FernStone

Recollections: The Othergrounds [Complete]

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Caelea’s pale eyes widened as Odessa pulled up her robe - was this some kinda weird ass strip show that she’d accidentally agreed to. Nope, she definitely wasn’t blushing, her face normally had that pink tone to it… Her jaw then dropped when the other woman’s skin actually peeled away and revealed what very much was not a human skeleton. She forced the shock from her face as she watched the flowers blooming to cover the space and it was strangely beautiful. But also very weird. At least she wasn’t some orange orb of tentacles, though.

“That’s both incredibly freaky and kind of cool at the same time,” Caelea blinked. “But yeah, definitely more than just a fern.”

She then turned to Penny as she began to naturally take the lead. It made perfect sense for Caelea - just like old times, where Penny had led their group through some rough shit. Caelea would gladly follow her again any day. Really there were few other people she would trust with that (none that weren’t from the support group or whatever they counted as now). So she met Penny’s gaze towards her with a nod of support.

“Ay, ay, Captain,” Caelea gave a mock solute even as her expression was mostly serious and her tone was playful more than it was sarcastic. “We’ll go get the boats ready.”

She then turned to the others in the room and made a shooing motion at them all towards the door. “Let’s get going and ready to get off this boat before something comes after us. Penny can handle it here waiting for the others.”

Then the tiny woman started moving towards the (destroyed) door with more more motions towards it, as if she was trying to block people and force them out. Which was rather amusing considering that fact most of them were way taller and bigger (one especially) and could probably just easily step around her. But the message was still there in her expression - get out, we got shit to do.

She trusted Penny’s orders even when it involved leaving her behind - because she knew Penny could watch out for herself and would easily catch up.

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Sweat trickled down Isla’s brow as she shifted in her sleep, kicking off her duvets to feel the sweet coldness of the Scottish winter. A sharp pain as her foot hit something hard jerked her awake. Her dark eyes flew open to a dimly lit, metal ceiling that was very much not her bedroom. She blinked as she looked around in confusion. Was she in… an engine room? What the actual fuck. Isla forced herself onto her feet, ignoring the slight tinge of pain in her right foot from where she’d kicked a metal pole. She surveyed her surroundings and let out a sigh of relief that there was a fairly obvious exit.

Well, there was only one door.

She stuffed a hand in the pocket of her hoodie and was glad to find her beanie in there just like it had been before she took a nap. She had no clue what was going on but she could figure that out later - for now she had to get out of this room. She pulled her beanie back on her head and it glowed a dark purple as she blinked onto the platform in front of the door. She ignored the slight spinning of her head as she pulled open the door. A set of stairs led up towards yet another door and she sighed, opting to walk up these instead. This second door yanked open to reveal what seemed to be… the lower deck of a cruise ship?

Really she shouldn’t be surprised since she’d woking up in a fucking engine room. She let out a sigh as a cold breeze hit her, feeling much more like home, before frowning. Now what was she supposed to do? This situation had to be the weirdest she’d ever been in - she’d take her weird teenage vision and power discovery any day over this.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhh-ttention all passengers! This is Captain Penny speaking of the USS Shitshow, coming to you live from Paradise Radio. Could all human-bodied passengers please make their way up to the bridge on Deck B? I repeat, all human-bodied passengers to the bridge on Deck B.”

As if answering her silent plea a voice sounded from the speaker right next to her. Isla frowned at the thought of meeting strangers in such an odd situation, but also was relieved to find that she wasn’t alone. Company was always better!

So she put all other thoughts aside and went to find the bridge. She quickly realised that she was annoyingly far away, finding herself walking through a kitchen then dining room in her aim to find signs to Deck B at the very least. She couldn’t help herself from popping behind the dining room bar and grabbing a bottle of way too fancy beer. She cracked open the bottle and took a swig before continuing on her way. The shops she eventually passed were way too tempting to visit as well… until she realised that they were completely empty. That took away the fun of stealing when there was no risk to think about.

In fact, everything was empty. She tried not to dwell on that.

Instead she continued her hunt for the bridge as she got more creeped out by the sheer emptiness of the place. Nope, this wasn’t her idea of fun. Isla took another long drink of the beer she’d snatched.

“Thiiiiis is your captain speaking. Double time it to the bridge. We’re gearing up to go.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m on it,” Isla muttered to the speaker, halting for a moment to run a hand through her long hair. At this moment she really wished she had some kinda spell that would let her teleport anywhere. Why did it have to be a cruise ship of all places? How was she meant to know how to navigate something she’d never been on.

She kept going, expression perking up as she heard voices drifting towards her. She must be close! Finally. The voices got louder as she neared what she assumed was the bridge and then there it was - a hole in the fucking door. Well, that sure was something. As she properly approached said hole she noticed that there were a fair few people inside with some of them right in the door and heading out? She couldn’t tell. She frowned as she peered around and caught a glimpse of the inside. Perfect.

Isla blinked past the people blocking her way and right into the bridge room. She gave a slight wave as she let her clear out before glancing around. The first person she noticed was the woman wearing the captain’s hat. At least she’d made herself obvious. Isla instantly honed in on her and started talking.

“You must be Captain Penny, yeah?” she cracked a lazy smile and stuffed one hand into the pocket of her hoodie. “Somethin’ tells me you ain’t a real captain.” She tilted her head as her smile widened into something more friendly. “I’m Isla.”

“Can’t say this was how I was expecting to spend my time... Though it ain’t the first time something like this has happened. Admittedly the last time I was the one that accidentally teleported myself into some rich ladies mansion. But let me tell you this time…” she paused for dramatic effect, glancing momentarily outside.

“Well, this time I woke up in the bar and I thought I was in Heaven,” Isla held up the beer bottle in her hand. She then made a sweeping gesture with it to the cold, ocean filled outdoors. “But turns out this ain’t it.”

A New Generation [Fern & Sky]

Bryn looked up with excitement as someone knocked on the compartment door, grinning widely as two people who seemed to be in the same year as her stood in the entrance.

“Of course! Come right in,” the girl nodded fervently as she shuffled over to make room for them. “I’m Bryn! How about you guys?”

She tilted her head then as she looked at them both. “You’re both first years too, right?”

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“Maddie!” Vivienne smiled widely, gladly hugging her friend back and laughing slightly at her whisper. She lowered her voice even as the other girl pulled away. “Tell me about it, mine keep emphasising the importance of connections here.”

She rolled her eyes. It was ridiculous honestly that at an event to see their children to school ended up being yet another social networking event for the parents. But she was glad she could finally escape it.

“Yes, let’s,” Vi nodded in solid agreement, grabbing Maddie’s hand and practically pulling her onto the train after her. “I already got us a compartment and my luggage has been put there. It’s right next to my brother’s so he should have made sure that no one else got in there.”

She paused as she reached the compartment she’d saved, frown crossing her lips. A dark hair boy already sat in her compartment chewing some gum and acting as if he owned the place. She narrowed her eyes slightly as she noticed the Slytherin scarf. Perhaps it wasn’t such a bad thing… but still, she had to ensure that he was worthy of being in the presence of her and her closest friend.

Without knocking Vi yanked open the door with a slam and stepped inside. She put her hands on her hips as she stared him down. She recognised his features, the family name at the back of her mind, but she wanted to hear it from his mouth.

“I think you’ll find you’re sitting in my carriage,” she announced, pointing to the luggage that was already hidden away above. “I’m Vivienne Nott. Who are you, exactly?”

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“Archie, wait!” Gus called, rolling his eyes as his brother ran through the wall without even a backwards glance. He glanced at their parents with a slight smile and said, “guess we should follow him.”

Gus ran through to platform 9 ¾ with his own trolley but at a much more relaxed pace than his twin, arriving just in time to hear Archie saying something about the fact all the good seats will be gone. “There’ll be plenty of seats left - do you see how big the train is!”

He sighed softly and turned to their parents with a rueful smile. “Guess we better be off before Archie actually destroys something!”

Their parents laughed their agreement and Gus submitted himself to the goodbye hugs and kisses without much complaint.

“Come on, let’s go find some seats.”

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Ishbel looked up as a clearly older girl opened their compartment door and looked in. She blinked nervously at the overwhelming presence before stammering, “uh yeah we are, he’s very welcome to join!”

The girl smiled at Carter, completely understanding the feeling of domineering order siblings and glad she’d managed to escape her brothers before she’d gotten on the train. She picked up Holly, who’d wandered off her lap and onto the seat beside her, and indicated for Carter to sit there. Especially since Liqin didn’t seem to have any thoughts about moving his owl cage from beside him. In fact, the short boy had barely looked around and was still concentrated on taking photos out the window.

“I’m Ishbel,” she smiled. “And uh, that’s Li.”

“Oh,” as if suddenly caught by his name, Liqin turned around to look at the newcomer. “Hi.”

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Olivia had said a rather tearful goodbye to her parent’s on the platform, after they’d asked for help from another family with similar looking luggage and made it through. They still weren’t entirely accepting of the idea that magic did indeed exist but they didn’t have a choice but to let their daughter go. She wiped away tears as she told them that she’d write them letters and hugged them both tightly.

She ignored her nerves as she stepped on board the train. She pulled her suitcase behind her and was glad she didn’t have an owl like all of the kids carrying cages - instead her pet rat, Elle, was snuggled quite happily in her scarf. She frowned as she walked past full carriage after full carriage - all with clearly older kids in them. Eventually she stopped when she found one with just a lone girl in it. She had a little bit of an odd look on her face, as if she was daydreaming or something, as she chewed on her ginger hair. Still, she wasn’t one to judge.

Carefully she tapped on the door and opened it. “Hi, mind if I join you?” she didn’t really wait for an answer as she entered and put her luggage up. She then stuck her hand out towards the other girl. “I’m Livi.”

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“Yes mum, I’ll make sure to give Uncle Cassian the present,” Ben resisted rolling his eyes as his mother fussed over him. “I have to go now, or the train’ll leave without me.”

“Stay safe,” his mother said as she pulled him into a hug.

“I will,” Ben sighed, nodding to his father and bending down to hug his two siblings, who were the closest to tears. “I’ll be back home in no time!”

“Take me with you,” the youngest, his brother Jamie, whimpered.

“In a few years,” Ben smiled, ruffling his hair and turning to his sister, Addie. “Look after your brother, alright.”

Once she nodded her agreement Ben left with one last wave, getting on the train. He whistled slightly to himself as he walked through the carriage before eventually coming to a mostly empty one. Inside was one girl, books spread out around her. He raised an eyebrow as he knocked and opened the door.

“Excuse me, mind if I join you?”

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Thanh had managed to get their parents to just drop them off at the station and let them make their own way inside. They’d been confused for a while until they’d seen someone else run through a wall… and had followed them. They’d found themselves on an overwhelmingly bustling platform of mostly parents - the train would be leaving soon.

They’d quickly gotten onboard and was disappointed to find no empty compartments. So they settled for one with just two girls in it - one ginger and the other with tied back, frizzy hair who was holding her hand out to the sitting girl. Thanh didn’t say a word as they stepped in, taking a seat beside the window and pulling their hood up. They knew they’d have to talk to others eventually but right now? They’d pass.

A New Generation [Fern & Sky]

This was it. It was finally time. Bryn practically vibrated with excitement as she followed her family towards the platform. The train station was bustling with muggles and wizards alike and she couldn't help but grin.

"Oy, Bryn, stop wondering off," her wrist was grabbed by her older sister who dragged her back to the trolly her brother was pushing. "We'll be late if you get lost."

"We're, like, an hour early," the younger girl pouted at Carys but stuck closer to her siblings as they approached the platform. The bounce in her step returned as they reached the wall between platform 9 and 10. Of course, she'd been here before when dropping off her older siblings but this time was different… She was going to hogwarts!

"We're going in," Carys announced, keeping a firm grip of Bryns hand.

"Hey, I'm not a baby," Bryn complained.

"You kinda are," Owen piped in with a wide grin.

"Am not!"

"Alright, short stuff."

"Will you two shut up alright," Carys hissed, which they both laughed in response to. "Lets go."

Bryn braced herself as the three of them ran at the wall, passing through into yet another bustling platform. But here it was much different with the distinct crackling of magic in the air, as owls hooted, people laughed and family's bid their children farewell. She grinned up at the Hogwarts Express. She couldn't wait to be on that!

She remained out of it even as her brother handed her her luggage, which she took without much of an issue even as she had to balance her large suitcase and owl cage under both arms. She was strong enough to take it.

"You're on your own from here," he teased, slapping her hard on the back. She shot him a glare and kicked his leg in response. It seemed that Carys had already run off to her friends - Bryn couldn't blame her sister. She knew she was already sick of the two of them. "Good luck, kiddo."

"I won't need it," Bryn retorted, sticking out her tongue at his laughing back as he went to find his friends. She muttered under her breath about stupid siblings as she hauled her luggage with her and onto the train. Since they'd arrived so early she didn't have to walk that far before she found an empty compartment. She slid in and shoved her luggage up above her. Nice.

Now all she had to do was wait, and hope someone nice from her year would join her.

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Vivienne stood, bored, on the platform picking at well manicured nails as her parent’s made small talk to another pureblood family they knew well. They had arrived earlier than she might have liked because, in their words, mingling with others of their class was an important activity. It seemed that crossed over to dropping their children off for school. She was glad she was going this time - the boredom would have a satisfying end.

Her luggage was already on the train, saving a compartment for her that others would be smart to leave. It was right next to her brother’s at her parents behest and he was already there with a close friend of his. Vi, on the other hand, was waiting on the platform for someone.

“Where is Maddie,” she muttered to herself, shoving her hands in her pockets as yet another couple approached her parents with a son a bit older than her. She was not one to dislike social events but normally she was ready for them - dressed up and smile on her lips. Not impatiently waiting for a train to leave.

She just hoped Madeline arrived soon.

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“I can’t believe our little brother is starting at Hogwarts,” an Asian girl grinned, squeezing the cheeks of a much shorter boy as she bent over to tease him. “I feel so old!”

“Leave him alone, Qiaohui,” a slightly more serious, but shorter, girl said even as she hid a smile behind his hand.

“Yeah, he must be nervous about starting,” a third girl, identical to the second, added with a grin. “Especially after being seen with us.”

“You’re right about that,” Qiaohui nodded, hand on her hip. “We are pretty popular.”

“I’m just going to get on the train now,” Liqin mumbled, hanging his head to try and make himself look small so he could slip out of his sister’s notice. Thankfully the three of them seemed content with discussing just how great they were that he managed to get away. He couldn’t help but breath out a sigh of relief once he got on board a carriage. Rows of compartments stretched out and he began to walk along them, careful to keep a firm hold of Suyin’s cage as he dragged his suitcase behind him. Eventually he found an empty carriage in a good spot and walked in. He smiled as he put his suitcase away and sat down. Perfect.

Liqin carefully pulled open the window and got out his camera, peering out the window to take snaps of the surrounding platform and the family’s that were bustling about. He was upset he hadn’t managed to get a photo of the express itself due to his sister’s pestering but he could make up for it now. He smirked as he zoomed in on Qiaohui as she almost tripped on her way onto the train.

“Uh, excuse me, can I, uh, join you?”

Liqin turned around to see a brown haired girl nervously standing at the compartment door with it half open. He blinked for a moment as his brain switched from photography mode to formulating words. “Yeah, of course.”

“Thanks,” she smiled, shuffling in and getting her suitcase away. A tawny cat that had been following her hopped up onto her lap and curled up there. “I’m Ishbel, by the way.”

“Liqin,” he responded with a nod, even as he was half distracted by continuing to take photos. “You can just call me Li.”

“Alright, Li, nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too.”

A New Generation [Fern & Sky]

Will put a handy summary when we get to actually doing stuff

FernStone's Character Archive

Past: Nomadic Odyssey, Fallen Virtue

Francisco “Isko” Flores Azevedo

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⦋ 23 || Brazilian & Filipino || He/Him ⦌

OVERVIEW

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APPEARANCE

With his mixed heritage comes mixed looks, and Isko likes to think that he lucked out in the end. While his height is nothing impressive, standing at 5’10”, he’s a rather handsome young man. His skin is a medium warm brown and his eyes a deep brown in colour, monolid like his mother’s. Dark brown-black hair is kept short on the left side with a longer, right swept section with loose curls. He is relatively well built, though not overly muscular but he has a clear strength from years of training. Isko is normally found in a relaxed stance with a warm smile and welcoming air. He tends to dress fairly practically and with layers of clothing - favouring denim or bomber jackets over hoodies or sweaters, and ripped jeans. He’ll lose the layers if it’s too hot - but he’s used to warm temperatures due to where he grew up, so he rarely bothers. Both his ears are pierced and normally he wears plain black earrings.

BACKSTORY & MOTIVATION

Isko was born in São Paulo, Brazil, and spent most of his formative years there. His father ran a small restaurant there while his mother was a nomad originally from the Philippines, who had settled down after finding love. At age two his sister, Aline, came along. They were a happy family even with a constantly varying stability depending on how well the restaurant did.

From a young age he loved hearing about all the stories of her journeys as a Nomad and the two were close. As soon as he was old enough he began to learn martial arts from his mother and spent most of his time outside of school practicing. What little time he spent outside of this was on the streets playing with other kids. It was here that he first saw someone practicing Capoeira and fell in love with the acrobatics of the style. He begged his mum to let him learn and after some convincing (classes were expensive) she let him.

While Isko enjoyed his youth, he heavily focused on learning and spent very little time with his younger sister and making friends. Along with this he took a lot of their mother’s attention which resulted in a rather strained relationship with Aline where his younger sister spent a lot of time rebelling. More often than not the two would get into explosive fights which their parents gave up on mediating. This mellowed out a little as Isko aged but they still weren’t on good terms.

Then, when he was sixteen years old, his father passed away from a sudden and incurable illness. This was a massive shock to them all but hit his sister hardest. It made him completely change his perspective about how he’d been living his life up until that point and how little time he’d made for others, or himself. After selling the restaurant the family moved to the Phillipines so they could be with his mother’s family. It was hard but Isko made every effort to help his family and through what had happened he managed to repair the rift between him and his sister, starting to act like a proper older brother. The two grew much closer. He changed from someone who was incredibly self focused to his family, his sister especially, being his whole world and focus.

Even so Isko’s goal to become a nomad never changed but was just put on hold as he did odd jobs to supplement their income, was there was his family and trained on the side. It wasn’t until he was twenty-one that he decided to strike out - with his sister in tow. They travelled together as Nomads and that’s how they ended up at the World’s Martial Arts Tournament, in Brazil. Both participated to varying degrees of success and then shit hit the fan.

Some robot (he thinks) called Oh-One attacked the arena and from there on they somehow ended up with another group of Nomads fighting that thing. If Isko was honest, he was really just dragged from A to B by his sister but he helped nonetheless. They beat Oh-One and retrieved the Power Stone, and if Isko was honest after all that he just wanted to keep travelling and rest somewhere less chaotic. But Aline insisted that they stay in Gold City because they’d never been there before, and so they did. Unlike his sister, who is overly invested in all that happened with Oh-One and the idea of being in a group of other nomads, Isko would much rather have a quieter time travelling just the two of them. But he sticks around for her and is finding there are some things about Gold City he enjoys.

FIGHTING STYLE & ABILITIES

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SKILLS & ABILITIES

Isko blends Capoeira, Sikaran and Taekkyeon together to make his own, unique fighting style picking and choosing the techniques he likes most from each. He learned Sikaran from his mother and Capoeira in classes from a young age, and Taekkyeon is something he began to learn from age seventeen - as he has the least experience in it, it is used overall less than the other two. His main focus is on constant movement and dynamic footwork, combining the acrobatics of Capoeira and the full body movement of Taekkyeon. His main focus for attacking comes from kicks and he mainly uses his hands for defensive blocking, as in Sikaran, or aiding in movement, as in Capoeira.

While he was born with a reasonable amount of Ki due to his nomad mother, most of Isko’s skill comes from years of training and honing himself. He focuses on movement, kicking attacks and defence. He is fairly reactionary and defensive when it comes to fighting - Isko is unlikely to be the first to attack but rather will defend and dodge until the opportunity arises to attack decisively. He normally uses his ki to enhance this defence and keep him constantly, quickly, moving and using it to make his kicks, when he finally attacks, powerful.

Due to how he fights and what he learned, Isko is very flexible and acrobatic. He excels at dodging and working in any scenario that allows him to constantly move, able to fight and attack from most positions. He can attack from both the normal standing position but can also attack and defend from a position where he's standing on his hands, which he can hold for a good amount of time. The quick, fluid movement allows him to face multiple opponents with relative ease. Along with his main martial arts, Isko also has a little bit of training in Arnis from his mother and sister.

SIGNATURE MOVES

■ Keep Calm

Isko pulls up his hands to block an attack, infusing them with ki to stop any damage. He can keep them up to block from multiple attacks or push away certain attacks (such as kicks) to unbalance his opponent.

■ See you!

Isko dodges an attack by dropping back onto one hand, flipping his body over his head and back into a standing position.

■ Think Twice

Isko steps and then kicks up with one leg as a feint, pulling that leg back at the last minute and dropping his weight onto it. As he does he does one of two things. First he spins into a complete turn aiming a kick towards his opponent’s head. Or, he uses the backwards momentum to flip onto his hands, over and away from his opponent.

■ Keep Your Eyes On Me

Using a series of flips and cartwheels to dodge attacks or quickly move about the place, Isko uses his ki to blur himself as he moves leaving a “trail” of his movements to confuse his opponent and leave him open to an attack.

■ Get Down

Isko performs a sweeping kick at his opponent’s dominant leg that knocks them over, before using ki to quickly spin back around and kick them again as they fall.

■ Drop Spin

Isko spins around so that his hands hit the ground and his body comes parallel to his supporting leg as his other spins up into a powerful kick as his opponents head.

SUPER MOVES

■ Try Hit Me Now!

Isko uses ki to speed up his movement and reactions, putting all his attention into dodging each attack that comes his way with a supernatural speed and reaction time through various techniques, constantly moving about to also confuse his opponent. While like this he is solely concentrated on dodging rather than attacking but it allows him to dodge all but the fastest attacks.

■ Double Spinning Kick

Isko quickly spins in a complete turn, aiming a powerful, ki infused kick directly at the back of his opponent’s head before using the momentum of the movement to slam his hands onto the ground, propelling him upwards and into another powerful ki infused kick with both legs to down his opponent.

WEAKNESSES & LIMITS

Isko has absolutely no skill or experience in groundfighting, meaning that once he is on the ground he finds it difficult to fight back if pinned. The same goes for grappling and instead he focuses on avoiding these or getting back up through rolls and acrobatics, meaning that a big weakness is getting tied down or stopped from moving. Along with this he is heavily focused on kicking and is much weaker at using his hands or elbows to strike, meaning that if his legs are constrained or blocked he’s limited to defences. The reactionary nature of his fighting style means he’s heavily dependent on being able to monitor his opponent and will struggle if he can’t keep track of or see his opponents. He has little to no ranged attacking capability. He is often more skilled in fights against multiple opponents or group combat, as his focus is quick movement and defences before using a decisive counter attack that can struggle under the focused attack of a single opponent.

OTHER

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Speaks Portuguese, English and Filipino fluently (in that order of preference and skill). His skill in Filipino is much less than the other three, as his mother put more importance on teaching him English and he dropped out of school just after they moved to the Philippines.

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

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"Oh, come on, you look cute no matter what."

Izzy

“Oh shush,” Maya rolled her eyes at Izzy’s compliment and way of delivering the healing, even as a smile slipped through. The often tipsy girl was growing on her - what with her alcohol sharing and general all round niceness… and she’d be lying if she said she disliked the occasionally platonic affection (okay Maya totally missed physical affection but she’d never admit that to anyone). It was in the moments like this that Maya found herself enjoying the company of the coven members (well, some of them). “But thanks.”

"Though the apple on Emily's head is a different story."

Jess

She nodded slightly as Jess explained her reasoning for not using a gun… Though she still thought Jess looked incredibly stupid for carrying around a fucking bow. It just wasn’t normal but she decided to keep that to herself for once. For the sake of comradery or something. “I definitely think we should try it out,” she smirked slightly. “Even if Emily won’t be easy to convince…”

Humming thoughtfully, Maya looked up as Nina appeared and gave the other girl a warm smile. She only half listened to what Jess was saying about Molly as she gave Chompy one last pat on the head, before getting up to go sit next to Nina. She gladly took one of the cookies and munched on it as she mostly ignored the conversation going on.

“Are you okay?” she asked the quieter girl, leaning in to speak softly so the others couldn’t overhear. She knew that Nina had been having a hard time recently and at first she’d found her sudden clinginess annoying until she’d figured out that something was up. As much as she’d never said it out loud, Maya actually cared for her quite a bit and knew what the shit could be like. “Have you eaten yet?”

Then Emily arrived and Maya was rolling her eyes again. God, could that girl get any more obnoxious? And honestly the goofy smile she had was just creeping her out. She didn’t like it one bit. Still she forced herself to listen silently for once rather than calling Emily out on her shit right away.

"Any questions? I can arrange a meeting as soon as possible."

Emily

“Yeah, I have a few,” Maya spoke up, staring Emily down from where she sat. “First of all, Schmidt doesn’t want anything else from us, right? He has a bit of a reputation and I ain’t going near that. Second, how can we trust him? I’m not about to trust this dude because he’s rich. Hell, even less reason to trust him. What if he doesn’t pay us but like… does something weird with us instead?” Maya had been on a bunch of blind dates with rich men thanks to her mum and they were the literal worst. “Third, how can we trust you to give us a share of the money? You’re already keeping all of that from us.”

She glanced down at the briefcase and then back up at Emily, folding her eyes. Though for all she was questioning it Maya was pretty tempted by the large sum of money. But she also knew about all the (true) rumours about Blake and she didn’t want to go meet such a skeevy man without knowing that wasn’t what he wanted from a coven full of girls. There was no way she was touching that.

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

Final contribution

Recollections: The Othergrounds [Complete]

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“Oh my god, Caelea? I’d say what are the odds, but I’m starting to feel like they’re being stacked. Welcome to Paradise, glad to have you. That’s Odessa. She’s a fern or something like—shit!”

Penny

“Heh, yeah maybe some bullshit fate just wants us all to be together again... can’t say I’m glad to be here, but-” Caelea started, before flinching back and raising her hands in a defensive pose as someone stuck a gun through the hole in the door before eventually following through. She slowly forced herself to relax as Penny seemed to recognise him. She tugged at the long sleeves of the hoodie she was wearing and turned from her friend to look at the other rather strange looking girl (and completely ignoring the dancing guy).

"But, yes, my name is Odessa and it is a pleasure to meet you..."

Odessa

“Caelea,” the albino tilted her head as Odessa seemed to hold back on saying something else. Then she just shrugged. “Nice to meet you too… I gotta ask, what does Penny mean by you being like a fern or something?”

Sounded like something right out of the Triffid movie her brother had made her watch. She’d seen weird back in Farmer Hill but this was a new kind of strange. She couldn’t help but roll her eyes when Zoey overdramatically destroyed the stereo even as a smile tugged at her lips.

"Agent Prescott, Bureau of Occult & Paranormal Activity. Pleasure is all mine."

Elron

When will these introductions end? Caelea turned to face the dancing douchebag who’d introduced himself in a way that just made her want to punch him in his smug face. The wink especially had her blood boiling but she pushed that down. She wasn’t fucking it up right now. So instead she put on an overly friendly smile and responded, “I’m Caelea. Do you have a normal, first name that you go by?”

She then turned to flash a hopefully more genuine, warm smile at Stacey - who looked like he was gonna throw up any minute. Of the three strangers to her he was top of the list to be nice to, only because he looked so terrified. “Nice to meet you too, Stacey, right?”

She glanced back at Agent Douchebag as he went on to dramatically proclaim they weren’t alone. Only for a familiar, deep voice to dramatically respond.

“Hagan?! Fuck, this just keeps getting stranger…” Caelea put her hands on her hips as she craned her head to look up at him. “I swear you’ve gotten even taller. How is that possible?”

But Odessa was right - there were more important things right now than this unexpected reunion. Like getting off the ship as soon as possible. Caelea didn’t know what the fuck was meant by them not being alone but she was pretty sure there was a chance of it being some kind of monster like Zoey had mentioned fighting. Better to get away from that and to solid land.

“I agree with Odessa, I don’t know what’s on shore,” she shrugged, assuming the others did, “but it’s better than a ship, right? I don’t like the idea of staying here…”

“Though doesn’t anyone know how to actually launch one of those things?”

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

---

"It's not water, I promise."

Izzy

Maya raised an eyebrow but accepted the ‘water’ bottle with a smile, knocking it back for a long drink before handing it back to Izzy. Yup, certainly not water, but exactly what she’d needed after the talk with her mother. “Thanks. Speaking of us staying alive while you were gone… You mind healing this?” She pointed to this bruising on her face, still visible underneath her makeup. Why couldn’t that agent leader bitch, or whatever she was, have hit her somewhere less visible? “Honestly, I’ve got bruising like everywhere else but this is really bothering me, you know? It’s ruining my good looks.”

"Going off of what Mademoiselle Alyssa said... I can guess he may have seen a recording of our exploits in Greenwood. But, we shouldn't jump to conclusions just yet..."

Claudette

“Hmm, you’re right,” Maya nodded. She’d jumped to the conclusion that he’d known about the coven because, well, why would he give some kind of job to Emily of all people? And if he had seen the recording who else had gotten it? “I just don’t get why he’d offer money to Emily for anything but the… services he’s rumoured to pay people for.”

She then turned to raise an eyebrow at Jess who was brandishing… A bow of all fucking things? Really? “Jess, have you ever considered using a normal weapon? Like a gun? I thought America was all about guns…” She paused before shrugging. “Well if you need target practice, I’m sure we can put an apple on Emily’s head!”

"... Hey girls, waaaaaaassup,"

Madison

“You cannot be serious,” Maya muttered as Madison approached them, clearly drunk. She made a face when the girl started going off about Izzy being a bad bitch which only grew more disdainful when Madison pushed up her fucking breasts. She shook her head and completely ignored the next rant she went on to give. “Anyone got any water we can give her?”

Maya shuffled away so that Chompy was between her and Madison, her nose screwed up from already smelling the stench of alcohol. As she did she let out a loud sneeze. Was someone talking about her behind her back or something? Nah, she was just being superstitious. As if on queue her phone buzzed and she pulled it out - only to see two messages from her mother. That’d be it. She shook her head and put her phone back away, turning to the real problem.

“Madison, no one wants to hear about your sex skills!” Maya clenched a hand around her knee to stop herself from completely going off at her… fuck she hated drunk assholes. “Especially not about some old rich dude! I think if it was that Emily would’ve just done it herself and not shared the money at all.”

“I swear I am so close to deafening her just so she shuts up,” Maya muttered to herself in Korean as she switched from glaring at Madison to looking at the other girls. “Any idea how we can sober her up so we don’t have to deal with this the whole time?”

For the first time ever she hoped Emily would turn up soon so they could get this over with.

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

---

“... Yeah mum, I understand. I’ll send you pictures of my results,” Maya pinched the bridge of her nose as she tried her best to keep the agitation out of her voice. She was glad that her mother didn’t call her often but it was painful every time she did. Still she put up with it because she needed the money her parents sent her for rent and food.

“Good. Have you looked at the picture I sent you?”

“Yes.”

“He’s a businessman who lives in Florida at the moment. He’s from a very good family over here that your father is friendly with and he makes an awful lot, you know. They’ve already been in contact with him and he’s interested in meeting you, I just need to know when you’re free to set it up.”

“I’m not going on a blind date, mum.”

“Myeong-Suk,” her mother’s tone held a warning that had Maya wincing. “You will meet him.”

“I’m busy.”

“I know that you’re not. If you don’t meet any of the men I recommend how are you going to get married to someone suitable? You’re not getting any younger! This is why I didn’t want you to go to university over there.”

This was exactly why she’d wanted to leave. “I’m not meeting him.”

“Don’t get snappy with me. You will meet him and that’s final, Myeong-Suk.”

Maya let out a frustrated hiss, knowing from experience that arguing with her mother wasn’t going to work. But she had to get out of it somehow. There was absolutely no way she was going to meet some random man who looked ten years older than him just because her family and his were close. She was only twenty-one for fucks sake. Still, it was something that could be solved with a little lie.

“I have a boyfriend.”

“Excuse me? Why am I only hearing about this now?”

“We just got together a week ago,” Maya lied. She’d never thought to do this before because she knew her mother would see right through her if she wasn’t able to answer all her questions. But since she had someone in mind it made things just a little bit easier.

“What’s his name, what’s his date of birth and what time was he born at?”

“Trevor,” Maya sighed, completely unsurprised by the barrage of questions. “Are you going to check our compatibility? We’ve been together for a week.”

“Are you not dating with the plan to get married?”

“Of course not, that’s not how it works anymore. Especially not in America.” Though getting hooked with an American was pretty tempting for that sweet citizenship.

“Well you better convince him to marry you. How tall is he? Send me pictures of him and pictures of you two together.”

“I don’t have any photos… we haven’t taken any together.”

“You haven’t? I thought you were very into, what was it called, taking selfies and uploading them online?”

“Only of myself. I don’t have any of the two of us… or of him.”

“Well you’ll just have to take some to send me,” her mother hummed, absolutely refusing to take no for an answer. Maya was incredibly tempted to hang up but she knew that would only get her in trouble before the questioning was over. “More importantly, what’s his job?”

“He works for the government.”

“How well does it pay? How high up is he?”

“I don’t know and it doesn’t matter,” Maya hesitated for a second as she removed her phone from her ear to check the time. She’d been talking to her mum for over half an hour. She had to end this now. “I need to go.”

“Why?”

“I have a study group,” Maya said easily even though she’d handed in all her due assignments the day before and didn’t even talk to anyone in her course. “For the upcoming exams.”

She could hear her mother thinking before she agreed. “I’ll call you again. Remember to send me pictures.”

“Bye,” Maya hung up with a frustrated groan, collapsing onto her bed and throwing her phone next to her. She let out a torrent of Korean expletives as she threw an arm over her face. How the fuck was she meant to get a picture with Trevor? Sure, she’d been slowly working things up through the past five or so days of probation meetings. He was cute and easy to flirt with… but that was all it was at the moment. Flirting. What was she supposed to do, turn up to the meeting tomorrow and ask him for a photo? That would be ridiculous. It wasn’t even like she could use someone from the Coven as a stand in.

She shook her head and sat back up. Her mother’s intense interest in her dating life wasn’t her main concern right now. She hadn’t even managed to get any information out of Trevor. Absolutely nothing. Lyss had managed to get something on the first day (the text of which Maya had screenshotted and backed up, just in case). But Maya had nothing. Maybe she’d been concentrating a little too much on other things…

Her phone buzzed and she groaned again as she picked it up. She was relieved to see it was a message from the Coven’s Snapchat group (a platform she’d argued against using) rather than her mother.

Alright sloots I have important business so let's meet up at the amusement part right now like ASAP

it involves big $$$ from Mr Schmidt like i said get to the place ASAP like right fucking now

It took her a moment to adjust back to English, especially written as shoddily as Emily had. She rolled her eyes but texted back that she’d be there as much as she didn’t want to. She’d already had her classes and “probation” meeting… she’d hoped to spend the rest of the day relaxing in her air conditioned apartment. She’d even taken her makeup off! She’d to put the full thing back on… Normally she’d be alright with a little bit, but she still had two rather obvious bruises from last weekend. At least now they were slowly fading to a less noticeable green than the dark purple they’d been. Still, it required a full face of foundation and concealer to cover at least a bit.

Shaking her head, Maya forced herself off her bed to get read.

---

It was sunny outside, and Maya regretted not wearing sunglasses as she walked into Fantasy land while sucking on a popsicle. She was enjoying the warm weather otherwise - she was much more used to than when it was cold. She wore a short sleeved, white linen top and a high waisted, navy checked skirt, with some white sneakers for practicalities sake. Normally she’d dress a little bit more practically (but no less nicely) for the Coven meetings, shorts and the likes, just in case but she really hadn’t had the energy to pick out a new outfit after putting back on all her makeup.

She was surprised to find that she was one of the first ones there as she approached the meeting shop. Only Claudette was sitting there along with her favourite alligator. She nodded to the girl. “Hey, Claudette.”

Then she squatted down beside Chompy, reaching over to scratch him under the jaw with a wide smile. “And hello Chompy!” If she was honest, Maya really wasn’t the type of girl to like animals. But Chompy had very quickly made himself an exception in that way. She utterly adored him. Maybe it was partly down to the fact he wasn’t really a normal pet. She continued to lavish him with affection before looking up at Claudette. The two of them hadn’t really talked in all their time in the coven but she figured that maybe today… Well, today was a day for her to be nice for once.

Well, try. To one whole person. No guarantees she’d keep it up past that when the more dislikeable members showed up.

“How are you doing?” she asked, before realising how awkward that was to ask when they barely talked in the first place. “I wonder what kind of business Emily has? I’m not just saying this out of spite, but I don’t have high hopes for it being anything good. Big money from someone so famous? Sounds dodgy to me… How does he even know about us?”

Also, it was Emily. Maya didn’t trust anything that came from her.