t orderin’ you to do anythin’. Y’know that ain’t how we do things in the Grove… Just help if you can."

”If the cat’s a liar, then what good are we to you?”
He didn’t want this. He didn’t want to push her away. He wanted to scream and cry and beg for forgiveness, but she didn’t have the time. Never did. And she expressed it every time he tried… Or, that’s how he felt.

He wanted to deserve love. Maybe this would help. Maybe she’d have a reason, instead of just trying to convince him that things were fine between them just because they had this premade relationship. He couldn’t believe that there wasn’t some level of hatred for what he had, and hadn’t, done.

”’Cuz I can only assume you want me to ask him… I ain’t no Ranger; goin’ up into the hills and roundin’ the other side to hide in a deer blind ain’t really what I trained for in the Army.”
Yes it was. That was, more or less, what the first two years of his service involved. Scouting and recon, typically behind enemy lines. Hunting for supernatural targets, killing them and escaping.

"I want you to look into it however you see fit! If you gotta ask the cat… fine. I trust you, not it. But you can choose which one of us to believe…" She sounded almost… dejected. But probably not, right? Not Bryn.
"Help us figure it out, and stand with us if somethin’ big comes, got it?"

There was a long pause. Long. Like he’d hung up.

”Meet me in the Core. Three days from now. I need to get some sitting money together before I can dedicate myself, but we need to meet in person. I need your Recollection, so I can see exactly what it is you saw. Unless… You’re… Are you still in the city?” he asked pensively.

"I ain’t, unfortunately. Left soon as I finished my power nap- y’know I hate the fuckin’ city," Bryn grumbled, as if they hadn’t basically been arguing moments before.
"Three days, sure… y’know that's Thanksgiving, right? May as well join us this year if you’re in the area."

Thanks… Giving?
His stomach dropped out again. Was it really that late in November? Everything was due soon… He needed a score badly.
”Shit… Fine. Can’t avoid it, huh? It’d only look worse if I did.”

He took a deep breath.
”How… How was Mo? Should I call her back?” he asked somberly.
”I’ll definitely call Elara. Let her know I’m okay. What about Bill’s ceremony? Did you already-”

Maybe not her… He hoped she didn’t have to bury anyone else. Prayed that John got it.

"There was none of him left," Bryn said, voice getting quieter. A moment where her own grief was clear in her voice, before it returned to its normal stable practicality.
"I’ll be holding it tonight and making his grave stone, even if there’s nothing to bury. He deserves it."

She was silent for a moment.
"As for Mo… she was pissed because the creatures got near her… stuff. Only reason she was worried in the first place. I ain’t gonna butt into y’all’s relationship, you choose whether to call her or not. Elara, yeah, call her."

Stuff… Lugar Apartado. The Quiet Places. There was a brief time where he knew what was happening because he was actually helping her. Before a little tiff sent him packing… On the one hand, he understood why she was worried, but on the other hand, he was sad that it was all she cared about to begin with. Her loss had truly done something to her, he felt.

”I’ll give Elara a call… Set the altar. I’m… I’m on the case, Bryn. See you Thursday. And send me a picture of a piece of paper. Written text stating that Garf and I are safe to enter Raven’s Rest… It needs to be contractual, and it needs to have your signature. Please…”

He felt stupid asking, but Garf’s face fixed itself back to the normal everyday cat when he mentioned a contract. So, he could only assume the beast was pleased by the prospect.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever it takes to get you to visit," Bryn agreed easily enough.
"S’long as you can read my writin’, and don’t mind waitin’ for me to figure out how to send a picture with this damn thing."

”The cat could read a baby’s scribbles and translate it. You’ve got three days… It’s the first condition of our contract for this job. The case. I’ll talk to you soon.”

Then he closed the phone, snapping it shut and disconnecting the call. Opening it back up immediately, he went to call Elara next, but something had to be taken care of first. He needed to catch up with this lead. It seemed too good to pass up.

---

Southside, 15th Ward "Junglelands" - Westwood Precinct

Elay’s fingers tapped on the Sergeant’s desk as he waited for the man to return with some files and hopefully a little more coffee. He hadn’t had enough this morning, and once he’d had the taste for the day he couldn’t get enough. Dark and bitter as possible… A simple thing he figured anyone could deliver on. This is where the number he’d called led him, all the way across the bridge and into the relative horror of the 15th Ward. One of the cheapest, dingiest and most dangerous neighborhoods in the city, and one he found himself in more frequently than he ever thought he would.

Granted, that was comforting. When he pulled out the note and recognized not only the name, but the phone number to call, he knew this wasn’t going to be too difficult to follow up with. There was a click, and Elay turned to see John Mackey. “Two Leaf Clover” they called him. Ginger black dude, Mother was a famous performer who settled down in Cloverfield and married a then Detective Daniel Mackey. Few years later, he was police commissioner for the entire city, and was for most of John’s childhood.

Until the scandal burst open that he was connected to the Irish Mafia… Now poor John was down here trying to do the right thing, instead of living in the Gilded Cage pretending that nothing had happened like his mother still did. Elay had done a case for her, and in turn got to know John on a more personal level. Knew the whole family’s dirty laundry.

“So… This Finkle guy. Just… A runaway?” John asked Elay as he set the coffee down on the desk and rounded it to his own chair. In his free hand that wasn’t holding his own coffee, he had a thin file folder.

”Yeah. Carmella Finkle, formerly Carmella D’Angenella?-” Elay’s voice echoed gently, dropping the name of the D’Angenella crime family.
”-She’s the wife… She’s uh… Looking to get divorced. Legally. I assume whatever the play is, going through legal channels is a lot easier for her to deal with than whatever alternative she could scrounge up.”

John nodded in return, nose and eyebrows scrunching together into a thinking man’s scowl.
“Well then… No need to play around with that sort of thing, right? Here’s what I’ve got on Finkle-”

He placed the folder down on the table and split it open. It was an incident report, and a statement taken in Finkle’s own handwriting. That was useful. So was John’s head. Using the hand-written notation as an anchor, and John’s mundane and blind brain as a source, He very quickly compiled a set of memory snaps of the event from John’s response.

”Who's the girl, John?” he asked quietly.

Almost in a trance, John’s response was equally calm and quiet.

“Not sure. Never gotten a name. Seen her around a couple months at least though. Frequents the Bully, pretty sure she’s shacked up at the Deciduous.”

Deciduous Apartments… Not a place he stuck his nose in. Older building, complex like a maze of stairs and halls. Practically non-euclidian. Probably wouldn’t be too hard to fortify, however. At least in small sections.

”Any reason she was with William?”

“He’s been rolling his train in and out of every station that’ll take him. This is the only time I’ve had an interaction with him, but for the past week or so he’s been divvying out cash up and down the Bull for every Jane and Jill interested.”

The Bull, or Bully, was Tauro Boulevard, the main stretch of activity here in the 15th Ward. It didn’t narrow things down too high, but he had other contacts up and down that would be able to point him in the right direction reliably. And, he had her face in his head. If he didn’t see the so-called “Billy Pears” in the flesh, he was sure that he’d at least find her.

Recollections: Primal Sinister

Elay Motta

"I've got this knack for finding trouble I guess."

_______________________________________________ Lazarus "Elay" Motta He/Him | 24 | Italian American | 6'4" (193cm) | 205lb (92.9kg) _______________________________________________ Burning. _______________________________________________ Skills & Talents "They sold me to a bunch of coal miners. You learn a few things." ___________________________________ [+] Anthracite Child ⫻ Thanks partly to his unnatural genetics and partly due to the subtle influence of Green Lux on his body over the years, Elay has grown particularly robust and durable as an adult. Improvements include cardiovascular endurance, noteworthy self-healing properties and resistance to many common illnesses and toxins. Paranoid Agent ⫻ Elay has a keen sense for the mundane and supernatural world around him with a knack for reading intention. When applied fully and in complete focus, there are few actions capable of slipping past his web Sergeant Predator ⫻ During his time as a gifted Green/Pink Adept, Elay spent several years under the commission of the United States Paranormal Rapid Response Taskforce (PRRT). In addition to basic and advanced military training, Elay has become a studied and decorated Hunter of the Paranormal. Truffle-Sniffer ⫻ Like a pig with his nose buried in the dirt, Elay is a master at finding trouble like a truffle under the tree. He is fervent and dogged in his desire to get to the bottom of any case he's taken on, making him a natural detective.

Appearance ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "I don't sleep, no. You can tell?" Since coming home from serving in the PRRT, Elay has let himself go of many basic expectations and conventions. He is, as to save a great deal of time, an absolute mess. Not giving much care, he's let his hair grow long on both his head and face. Most of the time, to stay as respectable as he needs to, the thick mop on his head ends up tucked in any manner of tail or bun, with the beard typically splayed out in a ravenous mountain-dweller look. Sunken eyes are highlighted by big dark circles that force age upon his face where it shouldn't be, their deep emerald irises like beasts in dense undergrowth. His natural expression is that of death: Discomfort until expiration, with his only smile being a pained split that crosses through the matte black abyss surrounding his mouth like a blade wound. His skin is pale, pallid, and covered in tattoos, scars and hair that all meld together atop a body far more fit than the surrounding traits should allow. His clothing is only relatively clean thanks to a "personal assistant" employed with his business. If it weren't for her, the week long stretches of wearing the same thing from bar room to bar room would probably be more like a month. But, at the very least, he dresses like a North-sider. Smart suits, vests, rolled sleeves, gloves and pinstripes... He says that the bar stink, and the dirt from kicking around people's filthy apartments, make people think he's some dandy on a downturn. Whether that's some sort of excuse or not is up for debate, however. In his personal time, it's difficult to get him into clothing besides a pair of sweatpants. Going out anywhere requires a full redressing, which means it better be worth actually leaving the house and then hitting the bar afterward. Otherwise, Loretta's paid plenty to make sure the deliveries get brought to where they need to. If he's required to dress up beyond his usual means, however, he calls upon the aesthetics he was taught by his Mother. Much like the rest of his family, he's attracted to the dark and brooding Nuevo-goth aesthetic that's cropped up around a circle of the more freeform elite of Culla: A smart lounge suit, generally colored dark with some warm color accent to punctuate things. Leather gloves, great coats, slacks and polished shoes that rarely ever leave the box. Cufflinks, a tie; even the hair gets washed. All of it, and pulled up into intricate braids done as he remembered his Mother doing when he was a boy. No matter what, he's never without a precious gift around his neck on a chain of platinum. Given to him the day he was brought to the Grove as Bridge of the Tribe, Elay wears a necklace which holds a ring of precious sentimental value. Made by his Matriarch, the ring is made of titanium with craftsmanship that could only be accomplished by someone with a complex control over mineral growth environments. Dashing emerald and pink opal rivulets bubble from the ring's surface as if they grew there, each section swirling together into an altogether different crystalline composition before splitting apart again. Once his Channeler, it is now only a reminder of a life left behind. And of death without answers.

_{Psychology
^{▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔}}
"You're asking a lot, and I'm not sure I've got time to hand out answers."

MAIN GOAL ⫻ While he's often bogged down in his hunt for funding to remain independent of forces that surround him, ultimately Elay's goal is to uncover the mysteries behind the disappearance of his Mothers. Both Matriarch and Concubine were presumably trapped and killed by the same force. But what could that have been? There have been no answers, and while the Cat claims to hold the answers to Elay's questions, the contract between them forbids him from simply spilling the beans. So, Elay's slow hunt across Cloverfield is constantly pushed aside in favor of whatever lucrative opportunities come before him.
Thus, Elay's main goal is unfortunately the same as most other South-siders, and further on in places like sleepy Raven's Rest: Survive. Try to find happiness along the way, and always keep an eye out for clues that lead to the prize. That's the ultimate solution to remaining at least somewhat motivated, after all. Things like "The Big Case" aren't just fictitious parody to the people exposed to them, after all. These leads, these clues, the rainbow of nothingness at the end is a constant donut to chase, and these two inexorably linked circumstances have become Elay's entire reason for pushing forward.

PHILOSOPHY ⫻ Shit runs downhill, but at least Sisyphus had a boulder. Nothing goes the way its supposed to, hard work is often fruitless, and nobody is doing anything for free. Green and Pink Lux left the building long ago, leaving Elay with a bitter taste for just about everything one can think of left wriggling in his mouth. Life became a bitter struggle long ago, with the worst of things filling his dreams at night, the daytime has become more and more prolonged as sleepless days roll into even darker sleepless weeks. Only extreme exertion is enough to bring Elay into an undesired comatose, found either in the mad scramble to apprehend a target, or some carnal pleasure found in the most lightless places one could think of.
These moments are punctuated by cat naps, thirty minutes here and thirty minutes there. Never enough to let his partner get the best of him, except on certain days of the week when they've agreed to allow the balance of power to shift. Slumbers as such are rare, and partaken only when absolutely necessary in order to preserve Elay's remaining sanity. But, because of his unyielding friction with life itself, Elay has learned to extract enjoyment from existence in whatever form it comes.

SECRETS ⫻ Elay's greatest secret is his underlying level of care and concern. That, out of all the lessons of his life, he's been taught to perform alongside a unit of some kind. Always part of a group. And that now, while he desperately wishes to remain solitary as possible in his own personal crusade, he still craves the love and affection that being part of a group typically provides. That comradery, the kind of group behaviors that come with the territory of being accepted, are the things that Elay has long since denied himself.

Tragic circumstances caused him to sever his Lux, and thus his contract with the PRRT was nullified. Without purpose, Elay found only shame and self hatred in himself; a condition further exasperated by the state of the city he returned to. He refused to return to those few people who were left to guard the Grove, making the harrowing trek through the deeps until he found himself in the lair of the Wampus. Their meeting was one of whispered promises, and of the kind of treatment Elay felt was best suited for his disgrace. In that moment of pain and the prospect of escape, Elay did the only thing he could think of: Adjoined with the Wampus under the nose of the weakened Grove, allowing the predatory prisoner an escape into the world above.
Ever since, the two have only confided in the company of one another for any significant amount of time. All outsiders are usually handled by Elay's insistent aggression, or the Wampus' constant mental prodding.

SEXUALITY ⫻ After his time in the service, Elay didn't think he was ever going to be sexually attracted to anyone ever again. However, with his Adjoining of the Wampus Cat, a great deal of carnal interest has returned. Now, there's no inhibition preventing Elay from indulging in every and any sin of the flesh short of barbarity.

FEARS ⫻ Oh, the typical good stuff. Crushing loneliness, perceived inability to stack up to expectations; not to mention the very real possibility that he could go his whole life without ever gaining any traction on the accord between himself and Garf. Garf has explicitly promised Elay that he knows exactly what's happened to both of his Mothers. However, the terms of their Adjoining and of Garf allowing Elay so much total control depend on Elay's total inability to access that information without prompting. Because of this, Elay needs to work on corroborating leads and witnesses and actually put together a case that is presented to Garf for commentary. Meaning that if he can't ever string together enough evidence himself for some kind of prompting, he'll never get any closer to knowing the truth.
It's this constant fear of never finding out what actually happened that horrifies Elay most, as his entire life's redemption hinges on that one obsession. The Case. What happened to Cadenza Motta, the greatest Witch of an entire dynasty? And more importantly, what happened to Nikkita Motta? What happened to the world's greatest Mother of all time? Why and how did they both disappear into the black hole of this city? And how could he have missed it happening right in front of him?

WHAT DID THEY DO DURING THE CATACLYSM? ⫻ Elay was fighting magical Russians for American interests in North Korea, and was half way around the world during the main events.

FLAWS ⫻ If Elay's carrying anything in particular around, it's guilt. Flawed, pained guilt that crowds his every movement and decision. Starting from a young age, Elay was intelligent enough to realize he was never going to live up to the example of his Matriarch, nor his rarely seen eldest Sister. They were simply unequal for all that was worth, and while his Mother attempted to maintain his self esteem, it all crumbled out from underneath him when he was passed along to the Grove as Cadenza's first born son. Guilt then was inability to perform, and perceived abandonment due to that underperformance.
As he grew, Elay found himself powerful among his peers, Kindling early and skillfully adapting spells to his own needs. With that, new guilt was born as he watched himself stepping high over his peers. Into early adulthood, Elay covered up his insecurities with negative actions toward local Blinds, even turning his strength toward his peers on occasion. By the time of his family's disappearance, however, he'd enlisted in the Military and was unaware of the events until his first return home. Upon realizing that he had been totally powerless to stop what happened, Elay's guilt compounded: Not only was he not strong enough to keep his family, he had abandoned any chance of being the hero they needed. He'd given them up, and he'd only left behind hurt and pain.

Things only got worse after he returned to duty, with his potent magical prowess carrying him through a bevy of situations from which he otherwise may not have come out. In his perception, better soldiers and better men died, leaving him to survive as the least among them. Cursed by God, perhaps, for abandoning his duties for another purpose. And as this same ability to dodge peril extended further, its tendrils touched the home he finally returned to. Death and destruction filled Cloverfield, and once again he was utterly powerless to prevent it. He abandoned his homeland, and once again he was being punished with the guilt of survival.

And so, the pivotal emotion compounds with each action perceived as a failure, and Elay continues to reach out toward nothing and nobody besides himself to fix the problem. Constant and persistent self hatred and isolation prevents him from ever coming to terms with the guilt he carries, and until he learns to trust again, he may never fully repair the bridges which he's burned over the years.

_{Backstory
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"I just want to know for sure that she's gone."

As the fifth child of the legendary Cullan Matriarch Cadenza de Motta, Lazarus Alonso Motta was born of a "natural" union between her and her consort Nikkita. The only natural thing about Elay's time in the womb was that, like his other true siblings, he was put there naturally, and left in there for at least a few months. Nothing else about the developmental choices surrounding him wound up being very normal... As two powerful Green Lux Adepts, both of Elay's parents made a very conscious decision for Elay to be born a male; while they gave him the same treatment their daughters got, they both knew that they were essentially creating Elay to uphold a deal. An ancient Rumplestiltskin-like treaty that has allowed their cult to operate within the Holy Land of a group of powerful mountain druids. From the Matriarch leadership of the Untouched Glory, a child is requested from every single generation.
In olden days, it was most ethical in the eyes of the Whispering Flesh that a male child be given, as their symbolic necessity to maintain their female ranks made male children worthless beyond their price in the Tithe. Thus, for hundreds of years now there has been a Motta among the members of the Grove. Elay's eventual purpose was to fulfill that ancient bargain. Thus, for the first seven years of his life, Elay was raised by his Cullan mother and allowed the same luxuries that his sisters were afforded around him. Luckily for him, however, there was a bit more than meets the eye happening.

During her pregnancy and well into his childhood, both Nikkita and Cadenza took their time making subtle changes to Elay's anatomy. Preparing him as they would any Cullan soldier, he was placed on an intensive training regiment that often took most of his day away. Over time, they reduced his overall necessity for sleep, giving him access to days on days of continuous study and "play" time that further accelerated his mental acuity. Not that they weren't messing with that either; in addition to affecting his hormonal growth and the bodily changes that come with it, they made a great deal of subtle changes to his mind. Expanding its capabilities by increasing its overall ability to make and connect new pathways, Elay was quickly reading text books and scientific journals in his spare time.
Nikkita, responsible for the raising of all of a Matriarch's children, had her work cut out for her. But, her supreme organization and unique style of mothering allowed her to create an incredibly similar situation for all the children present in her home, meaning that while Elay was doing this, his elder sisters were just as capable.

Elay was simply... Studious. With a natural interest in the world around him, he more and more took to his routine as his infancy and young childhood blew away into the wind. His days were spent reading, running, and receiving communion from his Mother as she continuously tweaked her son's body and mind to make further improvements. For the Mottas, it was a sign of pride that not only were their Matriarchs powerful, but even their mundane Adepts. Thus, a great deal of effort went into insuring that the Grove received the best "product" their hospitality can buy. By the time of his seventh year, Elay was a tall and muscular child pushing dangerously close to moustache territory. Awakened to his Third Eye, something impossible to miss while being raised in a Matriarch's brood, the boy was ready to be turned over to the Grove at the specified ritual date.
It was said that things were far more "ritualistic" in the old days... For Elay's hand-off ceremony, there was a simple barbecue where he was introduced to his new "family", being the members of his foster family alongside the magical residents of Raven's Rest. Of course, Elay hated this. Ultimately, he was still a child whose biochemist parents never bothered to update the "unnecessary" emotional center of the brain. That was, after all, another five years ahead of them in the Cullan soldier program.

However, as expected, Elay adjusted to this new place. Slowly, surely, he came into the groove of life in Raven' Rest. Nikkita, his birth mother, also maintained a great deal of involvement with her son, coming to visit him with great frequency that never faltered as he grew older. Infrequently, his biological sisters would accompany, but as Elay's life and interests changed, so did his relationship with them. Not long after he was passed along to the Grove, Elay Kindled into a potent Green/Pink Adept gifted in atomic particle synthesis just like the Matriarch who had sired him. Only, this made him even more aware of exactly what had been done to his body to change it. The more he came to understand Green, the more he examined himself to find the strands of DNA irreparably changed by his previous guardians.
These discoveries spread across his adolescence slowly began to change his perception of his Mother. Of their lifestyle, and their family. Though, that never meant he lost his love for her. She was his main Pink Lux mentor, as it was from her that he'd inherited the proclivity. As he became a teen, she was more and more comfortable teaching him useful Pink spells, as well as techniques inherited from the Motta family compendium. Eventually, their relationship became less like mother and son, and more like student and teacher. When he could, Elay would sneak out of Raven's Rest and meet Nikkita in strange places to practice the more aggressive forms of magic that Elay was capable of learning.

Throughout this long stretch, Elay found himself in an ebb and flow between himself and the people he called "My Folks." Those folks, of course, being his adopted family and the people involved in the Grove. As is expected, anyone in charge of disciplining a child knows how much that changes the dynamic; Elay never did well being told to do something by people he never wound up fully respecting. It was harder still that he was so strong, forcing many adult members of the Grove to find unique punishments for Elay. However, the actual underground caverns and quiet places that members were privy to, the open belly of the Earth, was always alluring to him. One simply had to imply a denial of his access to his favorite peaceful places, and more often than not he'd settle down.

It was in the heart of the Grove that Elay met another important figure in his life.

For thousands of years, the monstrous Wampus Cat ﻮєɭ๔Ŧєггค๔ had been "imprisoned" within the Grove's deeper chambers. With access to a Dream Nexus, a powerful pool from which the creature could draw an infinite number of meals, the Cat was perfectly content to laze about as one of his kind typically does on a constantly full stomach. Charged for crimes against Nature itself, ﻮєɭ๔Ŧєггค๔'s sentence was hardly enforced at the point of Elay's discovery of this creature, with many of the members assuming there was little need for any kind of lockdown on the creature. While not exactly friends, ﻮєɭ๔Ŧєггค๔ took a great interest in Elay from their first meeting, at first trying to extract the nightmares of Culla through him.
Culla, like most magical cities, is protected from observation by the outside world. As such, the Dream Nexus was unable to reach behind its walls, making nightmares from Culla a rare delicacy. However, as he grew and became more comfortable, Elay would go to go to meet the "Garfield Cat" of his own volition. Happy to suck up anything he could, the Wampus would often accept Elay's requests for dreamless sleep, and in return feast happily on whatever he could from a fresh and direct source. This willfull feeding did well to remind the Wampus of how delicious direct meals were, however, and while Elay grew into a young man, his pal "Garf" could be found breaking containment more and more often with Elay's help.

That's around the time the government came knocking. PRA recruiters, on behalf of the United States Armed Forces, came to Raven's Rest in hopes of scooping any help of age and bringing it into the fold of a newly forming and very secret fifth branch: The Outer Branch. At a ripe age, and causing more problems than he was worth in Raven's Rest, Elay was signed off by his legal guardians to begin his life in service to his nation. A step outside of the typical pathway for people in his situation, Elay was the first Bridge to ever be allowed into national military service. He said goodbye to his Folks, and was allowed a short leave in which he would also find himself saying his unknowing last goodbyes to his beloved Mother, as well as the Matriarch herself. During that visit, he made it clear that he understood why they had done what they did, and tried to make amends for a life spent wishing that he'd never had to leave at all.
He also said goodbye to Garf, who emphatically told him "You'll be back. More than once." This turned out to be true throughout Elay's time as a soldier in this new secret army for the USA. In the Cold War environment that Elay had grown up in politically, there was more need than ever for Adepts to take a stand against very openly evil things in the world. Programs with less ethics, less morality, which put people into bad situations, were presented with a flare of propaganda and a very strong sense of duty to the human race, no matter how outside of it the Outer Branch's agents seemed to operate.

For five long years, Elay served his country as a Sergeant-Master in the Outer Branch: A rank earned by duty in service and prowess as an Adept. Master is a designation that a relative few carry in the Outer Branch, and is a surefire ticket into any part of the branch one could desire. As such, from an early time, Elay essentially wrote his own ticket, finding a little unit called the Paranormal Rapid Response Corps. Joining one of the taskforces, Elay began a new chapter in his life of hard work, hard discipline, and hard fighting. Time and time again, his prowess as a mere Son of Culla was more than enough to insure that his work was completed and he returned alive.
The Taskforce itself was a loose gathering; conscripted assassins and killers, warlocks hundreds of years old and Abberations whose companions were cut from the cloth of Gods, all with common ground in a reason to defend the United States' interests. Their duties typically involved raids on confirmed magical operations threatening assets, hunting and slaying or capturing of potentially dangerous Apparitions, and conducting clandestine operations as a unit within the confines of non-American borders. Wet work. Tragic and toll-taking, at first Elay found a great deal of fun and joy in the chance to use his most egregious abilities without restriction.

But with each visit home, the gap between himself and the people he found there only widened. Nikkita had disappeared, bringing Cadenza back to Cloverfield to find her only to disappear herself. Then a falling out with his eldest sister, the Matriarch Moriah, whose own position meant that she benefitted from both their parents disappearance. Suspicion clawed at his mind as he returned for his next tour of duty, and made him a miserable person while he was still in Raven's Rest with his Folks. And even they seemed to understand there was something different about him now. A man who had killed, when so many of them had avoided such a thing. He was less sweet, less manipulative, less saccharine in his nature and far more cold. It was hard to tell, however, if it was the war or the disappearances that had him more shaken.
Regardless, he returned for two more tours after that. It wasn't a good idea, and Garf's cryptic voice echoed in his head from the last visit: Get out while things are still good. But he couldn't. In his heart, he believed that he could convince the Brass to allow the taskforce to investigate the disappearance of Cadenza and Nikkita Motta. It wouldn't have been the first instance of detective work they needed to do, and he believed it was a justifiable threat to national security: After all, as a single Adept, Cadenza de Motta had been known widely as an Apparition-level Adept, whose grasp over Lux was unlike any other Adept on the planet. Sure, maybe she could be brought low by a large-scale concerted effort, but there were few things Elay imagined being able to stop Cadenza from doing whatever she wanted. Nothing ever came of it. Elay tried and failed, returning home again only to ruin more relationships and find people with pity or disgust on their faces. In a strange way of trying to reach out, Moriah sent Elay the information for a "company" started in his name, in which money had started to be deposited as a retirement infrastructure. Something Elay was more believing that he'd never need as the second tour had been far more intense than the first.

And then he tried again on his third tour, when disaster struck. Around the same time Nylah was wreaking havoc on Cloverfield, tensions were rising across the far East, bringing Elay's services across the ocean to Korea. It was during this tour that the taskforce he was a part of met the sturdy wall of Soviet Adepts in head on combat... What ensued was a bloodbath, leaving Elay and a scant few other members of his unit alive to tell the tale of Soviet Magical dominance. Now wracked with the pain of survivors guilt, Elay could no longer derive joy from his career as a soldier due to the overwhelming losses he witnessed on the Russo-Korean Front.
Worsening the blow, it wasn't until he returned to the United States that he found out what had been done to his home. To his Folks. The operations responsible for monitoring and intervention against Nylah were slow to proceed, assuming the magical nature of the city would be enough for its denizens to put out the fire as they usually do. This led to rampant destruction and loss of life, especially from the surrounding magical communities. Not only had his folks fought against the threat as it tore its way day by day through the city, but they had lost their lives. Many of them, including his fosters and his Bridge-Uncle among dozens of other senior and ranking members of the Grove.

Returning to this in-repair landscape, seeing how it looked so much like every other wartorn city he'd been in, sent Elay into a spiral. Days after returning to his birth city, Elay made the drunken decision to attempt suicide, finding himself with very little room in his heart for hope and a belief that the world would be ending soon. Its in that moment he recalled Garf, and his many cryptic expressions that had been pumped into Elay's head. About "coming back" and "seeing more" of him, like the Cat knew something he didn't. Like it knew he'd come to offer himself up. So, with few people to stop him and fewer people who cared to, Elay made his way into the mountain. Deep, deep under that mountain, until the caves began to glow once more. Until they were ablaze with life untended in the absence of the Grove Keepers.
Where a lazy Prince nestled upon a throne of bones and dreams. Elay pressed him, and ﻮєɭ๔Ŧєггค๔ pressed back, until in the final dream Elay found a reason to remain. An echo, which ﻮєɭ๔Ŧєггค๔ let skillfully slip into Elay's perception, brought him back to his childhood. To the disappearance of his Mother.

"All this and more. Open the way forward and accept the Seed of Life. Me, unto you, and all is yours in curiosity."

Elay severed then and there, taking "My Pal Garf" as an Adjoined Apparition and officially becoming the first Motta to ever Abberate. The Prisoner, the Prince, the Soldier and the Hunter immerged from that cavern together into a foggy new day with confidence that hadn't existed for some time. It'd been weeks without food and water, without alcohol or sunlight. Only the caves of the Grove's Heart. Elay had a mission then: To find out what exactly happened to his Mother, and what the Hell to do about it. Since then, he's set up shop on the dime of the Mottas as a North Side detective firm jokingly named "Colombo and Waiting."
Colombo had been Elay's callsign in the taskforce, his specialty of ground-level investigation and intelligence gathering combining with his proclivity for dramatic and oftentimes needlessly droning expositions earning him the referential name. Elay had grown fond of that work, the times where he was needed to find out what was going on, and scout ahead on his own for the good of the taskforce... Thus, finding himself in a relatively crime-addled and run down city, he believed it'd be the perfect platform from which to relaunch himself, always hunting for any information he could about the disappearances of Cadenza and Nikkita Motta.

Since the city's eventual rebuilding and the North End's strict clampdown on crimes, however, things have become harder. Once again, old feelings of loathing and apathy return to cloud his judgement. Where before had been burgeoning attempts to return to his families are now passages choked with poison and bridges actively dancing in flames. Further financing from Moriah has become scarce, with a loan from her having gone bad long ago. Monthly good faith payments are dropped monthly into the Matriarch's coffers, but ultimately the debt may never be cleared. Beyond that, Raven's Rest is a cold place now. One where only ghosts haunt Elay's memories.
His few remaining contemporaries have long since given up on trying to force him to do his job as a Keeper. So long as Garf remains Adjoined to Elay, there are no problems that need addressing, and his reluctance over the past couple of years has only reinforced the feeling that Elay is lost to all but his own selfish desires. Perhaps that's true, but perhaps a big break in the case is just around the corner too? He keeps that thought in his pocket as the only motivation forward, and keeps the ring that served as his Channeler around his neck as a reminder of his goal:

To find out what happened to Cadenza and Nikkita Motta. Then, maybe love can return? Joy? The feeling of Lux swirling through the body again? Or just someone to tell him they're proud of the good that he'd done...

_{Abstraction
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"Oh, Laz; you just never learn." "Yeah, yeah. Just get me up Garf."

TYPE ⫻ Adjoined Aberration (Former Adept)

ABSTRACTION ⫻ The Lazy Prince of the Wampus Cats: An Aberrant Adjoining between Elay and the Wampus Cat ﻮєɭ๔Ŧєггค๔, otherwise known as Garf, who promised the former with infinite knowledge in exchange for a lifetime of sustenance.

ABSTRACTION DESCRIPTION ⫻ As Prince of Dazzle's Wampus Cats, Garf is a particularly potent specimen indicative of his kind within the plane. Larger and more physically imposing than most of his kind, the Prince is said to have once consumed a seed from Dazzle's Tree of Life, gaining knowledge and power at the cost of a curse. Apathy is a malaise; a blanket across all Wampus Cats in Dazzle, causing them to become hefty and lazy, often bartering in exchange for power and tithes as opposed to hunting on their own. Man-things are easily swayed by the promise of wants and desires, leaving their chosen prey as willing targets to be used and used again. They are intelligent farmers of pain, who often place themselves in positions where their needs are met at a high standard with minimal input required.

To most humans, Wampus Cats appear just as a terrestrial house cat. Coming in all forms, these facades are specially made to reduce overall attention from affectionate humans; but they will never be immune, as they still wind up just looking like housecats. Utterly irresistable. Garf, as his nickname suggests, is most often seen as a rotund, tigerstriped orange tabby cat whose only real distinguishing feature are his four massive polydactyl paws. With an extra section on each remeniscent of human thumbs, one who stares at the paws long enough may find the illusion fraying at the seams, and only then will they realize that this cat is not just a cat. It is, in fact, a wretched beast. Fifteen feet in length, fur ragged and thick with gore and peeled flesh, with an extra pair of legs that press against the ground with human-like hands thickly padded for walking and grabbing.

ﻮєɭ๔Ŧєггค๔ is a nightmare of gluttony. Of excess and slovenly nature, whose true form is not fit to be witnessed by any sane human, his grimace of blade-like teeth stretching infinitely backward into the gaping maw behind them. The remnants of the Seed of Life tainted his gut long ago, a Song Demon taking parasitic root in Garf's internal organs where it whispers its secrets upward into the ears of the beast. Its arms have replaced the naturally occurring second set of forelimbs, its hands having grown thick pads to compensate for their job as supporting limbs necessary for the creature's locomotion.
Actual maximum sizes of a Wampus Cat have never been accurately recorded, as much of their time is spent bending perception around themselves to prevent their cover from being lifted. As such, its often speculated that even the worst "True Form" one can take is only the top of the iceberg. That there are things far worse far deeper, never to be observed by the feeble human.

As part of their terms, Elay is able to employ the full spectrum of Garf's abilities at varying levels of access. Based on Garf's willingness to place himself in a more vulnerable position, Elay is able to exert more and more power through a unification method called "Kingshawl". And, after two years together, Elay has become adept at managing the exertion levels of their unification. Taking a page out of the book of Motta, Elay has spread the components of Garf's many abilities across a spectrum of progressively more strenuous Kingshawl forms. These are categorized into three different disciplines, with Bare Neck acting as a baseline level of existence for Elay that is only negated by effects that separate the Apparition from their Aberrant hosts.

Kingshawl: Bare Neck ⫻ At their most basic level of connection, Elay and Garf are able to share senses between one another. From seeing to hearing to smelling, they can share and cross-examine their surroundings while pooling together their thoughts on both. While Garf can control whether or not Elay can perceive his surroundings on a sense-by-sense level, Elay is always open to intrusion by Garf, including cross entity telepathy and shared thought. This is a small price to pay, as the times Elay is privey to a near bird's eye view of his surroundings, or able to hear something he otherwise wouldn't have, are invaluable. This affect is heightened depending on proximity between Elay and Garf, with their maximum distance being a hundred meters between one another.

Limits: This whole situation is sometimes cripplingly confusing, which is why Garf is the one in the driver's seat as to which senses are used and shared from his perspective. Elay having access to all of these senses, especially at a far distance where they're weakest and most like television static from a bad signal in his head, would be catastrophic. As it stands, Elay is still prone to bouts of being "lost in midair" where his senses aren't directly attached to his body, but he can still feel himself on the ground. He often spaces out, especially since Garf has carte blanche to disturb him telepathically about any little thing. That being said, there's a mostly stable agreement to not tax Elay's brain too heavily on off days, and to limit the time using the ability in the field.

At arms reach, roughly three feet apart, Elay is able to access the more advanced forms of Kingshawl.

Kingshawl: Dashing Attire ⫻ Hanging close around Elay's neck, Garf comfortably projects a very stylish orange and black scarf, which Elay typically draws up and around his face as a mask. Interestingly, the distinctive orange color avoids eye fatigue by being muted with a distinct lack of desaturation in the color, and causes the fabric to be vibrant without being intensely reflective. It is this same property which many Blinds find themselves caught in as Elay channels Garf's mentally binding abilities. Functioning similarly to a form of Pink Lux, powers associated with Dashing Attire include a variety of hypnotic and neurologically affective abilities. In nature, the Wampus Cat uses this set of abilities to play the Pied Piper to potential prey, as well as ward off any would-be predators or captors.

For Elay, this breaks down into basic necessities for doing intrusive detective work. Mind reading, extrasensory detection, perception alteration and ultimately intrusive control over Blind entities. When used against Paranormal individuals, each power functions differently due to its interaction with the Emotional Field's barrier. Through millennia of survival, Garf has come to learn the best ways of harnessing these sorts of abilities against them in an affective deterrent. By using the same energies, Elay projects an increasingly uncomfortable and disturbing assault on the target entity's Emotional Field. A highly disorienting method of detecting Paranormal positions, irritation and eventual damage to the Field, projection of external illusions, and at its most potent a potential temporary inability to call upon the emotion required to cast spells can be applied to the target.

Limits: As is expected in a cat, these types of abilities are meant for proceeding unseen and lashing out as quickly as possible. Thus, the potency of these spells are strongest at the beginning. Most of the time, their use against Blinds is only as useful as the person using them and the person who they're being used on. While he can detect several life signatures using basic heart-beat monitoring, this method is rudimentary at best. Tracking Blinds more clearly requires more focus, both to filter out other noises and to magically hone in on the essence of life within the entity.
This is a weakness that can be applied to every single ability in this category, whether used against a Blind or Paranormal: The fewer things are affected by the ability, the more potent the ability is.

And in regards specifically to anti-paranormal techniques: These abilities are the ones a cat would use to evade an animal control officer. In the same way a stray would avoid sight, confuse by knocking the trash can over and scrambling in a different direction. They are actions of general desperation that are most often used to shake a tail with a flourish and hope one can lick their wounds later on. The effort required in using the abilities in this method, rather than the typical prey lure that they are, is great. Enough that the Host's limits are typically pushed, and either Garf needs to project himself by upgrading the form, or split while its still an option. Otherwise, the host could risk potential death through exhaustion.

Kingshawl: Cloak of the Night ⫻ Assuming a more active position, Garf crawls his way onto Elay's head and hangs there by his front paws. Forming a true shawl and hood, Garf drapes himself into a dark black cloth that hangs across Elay's shoulders and covers both his face and head. Looking close enough at the shawl reveals incredibly tiny points of orange, which shimmer with a tantalizing rhythm that isn't fully recognizable until you've stared for long enough. It's this darkness that Garf himself sleeps in, and which one can find themselves consumed by should they not be aware, or strong enough to repel the allure of its infinite slumber. This cavernous cape completely covers Elay's countenance, making any observation or interaction with him into a hazardous endeavor for both Blind and Adept alike.

While utilizing the Cloak of the Night, Elay has access to the more formidibal magical technique that Garf uses to strike and consume his prey from their very dreams. The cloak can shape and twist itself into a variety of shapes, working its way into any nook or cranny it can. Able to project itself across glass, screens and other objects meant for viewing, the cloak attempts to force its target to look deeply into the darkness like a constrictor wrapping around its meal. Once fully entranced, the target is exposed to the secret in the dark: The little orange stars pulsing and dancing across its matte surface. These stars are the seeds that attach themselves to the target, growing into ripe fruits that allow Elay and Garf to step into the dreams of the victims.
With two methods of approach, Elay can either wait for the seed to ripen over time, with the ability to track the target freely for as long as they remain affected... Or, a method developed by Garf during his times as a predator, is to simply knock out the target. Upon falling unconscious, the target's seed is completely ripened and able to be accessed without trouble or concern. To do so, Garf has developed another technique allowing Elay to utilize the cloak to teleport short distances thanks to its strange properties.

Limits: First and foremost, Elay can only maintain a maximum of five seeds at any one given time. They're easy to get rid of from a Paranormal standpoint, as anyone with a strong enough Emotional Field will most likely notice the small disturbance they receive when observing the man with the black face mask and realize what it left behind. They have a pretty significant range; long enough that it's probably not going to make a difference. But, the seeds themselves have an overall lifespan of five days with day four being the ripest day. Knocking a target out, while ripening the fruit for Elay to access the mind, is less effective overall as it reduces the quality of sleep of the victim. That is to say sleep quality is overall very important for accessing the target as well, and Elay has no immediate or direct way of doing anything about it at this stage.

Additionally, Garf's comfort comes into play. As a lazy Prince, Garf is generally opposed to doing more work than is necessary. As such, he's got an aversion to taking shapes that aren't comfortable to him, though these things must be done for the sake of the Host. For Cloak of Night, hanging and draping across Elay's upper body isn't such a stretch that it's not worth a meal; but having to work too hard for a target by extending himself into other objects is never a comfortable experience. Ergo, the harder Elay pushes the cloak's abilities, the less time he has to use it.

Kingshawl: Tiger Wraps ⫻ Splitting his form in half and wrapping himself around Elay's hands and wrists, Garf accepts this discomfort only when deemed absolutely necessary. His body thins and twists over and over again until the wrapped hands are padded with an incredibly thorough and robust set of tapes. Their bright orange color is somewhat jarring, but Elay jokes that they're warning for caution like everything else made bright orange. That if you see one coming your way, the only option is to try and escape the aggressive combatant they're attached to. These wraps, while simple on the surface, are the most available method Garf has to channel his gargantuan physical strength into Elay. Initially attracted to him for his own magical robustness, Garf has found that Elay's physiology is well suited to handle the strain necessary to go forward.

Obviously, this is the most directly combative form of Kingshawl. A mostly natural part of Garf that he rarely "needs" to channel into, this is actually a compromise between the two individuals in terms of powers and abilities. Even the biggest cats around still use cover and stalking as their main methods of predation, their strength generally only leading to a better chance of whether or not they'll bring the prey down. For Garf, this meant not considering the transfer of these traits; a life spent living with them made it difficult to even ascertain where the magic in them was. In order to transfer them- Strength, agility, endurance, dexterity and robustness. -Garf had to discover where his own strength came from in the first place. An easy thing to remember when you ate a seed from the Tree of Knowledge, but Garf has a bad (or good) habit of making things difficult for himself.
Either way, the capability was found by channeling directly through the arms and following the old Lux channels through his flesh into his most important organs. From there, Elay can use the reactivated strength left behind by two decade old Green Lux rituals. He's able to increase muscle mass and bolster the infrastructure behind it, calling upon Garf's energy when necessary to deliver short range bursts of air capable of extending his melee effectiveness. Short term rapid healing can also be used, though the effects are often temporary as the patch job ceases to function after clearing the Tiger Wraps.

Limits: Besides the limited and fickle nature of Garf's healing abilities, this form is relatively strenuous on all parties involved. For Garf, splitting has never been an ideal strategy. Overall it leaves him weaker, meaning he's more vulnerable; even more so in this context, as he's not technically separated. Rather, like a circuit, Garf is using Elay's body to maintain a subtle connection between the two halves of his body. While Elay hasn't come to understand this concept, Garf is incredibly fearful of the vulnerability his need to remain whole creates: With most of Garf's energy trapped inside Elay directly, one could easily seal Garf, or kill both he and Elay at the same time. Rarely does Garf give anyone the chance to do him serious harm, thus usage of Tiger Wraps is solely left to his descretion.

Beyond that, no matter how well developed Elay's body is, it'll never be enough to handle the unbridled nightmare that is a fully awakened ﻮєɭ๔Ŧєггค๔. Ergo, Garf is constantly monitoring Elay's body for signs of weakness and fatigue. Unable to continuously pump him full of energy due to its eldritch sources, Garf is responsible enough to pull the rug out from under Elay whenever necessary. Meaning, Garf's often quick-to-act panic button often leaves Elay in a situation where he was fighting with that power in mind, only to have it stripped away and need to flee. Elay is, after all, incredibly good at looking for trouble. Its nothing to antagonize a group of twenty Blind bikers in a seedy bar just for the thrill of trying to beat them all into a pulp: And Garf is happy to scarper as soon as he's had enough.

Kingshawl: Royal Regalia ⫻ In times of great strife and equal triumph, Garf has held onto a "forbidden" nexus of the Kingshawl's unifying effects. Unneccessary, Garf finds Elay to still not be ready for this form's usage yet... Though, on the occasions where Garf is allowed the majority reign and Elay lays down for a true slumber, sometimes dreams are passed from the former to the latter involving a towering man in royal robes and a crown. On his shoulder sits a massive bulge, with almost useable paws resting on the figure's chest...

LIMITS ⫻ Individual limitations of each ability have been listed alongside their entries for ease of browsing. Besides that, there are few abilities that Garf clings to greedily. Among them, the Wampus Cat's potent ability to subtly pierce the walls of Lux-based Emotional Fields. More potent while used on a sleeping target, Wampus Cats of all realms are greedy gluttons whose main source of sustainance is the negative emotions created by humans and other sapient creatures. As such, a predatory instinct for bypassing Adeptal defenses was necessary to develop over time, like a bird's immunity to capcasin or a scavanger's taste for rotted meat. This also means that at least once a week, Elay is required to go "dormant" while Garf takes the reigns of their Adjoined consciousness to hunt for fulfilling meals.
In addition, due to his consumption of the Seeds of Life, Garf has attained a great knowledge of many things beyond his own experience: Knowing accurate futures and photographic pasts, he has vowed to keep the truth out of Elay's hands unless he can manage to discover it himself. Thus, most of the secrets of Dazzle are hidden from Elay, waiting for a discovery that will probably never come.

Both of these benefits are totally unavailable to Elay unless the most desperate of necessities, as per their binding contract. As are several other agreements, including a clause preventing Elay from taking any actions that would knowingly end his own life without express agreement from Garf. If at any time the contract is broken, Garf simply leaves. No ceremony, no long goodbye; the cat unplugs itself from Elay, and most likely tries to eat him and whatever else he's dealing with before celebrating his unbridaled return to the surface world with a light lunch: Cloverfield.
Lastly, the more combative forms of Kingshawl unification are often left entirely to the discretion of Garf. The more openly aggressive he allows Elay to be, the more open and exposed he leaves himself as he's less able to hide due to proximity requirements and issues involving an increase in size.

WEAKNESSES ⫻ (DO NOT FILL THIS OUT, I WILL PROVIDE IT FOR YOU)

^{Other
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"Worst place I've ever been? San Francisco. And no, it's not what you think."

Garf often catches rats in the basement for fun, and Elay watches him hunt more often than he'd like to admit. Garf's always happy to show off, and typically lets his sport go as he's got an aversion to the taste.

While Garf eats dreams, its mostly for sustainance. As a ravenous eldritch abomination hiding a wretchedly amorphous creature beneath, he's constantly hungry and searching for his next meal. However, he derives great joy and pleasure from eating physical food, with a taste for good pasta dishes pulled directly from Elay's many nightmares.

If it isn't clear, a lot of Elay's feelings about people not liking him are total self-perceptions. Though, not entirely unfounded as interactions rarely ever go well with Elay; it's safe to say he's made himself look like an asshole plenty over his life, and people are right to hold a mixed bag in his honor.

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree [Complete]

Thanks for the clarification! On a second go-through, I have decided to tweak the dragon post a bit. Now it's only affecting Ken. I hope that's a bit more on point! :)

@Estylwen

That's actually a really cool opening that I dig. How resistant to breakouts is Zi's dynasty? If Ken were to attempt summoning a door to the paths of Sage Kai, as is his usual method of interdimensional travel, would if be blocked?
Thanks for taking the info onside, as always you're incredibly graceful!

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree [Complete]

Whoops, looks like I did mix up my words. Thanks, Atrophy. I've changed it to read Doomsday instead. So it's up to Atomic to see if I got it right. Think I did though, as it's more of a gravitational thing, like I was picturing in my head.

@Estylwen

For the most part it's a molten hot ball of gas. Like a miniature sun, essentially. It's kind of Ken and Drake's combined ultimate ability, so if you believe the dragon's strong enough to just eat that without any consequences, then that's what we'll go with. This maybe comes down to a wording problem, but the whole idea is that the gravity aspect is not the dangerous part; it just pulls whatever is in range into the dangerous part... Being the ball of encased plasma.

Something like 28k degrees Celsius if we wanted to get specific.

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree [Complete]

Mood Music

Leon & Kenshiro

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Mentions: Drake Blackmore, Lila Blackwood, A Fucking Dragon/@Estylwen | Direct Dialogue: Amara King/@Blizz, Sully McPherson/@Atrophy | Location: Elysium Island

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Kenshiro was already far ahead of Stormy's walking barriers, knowing how dangerous of a tool a Doomsday sphere could be. It was, after all, a massive ball of plasma that was encompassed purely by a gravity-manipulated pressure system. It was constantly tugging at everything within range (which happened to be substantial), and anything caught inside would meet a roiling death. Zombies by the dozens were gulped down by the hellish blue orb, flying into the air and ripping in half from the force before ultimately shredding apart. They were contributing to an ever-growing accretion disk of dirt and gore queued up to be consumed in a hollow blue heat death. Occasional bits of rock and bone would break from the orbit, launching themselves like high speed projectiles back out into the growing horde.

Only in the sweetest point of its wake could one move; the barrier created by Ken's control over it. Most times, Drake was the one driving it forward with the graceful arcs of lightning to track its pathway. But this constantly rotating sphere of energy was under total telekinetic control, and was doing just as much damage as a dangerous sawblade as it was an all-consuming ball of hot gas. Spinning with it, Ken whipped across the field like a skipping rock, smashing the ground several times in a row before Ken yarded it to a stop at the foot of the magma titan.

Then his whole world lit up. The kinetic beam from the sky, were it not for his ultimately stable position at the rear of a black hole, would've most likely engulfed him in a flaming Hellscape along with the Titan... It seemed like that problem was taken care of, or would at least be so distracted that its initial purpose was moot... This left the flaming lizard in the sky.

Leon, in an attempt to conserve a bit of energy, pushed himself to the limit of his everyday power. He was sprinting as fast as humanoid legs could take him, taking him all the way back to those football games he missed going to. Missed being a part of. It only became more real to him when he heard Sully's scream of pain from across the field.
Such a shame... He was so cute...
The lumbering giant of a man pivoted hard, in a split second releasing the first sequence of gates that would allow his power to begin pooling up.
If he's so cute, you want to protect him, right!?
Cute is a dime a dozen. But I wish to drink from the cup...
Then it's settled!

”Who’s still alive out there?!”

Amara One

"This is Leon! I'm moving to support Sully, confirm!?"
”A phantom is with him, stay together and keep an eye on Sully while he heals!”
"You got it!"

In a single pistoning of his leg, Leon's foot broke ground and kicked him forward with the force of a car. Around the same time, Ken was at the foot of the Magma titan when the Phantombane Spiritbomb went off, giving him the perfect moment to pick up some spinning momentum on the Doomsday again... Seeing as how whatever power necessary had already been put into it, keeping it contained was the only consistent draw from his own reserves. Light work in comparison...
Using the weight of it like an Olympic hammer thrower, Ken rotated once, twice, three times, and another... Then with an absolutely ear-shattering blast, the sphere was dragging him up into the sky hurtling toward the Dragon flapping itself around. As it lost debris, the pale blue light of the internal plasma became more and more brightly visible until he was just a sphere of blue flying through the sky. Each adjustment sounded like fireworks being set off in the clouds overhead.

As the orb climbed ever upward, Leon caught it in his vision and grinned. For a moment, he missed his magics... But the horde of undead closing in on Sully and the Amara clone's position had to be dealt with. Like a bullet, Leon transferred his frontward momentum into his legs, turning himself into a spear that toppled over a swath of the menacing shamblers. Enough that it stopped his momentum fully, letting him softly land on his feet and in stance. He didn't stop for pleasantries, his half-changed appearance resembling what he'd looked like at the meeting in the abandoned bar. His hair was pale white, body larger than it already was, and each swing saw his arms extend like cartoon rubber to cable-drag more zombies down into the ground.
Where the fuck did they get this many bodies?
Go drink...
Wha-No! He's wounded! We can't even try yet!

Leon felt Lelou grumbling... So his head turned for a split second.
"Sully! Buddy!? You gotta drink!"
He ripped the backpack he was wearing off with his teeth, letting his neck extend and crane enough that he could send it flying toward the Amara Clone.
"If he won't drink, force-feed him the green stuff in there!"
And then the blast wave really hit them. Leon's body reactively turned flat and wide, soaking up debris and the harsh shearing winds so that nothing would hit his brother-in-arms, or the clone tending to him... It was only then in that bright light that he saw Lila's oily black wings furled around her... He could smell someone unfamiliar with her, but couldn't do anything until the devastation rolled over them.

Ken was still making for the source of the pain at breakneck speeds, hoping to catch the Dragon directly in the accretion disk of the Doomsday to bring it to the ground. He vaguely knew how to seal entities, and as it was mostly belief, he liked to believe that this ball of hot plasma would be enough... But it wasn't permanent. He'd have to spend a weapon, or a scroll... But that was only if this worked to begin with. He could feel the pressure system the thing's wings were making, as well as the bomb-blast from behind that was probably something crazy happening... But he didn't care. This package needed to go somewhere important. Somewhere that it would really make a difference.
"Eat this, fucking Lizard!" he screamed, sound completely drowned out by the rushing air around him.

Recollections: Primal Sinister

Mood Music

Moriah

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Mentions: Bryn Woods| Direct Dialogue: "Little Sister", A Few Freaks/@NoriWasHere | Location: Boschetto D’Sylvia > Lugar Apartado 3 / Vance Head Station

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Boschetto D'Sylvia - 08:00

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Each day must begin with something joyous. The only rule one must follow for a happy, satisfied life is to maintain that same spirit with which the day begins, all the way until it ends. Consistency comes from understanding the process, and loving it as a pleasure rather than a duty. One does not need, for there is no need. One should be pleased, overjoyed at the idea that their life has been chosen for something more than breathing, eating and shitting. Necessity is only equal to the outside influence of life's peripheries, and to that outer influence, one must present the same spirit with which the day begins and ends. There shall be no pain in that life, for life itself is joy.

It is satisfaction, love, fulfillment and exploration. Victory in loss is found as easily as joy in success, and the ownness is upon the individual. One's life is exactly what they make it, even in the darkest moments. One's purpose is joy. Be thus, unto each and every other you meet, as you shall be their joy should you find it in yourself to become your own. That joy is the Mother's gift. It dangles from her antlers like ornaments in the branches of a tree, or like the lights in the night sky. Distant worlds, imperceptible until they're within grasping distance. A joy which the modern world consumes. But you will not be swayed by the darkness surrounding the joy. You will radiate, and that will be the contribut-

"Ma'am?"

The dimly lit room was smokey, a small draft traced through the haze as the sliding door rolled open not but a few inches. Just enough for a voice to come through without the present attendant's position compromised. Not that they had anything to worry about this morning... Moriah was dressed in a deep green robe, her body hidden under the layer of thick cloth. In one hand was a long-stemmed pipe from which rings of smoke curled up and out into the air when she puffed, and in the other was a small black leatherbound book which was beyond worn from years of usage. The private library of the residence hadn't been stripped and returned to the Ashram of Untouched Glory, leaving Moriah with tomes on tomes of knowledge and wisdom...

Yet she consistently returned to this book. The teachings of her Twin Grandmothers Allegra and Bella Motta. It was something like a guide to success, and was at the very least a clear and distinct picture of how her beloved Grandmothers thought about the world. As Greater Dames of the Sisterhood of Whispering Flesh, both were born the same way she was: Saturated in Joy. It was a crucial ingredient in making a Powerpuff- No... A Matriarch...

Moriah smiled as she heard the voice calling her attention.
"What troubles you, Little Sister?"
She hadn't adjusted any sort of makeup or skin affect, so she was at her most base form; olive skinned with warm features and deep green eyes beneath a well groomed mane of black hair. A thumb slipped into the bowl of her pipe, stuffing down the hot burning tobacco until she felt the last ember die beneath her finger.
"Your cellphone... A message."

The young woman behind the door slid it open a little wider, a dark cloth blindfold over her eyes as she entered. Training, meant to feel the world with her Lux rather than see it with her eyes. Everything that had ever lived still reacted in some way to the green of the Deer, thus it was common for young Matriarchs to live without their eyes for several years after being born. She was here to study, but for all intents and purposes, she was simply a servant. Not a lot of hope, as her contributions were subpar at best. Moriah felt sorry for her and any other born as a Lesser Dame... But she recognized that the girl had the spark for Joy. She was one with the Deer no matter her circumstance.

Her feet took her across the room gracefully, her hand sliding out to Moriah to pass off the little glass piece of technology.

"shit bad mo b rnd l8r”

Bryn Woods

That wasn't a normal message. There wasn't much thought in the reply, her thumb flicking up to the "k" key and sending the simple reply off. She took a deep breath. The girl heard, and felt the Lux of her mistress ripple in the dark behind her blind.
"Bad news?" she asked innocently, reactively stooping to kneel at Moriah's feet like any student would before their teacher.

She waited for wisdom and guidance, but felt a familiar hand grace her cheek and swipe upwards. Without hesitation, she stood back up.
"I really don't know yet. But we'll find out soon, won't we?-" Moriah said calmly, planting a kiss on the girl's forehead. "-Never you mind it... Now, come. It's time to get dressed and shine upon the day."
"Have you eaten, Mistress?"
"Lugar Apartado... I've business."

Wordlessly, the girl nodded. Four steps separated the two of them as Moriah slipped from the room and up the stairs, her flesh already reacting to the influence of Moriah's Green Lux as she began her mobile breathing exercises. Pulling the pigment from her skin, by the time she reached the top she was already pale and paper white. Her skin was cold to the touch, blood vessels pulled down to the lowest possible part of her flesh. Melanated skin cells crawled across her lips and eyelids, turning them brown before settling on a deep and dark black and letting natural oils build up to give them a glossy sheen.

The robe came away, a gentle whooshing noise prompting the young Dame to reach her arms out. The cloth fell between them perfectly, and she turned to bring it to its place while her mistress gathered herself. Admired herself... Choosing the tiger-stripes of the day. Fully nude, she stared at herself for longer than was necessary as she artistically reconstituted parts of her flesh into a design. The genetalia swinging from her pelvis was flushed with blood the moment she took it into her hand, standing on end as she hoisted the attached package to examine the tattoo-style design that painted itself across her skin.

Just in time, the attending sister passed off a bundle of clothes, not the least of which came from a friend whose magical aptitude came in the form of enchanted clothing: Orange and Purple came together to make a line of undergarments capable of hiding and supporting the heavy frontal weight, letting everything slip into a pocket which only existed on the inside. Aesthetically, she was smooth and flat, able to slip on any short skirt or tight pair of pants without some Blind questioning her orientation. In Culla, and among the faithful abroad, it wasn't something necessary... Though, she wore them anyway, as they were comfortable and prevented the otherwise uncomfortable sensation of being crushed by equally massive and muscular thighs.

And they brought her joy... Nothing could deny that. A pair of black slacks, tight at the waist, were tugged over her lower body and followed by some socks well suited to the included boots. Lifting her arms to allow access, the attending Dame began to bind Moriah's chest as she would to herself once it was her chance to serve in the Commendatoriate. Though unnecessary, it always felt more comfortable to Moriah to have firm support for her chest, the flesh trained to tense up and hold itself in place once applied. Over the wrapping, which extended just below her diaphragm, a plain black tank-top was followed by a soft and slightly oversized sweater, most of which Moriah then tucked into her waist. A little tug brought a comfortable amount of fabric out to break up the two-piece silhouette without restricting her movement.

On her feet, dark and laceless leather boots crept up over the tapered ankles of her pants. The heel and toe were a single part, solid and heavy; something she'd be able to run in if necessary, and wouldn't break as easily as a stiletto heel. The girl was already standing to the side with a small velvet pillow, and atop that pillow was a karambit-style blade still in its sheath. It was the kind of sheath meant to be subtly hidden on a person, and Moriah affixed it underneath the fold of cloth made by her sweater. As a test, she flashed her hand forward, snagging the handle to let the blade sing into the air with a satisfactory clicking noise. Nodding, the blade was again sheathed before she readjusted herself again.

A deep breath, then a nod.
"What is your Oath, Little Sister?"
"My Oath is my life in service to my Progenitor, Clan Motta, and the Mother Deer."
"And why do you live?"
"To improve upon that which I have inherited, and ultimately to flourish in divine Joy."

Moriah turned herself, boots thumping off the hardwood floor of her room as she made for a wardrobe, opening it and retrieving a deep red single-breasted peacoat. Its collar was exaggerated, covered in fur with a notable right-hand bias. Similarly, she took a thin-clothed scarf and closed the door as she wrapped it around her neck, tugging it out and over her mouth like a makeshift bandit's mask. She let it then settle as she slipped the coat on, leaving it unbuttoned.
"I want you to take some time to study. Let your eyes see light. I don't know when I'll be home, so Daphney will be around to administer your daily treatment and test you on what you've gone over."
"Yes Ma'am... M-may I-"
"Free yourself."

Almost giddy, the girl ripped at her blindfold and opened her eyes to look up at her teacher. She could only smile as Momo smiled back in a soft and matronly way.
"A contact has warned me of troubles that I don't know the nature of... So be safe. Remember the emergency plan if anything happens."
The girl nodded in return, and Momo planted a second kiss on the top of her head before heading for the stairs.
"Be good. And no television."
The door opened and closed without ceremony, Momo's hand only lingering to snatch the bag hanging by the door. A half-dazed young woman was left standing at the top of the stairs with a dreamy smile...

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Mood Music

Lugar Apartado Three - 09:30

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The facility was dark, quiet besides the gentle electric hum of the medical grade freezers keeping this particular safehouse's stash of materials fresh as possible. There was a dull shaking that rumbled through the concrete as the nearby tram system operated in its daily run from the surrounding suburb into the city's financial district. Properly packed with business people, Momo imagined their dissatisfied aches and pains. Her mind passed over the ungrateful nature of Blind Humanity, most unable to recognize just how beautiful the ignorance of their situation really was. It was like raising children, or stewarding long-lived animal companions. Another joy of being among the Mother Deer's most astute guardians...

There could be no negativity here. Not in the presence of her Unborn. The forming pool here, given the proximity to the nearby tracks, was suspended and cradled by a series of pads and springs that held it up and away from the regular vibrations while converting any stray energy into a gentle rocking motion. Around it, Momo had lit a number of candles whose places were kept by the wax melting down and pooling around their bases.
"Latenna? It's Mummy...-" she spoke gently, looming over the open mouth of the thing with wide and excited eyes.

It wasn't standard to name the Unborn- Those sorts of things were usually left to one's Sisters in the Commendatoriate, or on your first visit to Culla for a proper grading. But as far as she was aware, her own Mother had already named her before she was born, so to Moriah, it was a tradition all its own for Newbreeds. She had a particular confidence in this one, having a fellow Matriarch from another clan as a main contributor and partial sponsor of the secret project.
Of course, the body within didn't respond. It wasn't alive. Not in the same way a gestating Baby was alive, at least. Connection to a parent meant a Naturalborn had its life constantly breathed into it. But here, there were things to do before the energy could be expelled to jumpstart the consciousness locked away in the developing mind. However, she knew they had thoughts. They imagined, and dreamed, living out moments of their donors lives carefully selected by the Progenitor in control of their growth.

Personally, Moriah vividly remembered dozens of memories from Dames who had contributed their Matriarchal essences into her as a project of holistic unity. Within her, there was an entire council of intelligently gathered constituents- Not so active, but their memories were just a breath away from her mind's eye no matter the time spent without recollection. And, if she tried terribly hard, she could remember Cadenza... Whispering sweet nothings, powerful impressions, battle cadences and songs; things that had probably brought her great joy. For Momo, just seeing the face of the small child developing and aging week by week in the deep emerald pool brought that joy to her mind.

After all, she looked like Fiora... Lutenza being from the same clan as Elizia, and the unmistakable red hair of the Guerra was already growing in long locks around the little girl's head and face. It made her giddy just to watch the unmoving body take slow breaths within the amniotic pool. However, today was strictly for feeding... Several vials of fully-deconstructed material were pulled from the freezer and slid into a curious machine. Similar to a centrifuge, each vial was heated to liquify its contents into a central vessel before being thoroughly incorporated into one another. The central container was then pulled from its slot and placed into a secondary contraption. Two handles on either side allowed Momo to grip it tightly, and the copper fixture began to oxidize rapidly.

She was thinking of Elizia... Of the only other person she wished could be here. But it wasn't mourning... She couldn't do that here. Not while she was preparing the sample. Instead, it was a moment that all three people involved shared:
Lutenza and Elizia playfully bantering about philosophy upon a green-filled terrace in Culla. They were both in their uniforms, red hair tied tight and slipped under their caps. Their smiles were obviously the same, and it was almost hard for Moriah to remember which was which... But Lutenza had a scar she wore proudly on her left cheek, and in that moment Moriah could feel herself reaching out to Elizia through that memory. The woman's face turned to hers, and she really smiled. Like the sun breaking through the clouds on a rainy day.

Then she broke from it, feeling a tear running down her cheeks as she grinned like an idiot. Like she was smitten.
Oh... The Joy...
Her aura was pulling air through the filtration system of the little bunker, and as she stood, she felt the immediate fatigue. The lack of sustenance wasn't usually too much of a concern, save for the fact that she'd gotten rather used to a sense of security. Like things weren't going to pop off at any moment. She spent the first year after the Cataclysm on high alert, intaking so much quality material that she'd managed to make a dent in the Coven's coffers... Conscious of it, she'd since cut back. Her body was leaner, not so full, only taking in after moments of strain like this.

Still, Latenna had to eat first. At least the preparation was done. She brought the container of glowing green biological material steeped in joyous Lux to the pool. Circling it, she dumped the container out slowly and gently, a low mantra leaving her throat.
"Blessed is the child without weakness. Blessed is the child without fear. Blessed is the child without weakness-"
This continued until the container was empty, and Moriah dipped it into the pool to shake off any bit still clinging to the sides. Her stomach growled as she did so, and she took a deep breath before letting the vessel empty out again. Then it was back in its original space, and Moriah was browsing the shelves for something to eat herself. A few more vials than before were stuffed into the machine, everything emptying into the center as a pale liquid mostly uncharged by magic.

It was a full month's worth of food for the girl being grown, but Lutenza's next contribution was due soon anyway. Their agreement was once every three months, so once December rolled around there'd be more. Plenty more, as Moriah was confident in Lutenza's personal level of output and the party in question was happy to take her money in turn. As the machine incorporated everything together into a frothy slurry, Moriah took her tumbler from her bag along with the small container of protein powder. A thick and frothy slurry formed as the two substances mixed further together in the plastic container, then Moriah gave it a minute in the blast freezer before pulling it out again. It wasn't frozen, but it was cold; pleasing to the mouth as it went down like melted ice cream.

"Augh! Delicious, isn't it? My sweet girl?" she asked to the quiet nothing. She'd taken her coat off, but upon finishing her beverage she began to pack back up.
"I know you want Mummy to stay and read to you, but those crazy cave ladies are going to interrupt my day sooner or later, so I can't really focus on it right now. I promise I'll make it up to you later. Now, you be good."

Candles were blown out. The integrity of the pool was double-checked. The coat was back on, and the bag was under her arm.
"Mummy loves you, Latenna. I'll be back again in a few weeks."
Momo checked the monitor by the door for any passing subway workers or random underground vagrants who may be loitering in this part of the subway... Seeing nobody, she turned her body and pulled the door open, stepping out and tugging it shut with a satisfying hiss as the locks engaged. She was underneath one of the stations in a maintenance tunnel that lead back to the main platform now. It was dark, save for the few runner lights that lined the ceiling at vaguely regular intervals. The sound of her heels thumped against the stone floor, leaving behind the door covered in signs warning against attempted openings.

It was a short walk at least, only a few minutes around a winding bend before the gate to the stairs which lead up to the platform itself. Even when she wasn't going to check on Latenna, she usually parked here and took the tram across the North to the NLB and Sin Sisters'... It was a simple convenience. So, as she crested the top of the stairs, she found herself on a mostly empty platform. Nobody really lived in this part of town, and all the businesses were already full of their employees; it left Moriah in a fairly peaceful space as she waited for the line she knew would take her to her destination.

“It’s always so nice when the station is empty, isn’t it,” a voice broke the silence behind Moriah.

“Oh yes, yes, I think I like the silence before the train,” a second joined in.

“But safety would be a concern. I don’t think I could be all by myself waiting like that. Not with everything going on,” a third voice added.

Moriah would see three well dressed men had suddenly appeared behind her. They were dressed in suits, carried briefcases, and each was well dressed and looked professional. The only thing amiss was a fist sized hole on the right side of the chest on one of the men. Each looked at Moriah with a wicked smile.

At first, she didn’t turn. It wasn’t nice to stare, after all; but they seemed to be insistent. Everything going on was a statement that just begged for an interaction.
"Oh yeah? What’s been go-”
As she turned her head casually, she was immediately caught by the fist-sized hole. Struck by the state of it, her matronly instincts still echoing from the moments spent with her Unborn, she was compelled to turn.
"-Holy shit, sir!? You need medi-”

Again, she cut herself off. The three of them… Tight formation, somewhat circled around her, everyone smiling. The hole… It gaped, oozed, and practically screamed at her. Her trained perception was to check them with Green Lux, finding vague Apparitional Emotional Fields. But the green still crowded around them… They were alive?
It wasn’t worth thinking too much about.

"Ahhh… alright… I guess you freaks have to do with what my little Cave Bat mentioned?”
Moriah’s shoulder drooped slightly, letting her back slide off her shoulder and hit the ground. She thought about the jacket too, cracking her neck and raising her arms to loosen it from her shoulders before letting an arm slip through the hole.

“Oh we don’t have to do anything,” the tall one joked.

“Anything at all,” the short one continued.

“But that wouldn’t be any fun,” the one on the middle added.

“Do you come here often,” the tall one asked as he began to circle Moriah.

“This station in particular,” the small one continued.

“Are you protecting something,” the one in the middle finished. As it did the ambient temperature in the station dropped quickly until it was freezing. The normally drab and bring beige walls seemingly began to lose what little color they had. Moriah would feel a relentless push against her emotional field begin.

It was a very uncomfortable moment. She didn’t need anyone or anything knowing about any of the quiet places… So whatever the thing prodding against her was trying to pick out, she only had one choice.
Kill it.
But she couldn’t let the Emotional Field waver. It was the first technique they were told to utilize in the Commendatoriate: Absolute Impression. Reading and identifying a threat, and setting a standard in one’s mind that hung the opponent on a lower rung than the Matriarch in question. Most things had to be treated like they weren’t “serious”, because if they were, you had something on the line.

Something made you scared. Shook you. Left a crack that other Adepts could get in through… Or worse.
This situation in particular, however, was getting to the point where violence was starting to look necessary. The coat dropped to the ground at the edge of the platform, the loose sweater covering her upper body leaving her with plenty of movement… The point was usually to avoid giving your opponent the chance to do something dirty like pulling your shirt over your head, so Momo’s first option was almost always the legs.

Hence the sturdy boots with thick weighted heels.
"You can avoid the worst of this if you disappear like a bad dream.” she offered calmly, feeling her Lux beginning to bolster her. The air was cold, but it always tasted fresher in these moments.

The tall one suddenly twitched. Something moved under his skin and the air was filled with the sound of bones snapping and muscles twisting. Yet after a few moments the noise stopped as did the twitching. “You are strong, Moriah,” the tall one grinned. The sound of a train entering the station filled the air.

“There are ways to break that strength,” the short one added.

“Shall we,” the one in the middle asked Moriah, “I think you have a train to catch.” It lunged forward with inhuman speed, reaching out to push Moriah into the path of the oncoming train.

Fight Music

With cat-like speed and reflexes, Moriah’s body tucked slightly and drove her shoulder into the lunging thing’s abdomen. One hand grabbed the collar, the other the crotch, and all the weight immediately drove the first assailant into the crack between the platform and the coming train. At first, she didn’t feel resistance, but as the train twisted it into a pretzel stick, she realized it simply wasn’t giving up its form. However, it was stuck, so she released the thing and let her back leg spring off the floor.

Her heel drove itself into the next one’s chest, sending it soaring across the platform and into a steel support beam which rang out like a bell and shook the entire pylon. The third was too much, however; its smiling mouth opened wider than was possible as it’s arms and legs began to stretch across her, constricting her.
She took a step, then immediately went for the train again. This time, still rolling into the station, she tried to scrape the thing off of her as its teeth sunk into her shoulder. She could only imagine that it didn’t think before its actions, as the initial clamping was only enough to break the skin of a normal person. Hers was already thick enough that it needed some extra effort, and in that moment of disconnect it loosened its grip.

Just enough for her to go for the knife. Still knocking itself against the slowing train, the leech peeled off her body as she spun the blade in her hand and ripped it upwards like she was ripping a piece of tape off of a box. As it whipped upward, the tip caught her cheek before being crammed and hooked into the thing’s skull. Disoriented further, she felt it lighten its grip enough that she could toss it without ripping her own flesh apart.
It hit the ground in a heap, but the one that had been kicked was already sprinting back toward her. Winding up to kick the stupid thing again, a set of spindly grey noodle arms absolutely shredded to fuck from being run over by a train several times now, slithered out from under the thousand ton metal behemoth. They grabbed and wrapped wherever they could, throwing her off balance.

The sprinter smashed into her like a ton of bricks, sending her hurtling into and spinning against the ever-slowing train. Thankfully it wasn’t just a passthrough and its solid, wall-like qualities were far more present now than they were while it was moving quickly. A horrific nightmare was crawling its way out from under the train, face and fleshy bits turning to clay-like gray as the wrapped arms tugged her leg toward a waiting mouth.
She’d dropped the blade on impact, hearing it hit the concrete but losing track of it almost immediately.

Oh fuck.

It had to still be somewhat pinned under there… All she could do was tense her leg and let the grabber think she was trying to get away. As the mouth got close enough, she then released every bit of tension on her leg, letting the gripping arms accidentally slip. It was enough to send the weighted boot and the power behind it careen into the grabber’s head.
Using its own strength against it, there was a loud snapping noise as she caved its skull in against the train. It growled and gurgled, but she had no time to focus. The one still in front of her wasn’t fighting quite like the others, resorting to actual strikes which put dents into the metal exterior of the train wall.

She could generate a significant amount of force from this range, but these things weren’t content with getting knocked around. They had to die. And for that, she needed a little more room. Her front foot stomped down, driving into the thing’s shin and buckling it… But she was quickly shown that wasn’t the right move, as the leg took the chance to begin coiling around her foot and ankle.
In the interim, the one she’d bladed was stirring, body slowly reactivating as it started to push against its half-split musculature.

They have to die, they have to die-

Using her free leg, Momo pivoted hard and ripped the thing coiling its way around her off of its remaining support and whipping it against the threshold of the open train door. Like putty, it simply flattened and mushed out in an unreal way, and it seemed like no matter how many bones they broke, they just didn’t care. It was like fighting a thing made of unfired clay.

Unfired…
Across the way was the opposite platform, still devoid of rail cars and totally open. Her hand reached out, wrapping around the thing’s head and squeezing to keep its shifting neck from getting any advantage. Her free hand did the same to the other creature, snatching down and practically crushing it like an orange.
Both struggled, coiling and wrapping around her while hands tried to claw and rip at her. It left her clothes mostly ruined, and while they were hitting surface skin, they simply couldn’t seem to figure out that they needed to go deeper than instinct told them.

So, in relative freedom, she dragged the two moaning and grunting creatures across the platform and into the pit opposite of her train. She knew, having spent enough time talking to engineers rebuilding the city’s destroyed rail network, that city trains always had electricity running through their lines… You just had to connect one side to the other, and boom- Full power electrical current.
Her hand rammed the face and head of one into the hot rail, feeling the electricity surging through her temporarily as she mirrored the other. Then, with tremendous force, she stretched them across the entire rail until the circuit closed. Instantly, they both began to convulse and jitter and scream as they started to cook.

On reaction, they had let her go, leaving her free to stand and gawk. She reached for her cellphone, but found that it had been smashed to bits when she hit the train, meaning she couldn’t document this… But she really needed to talk to Bryn now. With the platform cold and empty, and a small fire burning on the tracks, there was a small gust of air that gave her a reminder that they’d ripped through her sweater.
The shoulder, the belly… There was a chime that warned the train was about to depart, so she pulled herself back up and made way for her coat. The blade she’d dropped was a few feet away, and she managed to gather her possessions before slipping into the train.

Beneath the train, a gray, muck-like hand snagged the undercarriage, and as the iron horse pulled away from the station, it settled in for a long ride…