Atrophy

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

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A disgusted, droning sigh streamed out from Penny’s frowning lips as they turned the corner and were assaulted by the neon lights of the Dollhouse. Between the knock off Miami Vice suits, eight-inch suicide heels, and the cover charge, Penny knew this wasn’t the place for her. Nightlife for her, when she participated, had involved starry Montana skies, giant bonfires that the occasional asshole would chuck an aerosol can at, and whatever beer someone could rescue from their parent’s garage or that their older brother bought them. What it didn’t involve was standing in line for the bathroom while thumping, bass heavy music bled eardrums and drinks had to be constantly monitored with a watchful eye or covered with a steady hand. Penny grumbled as she forked over the money to the doorlady. Why anybody would pay to enter a place that was so aggressively trying to make people want to leave she would never understand.

“Oh goddamnit.”

As they entered, Penny realized she had made a mistake: the Dollhouse wasn’t a nightclub, but a stripclub. The look on her face did nothing to mask the massive amount of discomfort she quickly felt as she saw the women dancing on stage and the men hooting and hollering. She tried to look away, but there was nowhere safe for her eyes to wander. Penny shielded her brow with her hand to hide her embarrassment and looked down past her discount black dress, which would have doubled as a funeral outfit, to her sneakers. She followed the heels of the girl in front of her until they were in the VIP area. Penny glanced up and heaved a sigh of relief. It was decidedly less nude in here. Almost classy, even, but in that sort of unfortunate way where it just falls short of the goal, trips over the edge, and plummets directly into “seedy” territory.

Immediately, the girl in the cowboy hat jumped out to her. First Mariah (whose confidence in this weird place was almost as inspiring as her outfit), then the wannabe robber with his broken wrist, and now a member of the Dollhouse—the rule of threes had been fulfilled. Florida couldn’t possibly have anymore people brave/stupid enough to try to pull the look off. Penny double checked the room just in case another cowboy was hiding behind the curtain, but otherwise it appeared to be nothing but a handful of wannabe witches, definitely devious black market dealers, and herself.

The apparent spokesman of the Dollhouse, Luis, offered them drinks. Penny wrestled with the idea of perhaps getting her twenty-five bucks worth when Madison shut it down. Fine, then, no free booze for them, but if the dude was smoking inside then that meant it was an open invitation. Despite “dressing up” for the night, Penny was still rocking the oh-so-stylish fanny pack, which she fished out a cigarette from and lit it as the head honcho continued the meeting. Penny kept herself to the side, as if her body had subconsciously separated herself from the Coven. It was their meeting, after all, she was only here to make sure they got what Kimberly had asked for them to get.

"What services do you seek from us?" Penny’s eyes narrowed as the man kicked his feet up on the table, early judgments beginning to form in growing degrees of harshness. “Because here at the Dollhouse...we have it all. "

The Coven didn’t speak for what felt like an eternity. In reality, it might’ve only been a handful of seconds. Either way, it was long enough time for Penny to go from letting the Coven have the floor to taking charge of the show.

“Honestly, Tampa’s pretty terrible even without all of the murders. I’d hear an argument for the current situation even being an improvement,” said Penny, stepping over to the couch that Claudette was sitting on and plopping down beside her. She took a drag of the cigarette, exhaled a cloud of smoke, and leaned back while crossing her legs to basically mirror Luis. “I wouldn’t agree with it, but I’d hear it out.

“Let's get down to it. We’re interested in putting a stop to that little killing spree ruining our already shit town, and we’re especially interested, as are you, of us doing it before the culprit tires of Tampa and moves on to somewhere nicer like Miami. Normally, it’s something we”—Penny was referring to herself and Kimberly, but played it like she meant the girls in the room—“would be able to handle ourselves. However, the killer is a bit unconventional, and to stop them we need some unconventional means.”

“However, I am getting ahead of it all,” said Penny. She leaned forward to ash her cigarette. “Before we get distracted by the main course, there are a few other, er, unnatural things we’re looking to get help with. Claudette, why don’t you tell the gentleman?” Penny suggested, passing her the reins of the conversation over to Claudette. It was partially because she had a horrible track record when it came to talking with shady men, and partially because she really had no idea what else the Coven wanted out of the Dollhouse.

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

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How long had Penny been standing in the line to get a smoothie? Had the line even moved? Did anything exist anymore beside the line? Perhaps she had been trapped once again in another dimension, cursed to forever wait in the line for the promises of a smoothie that’d never come. Around her the mall stopped, as if frozen in time, as the lights began to click off one by one until even the back of the person in front of her was lost to the darkness. Penny felt a chill run down her spine as she stared forward into the dark void, feeling something stare back at her. Her eyes began to adjust to the darkness and she could start to make out shapes. She realized then that her eyes weren’t adjusting. Instead, on the horizon, a light was beginning to glow.

“Penny, Penny!”

Penny snapped out of her daydream with a start as the mall reappeared around her. In her stupor, she had moved forward a few more spots in line. What a relief. She looked over at the source of her name and saw the yellow bundle of energy that was Isla. Penny returned the wave as the girl rushed over.

“Are you getting a smoothie too? This line is crazy! I’m getting Mariah to show me around because I have no clue where anything is and might as well experience America while I’m here!”

“Well, there’s nothing more American than the vast capitalistic wasteland of the shopping mall, except for shooting guns into the side of a hill or going tens of thousands of dollars in debt for a degree you won’t ever use,” said Penny, flashing a smile.

She was about to suggest other American things that Isla could experience while visiting, like eating a warm slice of apple pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, not caring about soccer and refusing to call it football, or getting addicted to prescription drugs. However, before she could teach Isla how to bleed Red, White, and Blue, Emily joined them with a smile that looked alarmingly unnatural. Still, Penny was about to pretend that she was excited to see the girl she’d been forced to share an awkward car ride with. However, her smile faltered as Emily suggested she had saved Penny’s life—as if she had been in any real danger. Hah!

"And after you nearly fuckin' ended mine with that stunt you pulled," said Emily. Penny’s eyes went cold as she looked down at the accusatory finger poking her in the chest. "So you owe me a thank you. And an apology. You can repay your debt with smoothies. I want the Passion fruit."

“Oh, you’re absolutely right,” snickered Penny as she brushed Emily’s hand away, not bothering at all to hide her insincerity as she rolled her eyes. “I am so dreadfully sorry that something almost happened to you on accident, and am truly grateful that you think you somehow saved my life. I believe a smoothie is not enough to repay what I owe you. I will think of something...”

However, as she spoke Penny could feel the eyes of the other people waiting in line focus in on them. Their looks were angry and judgmental, the faces of people that could quickly be whipped up into an angry mob with a single call for action. If she didn’t get the girls to go away, a riot would surely breakout in response to their line cutting—intentional or otherwise.

“You know what? Fine, ” said Penny, dropping the fake apologetic tone. “All of you go hangout over by the bench and I’ll grab us some smoothies. Tell me whatcha want and go, before these people behind you start grabbing pitchforks.”

After hearing what the other two wanted, Penny waved the girls off and continued standing in line. After a few minutes that felt like a couple of lifetimes, she made it to the front. She ordered the girls their smoothies, although she accidentally on purpose ordered the wrong flavor for Emily. Penny walked over to the group holding the paper drink carrier with a triumphant smile on her face. She handed Isla and Mariah their drinks, took her own, and then turned to Emily with a smirk as she offered her the wrong smoothie.

“They were out of passion fruit, but said this one was pretty good,” said Penny, smirking, as she handed Emily the cayenne pepper kale smoothie.

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

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Between getting held up, getting stuck in Maya’s car yet again, and having to sleep on the rollaway bed because Isla jacked the good bed and immediately passed out, Penny felt as if she had earned a break. She couldn’t recall the last time she did something relaxing. She couldn’t really recall if she ever knew how to relax in the first place. There was something nerve wracking about taking time to do absolutely nothing, especially when there was a somewhat decent chance that Armageddon wasn’t just an awful movie with a killer song. Perhaps she could scope out the meeting place with the Dollhouse, or make sure that the cops weren’t looking for them after the whole gas station fiasco, or check in with Kimberly, or—no. Today was a day off, and she deserved it.

Plus, what kind of idiot could possibly pass up a two for one sale, like, are you kidding?

Penny soon learned that the answer to that question was “not any”, as all of the idiots had seemed to show up to raid that particular mall boutique that day. Not a rack was spared as the frugal vultures picked the hangers bare, raiding the store like a pack of vikings if vikings were mostly middle-aged women desiring to appear as if they were and would always be twenty-one. The actual twenty-one year old slipped through the crowd. Even with all of the fucked up things she had seen, the mutilation of a gas station attendant’s fingers being one of the tamer things on that list, she was still horrified by the massacre of the store. Penny barely escaped with her life and the four cute little dresses she probably couldn’t really afford but she’d worry about having a good credit score if they all got through the next year.

Shopping trip successfully completed, Penny began the trek through the mall towards the food court in search of an iced latte. She dodged around the preteens in their miniskirts and the mall goths in their Tripp pants, sped past the booths hocking phone cases and airbrushed t-shirts, and avoided every perfume lady like they had the goddamn plague. Penny had almost made it to the food court when the sight of a tiki hut lumped with fake, oversized fruits stopped her dead in her tracks as the whirl of a high-speed blender pierced through the air. An iced latte lost to a fruit smoothie every day of the week, for drinking one allowed her to pretend to be healthy.

The line to the smoothie shack was long, twisted, and full of the same kind of monsters that had ransacked the boutique. Penny wanted to skip it but the inotixicating draw of a green smoothie full of whatever the fuck antioxidants were was too strong to resist. Penny found herself standing in the line before realizing that she had even made the decision to do so. The line inched forward, the stressed out teen and only employee of the drink stand frantically darting back and forth between blender, fridge, and register, as a hundred angry eyes stared at her and waited. Penny found herself staring too, just another lost soul stuck in line for an overpriced smoothie.

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

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“Howdy pardner,” said Penny, finger guns drawn, phony accent dialed to Southern Fried, as Isla blinked the two of them into the store. Isla must’ve taken Penny literally when she said right in front, because she was now closer than she had ever wanted to in regards to someone wearing assless chaps. She couldn’t blame the Coven’s cowgirl from running. “Now how ‘bout you let these fine ladi—”

One thing happened just as planned: the outlaw fired his revolver at her, her eyes were able to see it, and her abstraction reacted fast enough to repulse the bullet out of harm’s way. Perfect fucking execution. She blew air over the top of her finger gun as if there was a puff of smoke and dropped the whole gimmick. Everything else? Well, that was a complete surprise, and not entirely unpleasant. Penny didn’t even have to bother with the blast of wind as the Florida Man silently cried out in pain and dropped his revolvers. She carefully shifted the guns out of his reach while the cowboy cradled his wrist and slowly transformed more and more into a Saturday morning cartoon. She threw a victorious wink and a smile over her shoulder at Isla.

The smile soon shifted into a look of horror as she turned forward again, finally noticing how close the bullet had been to absolutely demolishing Emily. Penny felt her stomach drop and her skin turn to ice. Holy shit. She hadn’t seen her at all. Holy shit. Had the girl been hiding during the hold up? Holy shit! Penny had been so certain in her own ability to be bulletproof that she had hardly considered the possibility of collateral damage. She was such an idiot. She owed Emily a massive apology, one that she instantly forgot about as Emily opened her mouth, screamed, and dropped a massive amount of candy on the ground.

Was that bitch looting?

Penny frowned as Emily’s scream got louder and louder. It wasn’t because the girl was increasing in hysteria, but rather Penny’s ears were no longer ringing from the deafening gunshot. The cowboy’s cry wasn’t silent, either, as he tossed out tarnations, conflabbits, and dagummits like he wasn’t in the presence of good company. Penny rolled her eyes in annoyance and turned to check on the other girls to make sure they were okay. They were.

And then they weren’t, as Claudette was (accidentally?) shocked by Grace like a fly buzzing a little too close to a bug zapper. Penny’s face fell flat, synchronizing perfectly with Claudette falling flat on her back as she was knocked out by the jolt. She made a mental note to never touch any of the girls in the Coven as she closed her eyes and released a heavy sigh. Penny was starting to feel like there would’ve been less damage done if she’d just smoked by the pumps and let a rogue ash spark a gas fire. Still, at least nobody was getting shot.

“I don’t know what y’all did, but hands up, lady,” she heard the attendant say in a shaky voice. It was coupled with the shit-inducing sound of a shotgun being racked.

It sucked how reality took all the fun out of playing the hero. The attendant had just witnessed two girls pop in out of nowhere, cause a gun to fire off backwards, snap the wrist of some dumbass, electrocute another, all while an accomplice was starting to loot the place. Penny slowly raised her hands as she caught the reflection off the mirrored dome of the shotgun-wielding attendant aiming at her and Isla. One bullet wasn’t a problem. A dozen or so bits of shot? Also probably not a problem, if she wasn’t worried about hitting anybody else. But that wasn’t even the biggest issue. Being caught on camera, at the scene of a crime, after paying with a card that had her name on it, while surrounded by a ridiculous amount of Extra-Normal activity? That shit could ripple out into some massive tidal waves.

She lowered her head to hide her face, positive that it was already too late, and used her peripheries to glare at the attendant. One hand was holding the shotgun, while the other was fumbling for a phone. Hopefully Isla or one of the other girls had an idea, because the one Penny had fucking sucked. She bared her teeth. She had to buy some time. At the very least, she had to distract the attendant from calling the cops while the Coven was still hanging around. Her sigil glew as the zipper on her fanny pack opened itself ever so slightly. There was no telling what the wounded cowboy would do during all of this, either. Best be prepared for the worst.

“Now hold up. Surely we can come to some kind of understanding, after all, I did just save your ass from getting robbed. So why don’t you just put that gun down and we can have a little chat or—”

"That was some weird shit, lady. That was some weird shit!" The attendant racked the shotgun again, wasting a perfectly good shell that pinged off of the counter, hit the floor, and rolled towards the door. Penny cursed under her breath. "I don't like weird shit. Never did, and don't you let nobody tell you otherwise. I'm calling the cops. Don't you move."

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

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Penny’s eyebrows jumped as she witnessed Isla use her Abstraction in public. She quickly whipped her head back and forth, but if anybody had witnessed it they weren’t freaking out. She exhaled a cloud of smoke and gave Isla the old side-eye as the sleepy Scot joined her. The brief annoyance Penny felt was soon snuffed out as Isla practically collided against the wall, the corner of her lip twitching upwards into the hint of a smile.

“You wouldn’t happen to have spare change I can use for coffee or like coffee itself that would be really great, I am exhausted but also broke thanks to the whole stepping through a portal to a random country thing and I really don’t have the energy to steal.”

“You’re in luck,” said Penny, setting her own drink down to pull out one for Isla. She held it out for the girl, but then quickly jerked it back. “You get this on two conditions. Number one: no blinking in public unless it’s an emergency. Number two: if you ever actually do steal something, keep me in the dark about it.” With the stipulations in play, she relinquished the frappuccino to Isla. “Hey, do you know what the deal is with the two girls I’m riding with? That was like the most uncomfortable, awkward, absolutely fucking terrible car ride I’ve ever...nevermind.”

Penny shut her mouth because Quinn was coming round their little smoking corner with Maya in tow. It was bad enough just being a bystander in the hostile environment that was Maya’s car; Penny couldn’t imagine how terrible it would be if she said something to direct the hostility towards her. As one of the girls from Madison’s car came bounding over to gossip, Penny called out to Maya and tossed the ice cold coffee towards her with a soft underhand used only by grandma’s playing basketball and people who didn’t want to deck their ride in the face with a bottle. Maybe the drink would make the girl open up to her when they hit the road. Maybe the girl was the kind who looked at the name Starbucks and sneered. Either way, mission accomplished.

"Don't tell me you thought that too?" asked Quinn.

Penny was about to intercept the question and say how even she, despite not knowing the girls, thought that too when the distinct sound of clopping hooves distracted her. Confused, she walked around the corner to see a cowboy tying his horse up outside of the convenience store. Her jaw went slack, causing her cigarette to plummet to the ground. It might’ve not been such a crazy sight in Montana, but it was fucking asinine to see that thing in Florida. She quickly decided it was none of her business and turned to rejoin Isla around the corner when she heard shouting, followed by a loud crash, coming from inside the store. She turned and through the window saw the cowboy holding up the place.

“Oh goddamnit,” said Penny, knowing that it had just now become her business.

She could easily stop one of the bullets if it headed her way, but with Yosemite Floridaman going akimbo she couldn’t risk him firing on someone else. Plus, there was no guarantee that she’d be able to even step through the door before he started firing hot lead. If only there was some other way inside...Penny’s eyes fell on Isla as she smiled. If the girl blinked Penny directly in front of the cowboy she could be within reach to repulse both of his bullets out of harm’s way before blowing him away with a blast of air. She activated her abstraction, the sigil on her collarbone glowing as her vision buzzed and allowed her to see even the slightest of movements with pinpoint accuracy. The millisecond he pulled the trigger she’d be ready to handle it.

“Isla, put me right in front of that dickhead. Just make sure you’re behind me when you do,” commanded Penny.

God, she really hoped that Isla was listening and not nodding off against the wall.

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

A serious RP for serious people.

@The Ghost Note

Having not read the latest IC post, I know I'm already going to be upset.

R E D U X .// 2047 //.

Maysah frowned as Arbiter dissuaded any thoughts of a less obvious approach. Going loud was out of the question. While she imagined she could easily level the entire building if she had too, the innumerous amount of casualties immediately ruled that out—not to mention how it’d utterly destroy their precious drone. It was becoming apparent that Peterson’s plan, as haywire as it was, might be the only option they had with such short notice.

“Oh, I can keep you here all night if that’s what you want,” said Maysah as Peterson asked if there were more questions. She leaned forward and propped herself up on her elbow. “But we do have a delivery to make so I won’t do that. I have just one more question.”

She jutted one finger for emphasis and continued, “Suppose the stars align, your intel is good, and your man is impressive as you say he is. Once we have the drone, where do we meet up to make the swap?”

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

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Penny had fucked up.

When they had all piled into cars to head to Miami, Penny had fully intended to stick with Isla—until another girl took the front seat before Penny even had a chance to call shotgun. Socially awkward situations were uncomfortable, but sitting in the motion sickness of being stuck in the backseat was worse. So she had thought, anyway, as she climbed into the front of Maya’s car. Perhaps she’d find that she had plenty of things in common with the witches riding with her, or at the very least she’d get to learn a little more about their operation. None of that happened.

Instead, Maya’s threat to blast any backseat drivers out of the car immediately set the tone, and her decision to just blare music as loud as possible cemented it. Penny squirmed and leaned her head against the window. She had faced axe-murdering school bullies, dimensional-travelling cultists, world-eating abominations, but none of them compared to the harrowing experience of being stuck in this car for several hours. The girl in the backseat did nothing to ease the pain as she popped in headphones and proceeded to practice with her abstraction. Penny watched the ball bonk her in the face and smiled. Amateurish control, but they all had to start somewhere. She remembered her afternoons spent hiding in a janitor’s closet blasting coins at makeshift targets.

Right now, as they swerved in and out of traffic to an ear-shattering, utterly incomprehensible rap song, Penny kind of wish one of her coins had ricocheted off of the target, bounced off of the ceiling, and lodged itself in her brain, effectively rendering her comatose for the rest of her life. Unfortunately, she couldn’t go back in time and become brain dead, so she did the next best thing and pretended to be asleep. She pulled her hat down, slumped in her seat, and prayed that they hit the oil tanker next to them, gulfing them all in a fiery hellstorm to put an end to this torture. Life was cruel, however, and they passed by the truck without even a singe.

“We’re stopping for a break.”

Penny let out an audible sigh of relief and had already unbuckled herself before they pulled into the gas station. She had to use every ounce of self-restraint not to just throw open her door and tuck and roll out of the still moving vehicle. The urge back even harder to deny as she overheard Emily’s jerkoff comment. Readjusting her hat, Penny sat up and turned to Maya. She was about to offer to get the girl something when Maya spoke up.

“You know what, it would be pretty great if one of you got me some coffee. I am driving you all free of charge and it would be a shame if I fell asleep at the wheel.”

“I feel like we’ve already been made to pay,” muttered Penny, a look of disgust passing over her face.

“And something to wash down painkillers,” continued Maya.

"... And Trevor. You probably have a lot of him left in your throat, " added Emily.

“Oh god,” said Penny, stepping out of the car. She did not want to continue to be part of this conversation. “You know what? I’ll get us some coffee.”

Penny had never been happier to hear the jingling of bells as she crossed the threshold into the gas station, separating herself from Maya and Emily with an actual physical barrier. It was like a weight had been lifted from off of her shoulders. Unfortunately, the gas station didn’t have real coffee. Oh, sure, it had a few pots of drip coffee burning away next to some paper cups, sugar packets, and crusty looking syrup bottles, but that wasn’t coffee. She scoped out the coolers, hitting the jackpot as she came across the motherload of Starbucks frappuccinos. She grabbed enough for the girls in her car and hit the checkout. She bought herself an extra pack of cigarettes despite already having a full one, knowing that she’d need them before the end of the trip.

As she left the store her phone buzzed.

Kimberly Walton
Please keep me posted on everything that's going on in Miami. If anything goes wrong, say the word and I'll be right there. I don't trust Dollhouse but I have no other options.

Me
It’s already gone to shit.
I just spent two hours listening K-Rap.
K-RAP!
They know it’s so bad they named their own genre of music crap!

Me
Anyway, I’ll keep you posted. Enjoying the beach house?

Penny pocketed her phone, cracked open one of her shitty coffee drinks from the horde she had hiding in that little black plastic bag, and lit a cigarette...which meant she couldn’t possibly head back to the car without risking the lives of others. She’d have to stay her, a respectful, safe distance away, and away from the bickering girls. What a damn shame. She found herself a nice corner to duck behind, again, just to respect the rules of the gas station, and leaned up against the wall.

Penny locked eyes with Madison as she got out of her car. Surely, Madison would be able to find room for her, because Penny couldn’t go back to Maya’s car. They couldn’t make her. She could sit on somebody’s lap. She’d ride in the fucking trunk. Hell, tie her to the trunk. Anything! Staring at Madison like a shell shocked soldier returning home after the war, Penny pressed two fingers to her temple, mouthed “help me”, jerked her head to the side, and then shot an angry glare at Maya’s car.

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

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Penny looked down at the offered cowboy hat, then up at Mariah, and then back down at the hat. Her eyes betrayed the mental arithmetic that was running through her head as she tried to determine how she’d look in it, the chances that it might contain lice, and the likelihood that Kimberly would ridicule her for performing a hatswap with a complete stranger. She settled on the fact that she’d look absolutely awesome in it, Kim could easily delouse it in a snap with her abstraction, and that her friend wouldn’t dare pass up a chance to knock Penny down a peg or two. Plus, her hat was just a skosh cuter. With a click of her tongue and apologetic smile she shook her head no.

“You pull it off better,” she said, politely lying as if she had intentions for running for office someday. She glanced across the pool, trying to eavesdrop on the other group while playing the part of the handshaker and the baby kisser. She was only able to pick up bits and pieces.

“Welllll… You know, I don’t have a passport or anything that identifies me so I get the feeling they’ll take one look at me and throw me to a random country. I’d rather stick around America with some company than be thrown out elsewhere, you know?”

“I’d say it would depend on the company,” said Penny, folding her arms as she side-eyed the rest of the Coven. “Now I ain’t much of a gambler, but I think the odds are that you’d get deported somewhere better than fricking Florida.” Although, considering they had a nice beach house, perhaps not. It sparked Penny’s curiosity. “Hey, how’d y’all even afford a place like—”

“I’m gonna join that!” blurted out Isla before vanishing, reappearing on the other side of the pool to get in on the daisy chain.

Unable to control the roll of her eyes she hid them behind her shades instead. Penny turned to restate her question to Mariah...who had drifted off towards the deep-end of the pool. On further assessment, she had drifted off in the deep-end as well. Frowning, Penny pulled out a cigarette from her fanny pack and lit it, watching as the Coven crowded around Kimberly to join in on the Recollection. She noticed the girl who’d caused a ruckus was now sitting silently away from the others, sulking. It appeared like she didn’t want to partake. Penny drifted over to the main group, sidling up to Rowan.

“What’d I miss?”

By the time the others were done with their Recollection, Rowan had caught Penny up to speed on the matter at hand. Ashing her cigarette, Penny tilted her chin up and glared down at the Coven, as if she was calculating how capable they actually were of doing what Kimberly had asked of them. Penny took a drag. Really, it was on par with going to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription. If it was something truly daunting, Kimberly would’ve trusted her to do it. They couldn’t possibly cock it all u—a cloud of smoke exploded out of Penny’s mouth as she failed to prevent the bark of laughter that she let loose as one of the girls fell on her ass. She pulled down her hat and bit her lip, thankful that her sunglasses had hidden the twinkle in her eyes.

Yeah, no.

Penny pulled herself together in time for Kimberly to make her statement of intent and her promise to the Coven. There was nothing there that Penny could disagree with in her words. She flicked her cigarette. As her friend finished her spiel, Penny clasped a hand on her shoulder. It was a show of deep respect and unbreakable support. But more importantly, it allowed her to get close enough to whisper into Kimberly’s ear without seeming suspicious.

“I’m going to join them. Make sure they don’t fuck this up,” she said in a low voice so that only Kimberly could hear her. She even turned her head to hide her lips from the others.

It wasn’t just incompetence Penny was concerned about. One of them had voiced her belief that Annabelle was beyond saving. Honestly, Penny felt the same. However, if Kimberly meant to save the girl, then Penny would see to it that it got done. That meant making sure the Coven picked up the correct cure, instead of something that would make the Hunger easier to take out. She cast one final uncertain stare at Lyss before changing her expression and removing her sunglasses. Smiling, she stepped forward to join Kimberly at her side.

“Think of it like we’re saving all of the people,” said Penny lightly, correcting Quinn’s statement to Isla. Obviously, she wasn’t serious; she waved her words off with the back of her hand. Besides, one girl had for certain survived the alleged end of the world. “It sounds more important that way.”

“Oh, I’m coming too,” said Penny. It wasn’t an offer. Snickering, she added, “Honestly, I just need to see what helping the living shit out of someone looks like.”

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

@silvermist1116Glow up Stacey is blowing my mind.