FernStone

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

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Maya was not particularly happy.

When she’d turned up to the club just like organised, that last thing she’d expected was to be told to stay outside. Not even to come in and not go to the meeting, oh no, outside the club. Because leaving a barely above 5 foot, fairly slim and pretty girl outside of a shady club was an absolutely great idea. Especially when wearing a lowcut dress that was somehow more covering than what half the other girls were wearing. The high heels she was wearing weren’t the easiest to walk in, but at least it made her not quite so tiny.

It had only taken a few minutes after the rest of the coven left her for a scummy guy or two to approach. Thankfully a sharp glare and middle finger had sent them on their way, inside the club. Maya didn’t wait much longer before going inside.

She honestly didn’t give a fuck that she’d been told to ‘keep watch’ outside. She wasn’t going to stand there and wait for someone to try something with her, and she’d much rather have some fun inside. It wasn’t like she could ruin the meeting by just going and enjoying herself.

Even if the club was a massive rip off.

Inside was a whole lot better than waiting outside. There was music, there were incredibly attractive women dancing on stage and most importantly there was alcohol. She made a beeline straight for the bar, leaning against it as she ordered the strongest drink they had on the menu. It tasted vile and burned going down her throat, but a large drink and she was already feeling a little buzzed.

Perfect.

She slipped into the crowd easily, moving between people without much of an aim. She tilted her head when she thought she caught someone familiar heading away from outside the VIP section, quickly honing in on and following him. A light smirk crossed her lips as she got closer and confirmed that it was, in fact, exactly who she thought it was. She hadn’t expected to see Trevor here, but it was a pleasant surprise (especially when she’d basically been abandoned).

And then he went into the bathroom, completely cutting her off from actually approaching him. Because Maya would lower herself to a lot of things but following someone into the Men’s bathroom wasn’t one of them (in this case). She sighed, moving to lean against a nearby wall and sip her drink.

He’d have to come out eventually. And it wasn’t like she had anything better to do than wait, for him and the coven both.

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Clubbing was not something Isla had done in quite a while. Nevermind meeting shady organisations in one. When she’d last been to clubs was when she was eighteen and much more… hot topic goth. Now, of course, she was very much the opposite. That meant she had no idea what was worn to clubs.

It seemed, looking at the others, that she’d entirely missed the mark with her oversized, neon green sweater that covered her shorts and made her even more blinding than normal and clashed with her beanie. Well, it wasn’t like Isla was one to care about what people thought of her looks. She followed the others inside, grumbling as she handed over 25 (stolen) dollars. That was money she planned to use to buy snacks for the journey back, damnit!

She stayed silent as they entered, even as she almost picked up one of the potted plants on the way in… only to stop herself because she didn’t want to fuck everything up for them. She was a little bit smarter than that (just).

On the other hand, she couldn’t help but gape at the women dancing on stage. She’d never been to a club like this before… Did Glasgow even have them? Definitely not like this, they were much grimier.

The VIP lounge was even fancier. Fuck, she could definitely get into club going again if they were all like this.

“Oh, I’ll take a drink,” she piped up with a smile, moving over to the bar. “Just a coke, please.”

For all her feigned naivety, Isla kept an eye on the girl that was pouring her drink. She didn’t know much about the situation but she wasn’t going to trust them not to put some kind of drug in it. Only when she was fairly certain that wasn’t the case, trying to subtly sniff it as if it would help and she hadn’t watched the time, did she take a sip and go to sit down.

By some miracle, for Isla, she stayed quiet as their leader guy did the talking. Honestly, she wasn’t even sure why she was here. So she was just going to try and listen and be ready to teleport them all out if shit went downhill.

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

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“You’re right, she’ll ditch as soon as she has a cure,” Maya waved her hand, pushing up her sunglasses onto her head so she could see slightly. Though it showed off the dark bags under her eyes that makeup couldn’t quite hide. “I’m definitely not doing it for her, I’m doing it so that I- well, we, don’t get our asses eaten by a murderous cannibal. I couldn’t care less about anything else.”

Also, as Madison said, it was an all-expenses-paid trip to Miami. Why would she not go? She hadn’t actually been to Miami before, what with the whole studying thing and having her parents on her ass about good grades.

"Do you want to go clothes shopping for when we hit up the clubs?"

Madison

“Yes,” Maya replied instantly, drinking the last bit of her coffee and standing. “Might as well look as good as I can for my one time clubbing in Miami.”

And she’d totally forgotten to pack clothes that she’d wear to a club, thanks to frantically getting ready the day before (and regretting not moving into the beach house like everyone else).

“There’s certainly no lack of options,” she said as she looked around. “We could spend all day looking.”

She then indicated for Madison to leave the way because if she was honest, most of her clothes came from back in Korea so she had no idea what brands were good here.

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Everything that Emily said went completely over Isla’s head, which was fine. It didn’t sound important anyway and sounded kind accusatory towards Penny, which wasn’t okay? Penny was one of the few (two) people in this trip that Isla wasn’t incredibly wary of. And from what she remembered, Penny hadn’t been in any way trying to kill her. But whatever.

“I’ll have mixed berries,” she piped up with a grin at the fact she didn’t have to worry about using the whole five dollars she’d stolen off some poor, unsuspecting but rich looking dude in the hotel (he’d just left them out, how could she not?). She then practically skipped over to the pointed out bench. She didn’t bother to sit down, instead standing and half vibrating half bouncing while she waited for Penny to return with their smoothies.

“Thanks, Penny!” she grinned widely as she took her smoothie, taking a large gulp of it. “Wow, it’s good! Don’t think I’ve had a smoothie in years… we don’t tend to eat fruit in Glasgow.”

"What other kinda Miami stuff you wanna do? I'm free all day or whateva. Might go perform tonight tho. Wanna go try some fried gator?"

Mariah

“I dunno, I’m happy with anything!” Isla replied thoughtfully, which looked like someone going through a million thoughts at once. “Doesn’t Miami have like good clubs? I swear I heard that somewhere… Oh can I watch you perform if you do? That would be cool! And is gator short for alligator cause I am totally down for trying that, yes please.”

If there was one thing Isla had no fear of, it was food. She could eat anything and probably enjoy it (even if it killed her).

“Food first, then shopping, then whatever! I’m sure being here will take up so much time anyway!”

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

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"... What's wrong with you, girl? You look like hot death."

Madison

Maya held back a groan, pulling out her earbuds and folding her arms as she looked up at Madison. So much for some peace and quiet. This was very much the opposite of that.

“I feel like hot death, who decided driving the whole way was a good decision?” she snorted, awkwardly stretching her splinted hand. It was very much not happy with all the use she’d put it through over the drive. She then raised an eyebrow, looking at what Madison had decided to wear. “At least I’m not wearing that abomination against nature.”

“I’m surprised you’re here anyway, after you walked out,” she raised an eyebrow, jumping right into the last hot topic of the shitshow that was the coven. Smart to bring up with Madison right away? Probably not. “Not that I actually blame you, because Vashti is an ungrateful, self entitled bitch.”

Maya was also a bitch, so it was ironic coming from her, but at least she knew that. And was very open about it.

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Isla got completely and utterly lost.

What kind of mall had so many entrances? What kind of mall even was this? She was used to the kind that maybe had two entrances at either end but normally just one. Not like that. She’d tried to follow Mariah’s instructions of landmarks but honestly it didn’t help when it was Isla, whose sense of direction was the worst unless on her hometurf. Which she very much wasn’t.

She frowned as she got another message from Mariah… And ooo, smoothies sounded great! She needed that after walking around in the heat for what felt like hours. Now she just had to loop around the entire mall again to find the right entrance… Wait, there she was! She thanked whatever gods might exist that Mariah stood out in a crowd and headed over to her.

“Hey!” she waved as she approached the taller girl who was pretty dramatically fanning herself while waiting. “I got totally lost, how do you guys get any shopping done? This place is massive. I swear I’ve walked around for so long.”

For all of her massive sigh of exhaustion Isla was practically bouncing around, as she normally did, hardly waiting for Mariah to stop lounging on a planter to head inside the mall. “You said smoothies first, right? Where do we get those- Fuck, is that a whole playground?! Whatttt?”

Isla gaped as she constantly turned her head to look around the mall as if she was on another planet. It was so big and busy! Absolutely nothing like the ones back home. Like the biggest on back in Glasgow was outside!! You had to walk between the shops! And the other that she’d been to was just one long boy lined with shops and food places… like, wow! This was a whole other world!

“Oh, oh, is that where we get smoothies?” she pointed to the tiki hut with weird massive fruits and a constantly going blender. Her eyes then widened even further as she saw the massive line winding away from it. “... is that the queue? Seriously? Is it worth-Oh, look, there’s Penny!”

In a typical Isla fashion she got completely derailed when she spotted a familiar blond standing in the middle of a line of mostly middle aged women and some preppy teenagers that Isla was fairly certain didn’t exist in her country (what kind of teen got smoothies).

“Penny, Penny!” Isla waved to the girl in the line and practically bounded up to her, bright yellow hoodie meaning she was both visible in her approach and hard for Mariah to lose even with her constant moving. “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!”

She turned back to said girl in question, assuming she’d followed her over, and grinned. “What’s after smoothies? I haven’t eaten yet, we should definitely get food… And shopping! Can adults go in that playground I saw earlier? Not that I want to, I'm just curious…”

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

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“The fuck?” Maya gaped as Emily ran from the shop, arms full of M&Ms, right after someone screamed bloody murder inside. She didn’t want to know what had happened. She didn’t care, she wasn’t going to jail for something she didn’t do.

She dropped the end of the cigarette butt to the ground, stomping on it on her way back over to her car. She waited for Penny to get there, turned back on her awful korean rap music and hit the road again. She was silent for the rest of the drive, not in the mood to talk with the passengers she had (she doubted they wanted to talk to her either). By the time they reached Miami fireworks were going off everywhere which was great, because it contributed to the headache Maya was beginning to develop from the sheer tiredness of driving for so long.

She managed to get a room to herself, from a combination of glaring and nobody wanting to share a room with her in the first place. Which suited her just fine, and let her completely ignore them all as she headed to her room and went to sleep.

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Maya woke up much earlier than she’d wanted to. She cursed her internal clock and didn’t bother getting out of bed, just lounging around scrolling through her various social media sites and checking a hookup app she had to see if she could get a quick lay while in Miami. She might as well, while she was here.

Eventually she dragged herself out of bed, dressing up in a loose white shirt tucked into a short lilac skirt. She’d get changed when she hit up a nightclub later, whether the other girls wanted to go or not (though going in a group was more fun).

She didn’t bother with any proper food, because like hell was she paying for overpriced hotel meals, and instead just munched on some crisps. There was a mall right next to the hotel… She was definitely going to go grab food there. She was already on her way out when the message from Claudette came through, which was basically telling them to not get caught breaking the law. Whatever. She was just going shop, what was the worst that could happen?

Maya made absolutely no effort to contact anyone else as she left the hotel and went right next door to Miami Merchandise Mall.

The first thing she did was find somewhere to eat… Even if there was a disappointing lack of options there. Like, five places and half of them looked far too classy for her to even try. She settled for the cafe, so she could get coffee along with some boring sandwich. She sat down in a corner to eat, looking like a complete asshole when she pushed down her shades and put in earbuds.

The more unapproachable she looked, the better. She didn’t want strangers (or most coven members) coming to talk to her anyway.

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Unfortunately for everyone in the same car as Isla, the coffee kicked in right after she legged it out of the shop and the cashier who got his fingers sadly cut up. This meant she was practically bouncing around in her seat, staring out the window in awe and asking the dumbest questions possible.

It was wearing off by the time they actually reached Miami and the exhaustion hit her again. She was back to being lethargic when they got to the hotel, paying basically no attention and just going to the room she was directed to. If she ended up with a roommate, she had no idea, because she crashed on the bed fully clothed as soon as she reached it.

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Isla was woken up by her phone loudly beeping, screen lighting up with a message from the snapchat group she’d been added to for the coven. She didn’t even realise snapchat was still used… she’d had to make an account just for this. And it was a pain because mobile data was way more expensive even with the stupid temporary sim card she’d gotten.

She groaned and checked the message. Then the time. Holy fuck, it was already the afternoon. She was wasting her only day in Miami! She didn’t even know where to go! Fuck, fuck… Wait, hadn’t Mariah said she had an apartment in the city? Did that mean she was a local? Perfect!

Still in bed, Isla messaged Mariah (finding her through the group chat they’d been added to).

from teleportingscot - 2:34
heyyyyyy it isla, wanna meet up at the mall next to the hotel the coven is at? 1st time in Miami pls keep me company or i will get lost. or arrested idk.

Isla

She nodded. Perfect! Now she just had to get ready. She jumped out of bed and threw herself into the shower, then spent far too long trying to dry her mane of her. Eventually she gave up and tied it up in a bun while still damp, sticking her beanie right over it. She changed into a different pair of shorts and baggy, bright yellow hoodie that meant she could be seen from a mile off.

Mostly cause she’d totally get lost, even in a mall. She had zero sense of direction.

Going to a mall was good, too, because she was beginning to run out of clothes that she’d totally not stolen when she first arrived. Her lack of money was also problematic, but she could probably blink by a cash register somewhere and nab some. It wasn’t like it was hard now that she could teleport everywhere.

Yeah, that was a good plan. Acquire some money then hopefully meet Mariah at the mall. And others, too, if they were around! The more the merrier.

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

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“I agree, I agree,” Isla nodded somewhat violently, knowing that Penny was definitely right about the not blinking in private but being too tired to have considered the safety when she did it. She let out a content groan as she practically knocked back the entire frappuccino. It was kind of shit, but it was the exact caffeine hit she’d needed. “Thanks, you’re a lifesaver.”

She had half zoned out what Penny was asking, and didn’t get an opportunity to answer when one of the girls mentioned walked up nearby. Her answer would have been that she didn’t have a clue, aside from the fact they full on grappled during their little capture the flag. Maybe they just hated each other.

She properly zoned out after the conversation left her, leaning against the wall while waiting for the coffee to kick in. She was looking forward to being able to actually pay attention the rest of the drive. She’d hardly seen any of America! Might as well make the most of it. Ah shit she couldn’t wait. Now that the caffeine was beginning to flow around her body she was feeling a bit of a buzz, verging on knowing she would have far too much energy soon.

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

Penny

“Huh- Shit!” she was jerked out of her half out of it state, noticing that there was some kind of cowboy hold up going on inside the shop. Fuck, America really was scary with it’s loose gun laws. “On it!”

Isla pushed herself off the wall and jumped behind Penny. She grabbed onto her shoulders, looked into the shop with narrowed eyes, and blinked them right in front of the cowboy. Maybe a little too close, she’d ended up a little off and put them within arm’s reach of him.

Thank god for the coffee, or she’d be right back asleep after blinking them both.

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Maya nodded her thanks when Quinn handed her a cigarette and lit it, before leaning back against the wall to take a long drag of it. Instantly she felt less agitated, less like she was going to blast everyone around her. She let out a blow of smoke before talking to Quinn.

“Distaste? But yeah, lessening that,” she offered up, raising an eyebrow as Quinn’s little (not) girlfriend jogged up. Her attention was distracted by Penny throwing a frappuccino at her, which she awkwardly caught with her good hand. “Thanks.”

She awkwardly opened it and took turns drinking it and smoking (not a great combo, but she didn’t really give a fuck right now) while listening into Quinn and Grace’s conversation. She snorted when it ended. Her laugh wasn’t entirely unkind as she answered Quinn’s question. “Uh, yeah, everyone thought that. You guys are practically joined at the hip. But you know what, I get it, everyone seems to think me and Trevor are dating when we’re not.”

Though that was a totally different scenario where she very much wanted in his pants and would get in there, eventually.

She shrugged and went back to smoking, not too bothered by the silence. It was honestly better that way. She was hardly in the mood to talk right now.

"So… How's your finger?”

Quinn

“About how you’d expect a broken finger to be,” Maya responded, about to go on to say something similar about the small talk when a man on a fucking horse turned up. She gaped at the sight, dropping her basically burnt out cigarette to reach up and rub her eyes. Nope, he was really.

She turned away from the shop when he went inside. Not her problem. “Do cowboys normally roam around the streets here?”

She asked it to no one in particular, noticing quickly that the strange Scottish girl and their tag along had disappeared inside the shop. She sighed but still didn’t move. She really didn’t want to destroy an entire shop to try and get rid of some hillbilly. Everyone else could handle themselves. If he came outside, though? Fair game.

“Why does shit always happen when we’re around…”

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

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It had been by some miracle that Isla managed to get herself and Mariah into Madison's car. Fishing the much taller girl out of the swimming pool had been a feat in and of itself. And of course no one had helped her as she dragged her out of the beach house. Because why would they care about leaving behind the two newbies? In the end she'd teleported them both right into Madison's car, before promptly passing out too.

She woke with a start as the car came to a stop, blearily opening her eyes and rubbing the sleep out of them.

"Mm, we there already?" she slurred out, accent thick in her half awake state. She lifted her head off the person in the middle seat (whose name she couldn't remember right now) to look out the window. Nope, just a petrol station. Definitely not there. But this was good. She could get out, get some fresh air, a shit ton of snacks and some coffee.

As she half fell out of the car, realisation hit her. She didn't have any money.

She groaned while looking around at the milling about coven members. The chances were pretty slim that any one of them would spare her even a cent. Maybe Mariah, but she was still dead asleep. She wasn't beyond stealing but she'd rather not with so many people around. What a predicament! Then she caught sight of a familiar blonde going round the corner with a cigarette in hand. Penny had come with them? Penny had come with them! She must have missed the memo while dragging her new friend into the car.

Her relief was twofold. First, someone she could probably convince to lend her a little bit to buy some coffee. Second, someone who she actually trusted to not let her die. Aside from Mariah, who seemed even newer to this whole supernatural thing, she really didn't believe any if the other girls would help her. Not that she was the trusting sort in the first place, anyway. Between Penny, who was pretty powerful (from what Isla saw in Paradise), and Mariah, who seemed pretty willing to throw Isla over her shoulder and run, she had a pretty good survival game plan.

Isla half blinked, half walked, towards Penny while completely ignoring her surroundings. She was still groggy from sleep and all she could think about was getting coffee. Was blinking around a public place smart? Probably not. But the faster she got around that corner the better.

“Heyyyy Penny,” she mumbled out, clearly only half awake as she practically slammed against the wall beside her in an attempt to lean on it. “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.”

Her words grew more mumbled and nonsensical as she went on, oblivious to any bad mood Penny (or others) might be in.

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Maya had the politeness (for once in her life) to call a thank you at Penny's back, before turning to glare at Emily.

“You know, I can very easily kick you to the curb,” she retorted. Her irritation didn’t come from being offended, because she couldn’t give a shit what Emily thought (and was very open about her sex life). She was actually incredibly better that she was yet to get anywhere with Trevor and Emily’s little comment reminded her of that. And it was also Emily, so everything she said was fucking dumb and made her want to punch her. “So shut the fuck up before I do.”

Though, Maya wasn’t going to miss an opportunity to mess with either. She nonchalantly added, “oh, I’d be careful where you sit in the back, I can tell you it wouldn’t be a pretty sight if you took a black light to it.”

And then she turned to the knock on her door, actually pleased to see Quinn for the first time in her life. Not because she liked the girl, she was fucking weird, but anything beat a moment longer with Emily. And a nicotine hit would be pretty nice right now.

“Sure, I’ll take one,” she said as she got out of her car (reluctantly turning the music off). “I could really do with it.”

And stretching her legs would be good, for all her basically telling the two in her car to get her coffee. She stuffed her hands in her pockets and nodded for Quinn to lead the way over to a spot away from the cars.

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

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Maya wanted to kill Madison.

If she didn’t have the Jaws, she probably would have attacked her right on the spot when she had not so subtly suggested that Emily goes in Maya’s car. And, in some horrible turn of events, that was how it had ended up. When she’d agreed to drive this was absolutely not what she had in mind.

Honestly, she’d hoped there were enough cars that she’d end up alone. But nope! Of course not! Her not so large car was crammed full and fucking Emily of all people was in it. Maybe she should just drive them off a cliff. Or better yet, right into Madison’s car to end them both.

“If anyone of you backseat drive, I will fucking sound blast you out of this car,” she’d threatened right at the beginning of the drive, before absolutely blasting out her music of choice (rap, half of which was Korean, because she was pretty certain Emily would hate it). As much as she could drive she wasn’t really someone who enjoyed driving… and hadn’t driven out of Florida more than a couple of times.

At least this time it wasn’t to see some kind of prospective husband her parent’s had forced onto her.

She wasn’t quite content, but she was happy enough with the lack of conversation as she loudly tapped the wheel (with her non broken hand) along to the music. Eventually, however, her broken finger began aching to the point that driving was pretty hard and probably dangerous. The occasional spasms of pain and swerving? Not ideal. It hadn’t even been that long… Thankfully she’d brought painkillers! Which would take a while to kick in but mean they wouldn't have to stop again.

“We’re stopping for a break,” she commented out of politeness she normally didn’t have, mostly to prevent getting shouted at as she pulled over into the nearest service station. “I don’t care what you do, I just need to rest my hand.”

Once she’d stopped she twisted around and eyed the people in her car, gaze landing on Emily. A slight smirk crossed her lips. “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. And something to wash down painkillers.”

As she spoke she grabbed her phone from it’s inconveniently placed stand and narrowed her eyes at the maps that should have been directing her. That looked kinda wrong. Fuck, she hoped they weren’t lost.

She absolutely didn’t want to spend longer stuck in a car (with Emily) than necessary.

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

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“Oh yeah, sounds like loads of fun,” Isla nodded even when it sounded like the opposite. She was right about them being shown doomsday though! Not that she could remember the name of the guy who did it yet… but Penny was investigating it! No need for her to worry. “I’m sure you’ll get to the bottom of that whole doomsday thing cause, y’know, would be a real bummer if it actually happened.”

She nodded as Penny talked to Mariah, not at all put out by the teasing jab in her direction. She had just almost drowned in the pool… and hey, Penny had called her a friend. She guessed they were? They’d survived whatever shit happened in Paradise together (for half of it). While listening she blinked out of the pool and shook herself out, much like a dog would after a swim.

“And hold up, did you say you Florida was nice? Is that what drove you to joining a bunch of witches instead of just getting a plane ticket home?”

Penny

"--yeah, why not jus' go back home ta Germany?"

Mariah

“Scotland,” Isla corrected. “But aye, I’ll take you there someday.”

Not that the other girl heard her, since she was floating away and napping. She turned back to Penny with a frown as she considered her question. “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?”

Though she was pretty certain if she found a british embassy, she could get everything sorted. Maybe a bit of a hassle but definitely a possibility. Or she could get in contact with her parents. But there was something holding her back from that… she didn’t really want to explore that right now. Or ever. She was quite content to stay here, mess around with a crazy coven for a while (some of the members were nice!).

She turned her head to see the others doing some gay hand holding thing. She had no idea what the hell was going on but she didn’t want to be left out.

“I’m gonna join that!” In no way as an excuse to avoid awkward questions, Isla blinked over and grabbed Emily’s hand, joining the Recollection.

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"Far as I know they only want money, but if you follow a script I'll provide, everything should go fine."

Kimberly

Maya let out a long, thoughtful hum at that. She didn’t entirely believe it but didn’t have any reason not to. And if it was just money then that was easy, since Blake was basically their sugar daddy sans the sex. She tilted her head and listened carefully to what Lyss and Kimberly had to say… and even Quinn, since she wasn’t talking absolute garbage for once (she didn’t feel bad at all for ignoring her earlier, though).

"... Well, how about we let whoever wants to join this insane mission decide for themselves opposed to making it a group order?"

Emily

Wow, Emily said something that she agreed with for once. It was stupid to make it a group decision and it really wasn’t how they worked at all. If they even worked, it was really pushing it to describe the coven that way.

Unlike Emily she wasn’t so quick to agree to join, waiting for more of an explanation and joining the shit handholding (not without pulling a disgusted face) and the recollection.

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Maya’s hand jerked back from the hand she’d grabbed hold of (that weird scottish girl), visibly wincing. Her first thought was that men fucking sucked. Especially men running cults. She didn’t know much about this Saul person but she knew he was a dick. No wonder Anabelle turned to some horrible creature to help her get revenge.

She understood that.

“I’ll join,” she spoke up, folding her arms. “I don’t have anything that needs curing, but I know others do, and I’d rather avoid meeting a horrible end because I didn’t help. The more of us, the better, or something.”

“I’ll also come!” Isla piped up, with a wide smile. “Wait… what are we doing?”

Maya glared at her and she quieted down before anyone actually answered her question. She’d find out on the way, she guessed.

“And I’ll help with going against Saul after we find the cure.”

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

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“Dude! Don’t be a dick just because you only have one superlame simp following you around,”

Vashti

“I’m not jealous, if that’s what you think,” Maya snorted, rolling her eyes. She kept her mouth shut otherwise after multiple people told her to (including Kimberley). She still eyed Rowan with a bit of suspicion but otherwise relaxed at the introductions… because people wouldn’t give out names if they were trying to hide something (probably).

It wasn’t that she didn’t know that they’d asked for help, she just wasn’t too fond of two extra people tagging along and right into their base.

She snorted as Vashti somehow managed to explain things even worse than she had (from lack of effort) and then went on a fucking self pitying speel. Oh yeah, so they were meant to bring it right up rather than tiptoeing around it like sane people who didn’t want either the Jaws or a lizard to eat them? Where was the gratitude for the fact that Maya was the reason the Jaws had even stopped mauling her. She was yet to see Vashti do something for any of them.

Maya also wasn’t at all surprised when Madison went off right back at her. She held up her hands at the look shot towards her, but it was pretty clear she didn’t care either way. It wasn’t like she didn’t believe Madison or had explicitly told her to leave. Honestly, if she had to pick a side, she’d rather Madison stayed? Because aside from that one time her abstraction generally didn’t try to actively eat them.

Not that she bothered to say it because Madison had latched pretty hard onto her calling the Jaws her dinosaur and as someone with a looott of anger issues herself, she wasn’t about to take a beating for it. Sure she wholly agreed with her but Maya wasn’t exactly the one to show any kind of support.

Thankfully Lyss stepped in to put them all out of their misery and explain what was needed. And then they were getting somewhere with the whole reason they’d asked an internet sensation there.

For once in her life, Maya actually listened properly and didn’t instantly shoot off her mouth. Sure, she was pessimistic but they were actually getting information rather than flailing about wildly. Surely it was a step in the right direction.

“So you’re saying that if we have enough money, we’ll be able to get some kind of cure from them?” she narrowed her eyes, brain momentarily switching on (a rare occasion outside of academics). “Or is the price more than just monetary? Because it almost always seems to be when it comes to shady dealings.”

Doubly so if it was supernatural. She didn’t want to be selling her soul to cure other people.

“And a cure for affiliations would work on Annabelle Heart?”

Seemed a little too easy but, it seemed like a good deal to Maya. She wasn’t about to make the final decision but they could get rid of two things at once: their own afflictions and the murderous cannibal that could kill any of them at any moment.

---

---

Isla’s brain was going an absolute mile a minute as she flailed about, hand hitting something distinctively hard and tile like. From an outside perspective she looked an awful lot like a floundering fish, lying in the shallow end flopping about and managing to choke on water.

“Hey stranger, how about you just try standing?”

Penny

The words just about got through her running wild brain and she stilled, just in time to be scooped up under the arms by Mariah. She went half limp in her arms and let out a slight sigh of relief.

“Thanks for saving me again,” she laughed before looking down and very belatedly realising she’d fallen into the shallow end. “...I’m allergic to water?”

Definitely one of the worst lies she’d ever told and honestly she knew she wasn’t going to save face. She was quite happy to just hang in Mariah’s arms as Penny’s finger honed in towards her nose. She found herself actually leaning towards it like some kind of weirdly excited dog, before she was moved out of the way of it by Mariah. It felt like a crisis had been averted… or maybe caused, because whenever Odessa had booped her back in paradise it had stopped her saying a lot of dumb shit.

“‘Ello,” she replied eventually to Penny with an almost genuine smile as if she hadn’t just fallen into a pool at the shock of seeing her and then almost drowned in three inches of water. “Fancy seeing you here, I’m assuming you got home alright after that strange girl sent us away because lemme tell you she must’ve got something wrong for me cause I very much did not plan to end up in Florida… It’s definitely a nice holiday, though! You really got right back involved in supernatural shit after all that huh. Not that I can say anything since I’m hanging out with a coven of witches wow!”

She cut herself off as she heard the tail end of Vashti’s rant and Mariah’s very confused shouts about it. She also had basically no idea what was going on, since she’d been too occupied with the uwuing monster during the end of the capture the flag.

"Or you? Who're you? What y'all ain't just secret members of the coven I ain't met or somethin', right?"

Mariah

“She’s Penny,” Isla helpfully supplied. “Definitely ain’t a coven secret member, she’s way too competent for that, no offence to like everyone here.”

Not that anyone but Penny and Mariah would hear her (and it was pretty much a self burn considering she’d decided to join this mess).

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

---

"You just want to see your little girly-boyfriend, Maya."

Emily

"I don't need to see and tolerate the rest of DENs to see him," Maya retorted with a roll of her eyes. It was true, since she literally had daily meetings with him and had his phone number. She didn't bother denying that he was her boyfriend... Because she honestly couldn't care less if that's how they were viewed (and it was what she wanted in the end, anyway). "But I'm fine to not involve them, it was just a suggestion."

She stayed silent as she listened to the rest of the conversation... It was a better option than the DENs, and less likely to end up with with them landed in jail. Or being killed off. She was pretty sure that a Internet ghost hunter was less likely to have a kill order available to her.

Not that she wanted to deal with this now, but it wasn't like she had a choice.

Isla shaded her eyes at the bright flash of light as three strangers appeared outta nowhere (wow, nice, she wished she could arrived in style like that). First there was a nerdy looking girl with a camera, then there was some guy, and then…

She let out a strangled yell, automatically flinching backwards without thinking about where she was sitting. With a loud splash she fell right into the water. She floundered about for a bit, spluttering water and her mind going a mile a minute. Her only clean clothes were absolutely drenched and she was swallowing so much water and she'd completely forgotten how to swim and why the fuck was Penny here in front of the coven rather than miles away in whatever Jimmy Buffet filled place she came from. Fuck, fuck, fuck, she was screwed if Penny recognised her how was she supposed to explain that? Oh yeah I lied I was actually in someone's pocket dimension like, she'd be laughed out! This was it, it was time to bail and flee for the hills before they turned on her for hiding the strange supernatural knowledge she had.

While Isla was floundering in the shallow end of the pool, Maya was eyeing the newcomers with barely concealed suspicion. Sure, she'd heard of Kimberley Walton like every other supernatural person had. She was sure she wasn't out to actively screw them at least... Her concerns were more the two strangers that had turned up with her (one of which was a man, instant alarm bells).

"Why don't you introduce your two friends," Maya said, pointing to the girl and guy with Kimberley. "So we know they're not going to try anything." Then, as an afterthought, she added, "we can do the same, but there's a ton of us and only three of you."

"So, what do you all need help with?"

Kimberley

"A lot," Maya replied bluntly when no one else spoke up. "You know, one of our own turns into a massive lizard that tried to kill us. Another of our own can't control her dinosaur and also tried to maul a member. There's also the murderous cannibal who killed our only healer and our weird, ugly bat allies. The list goes on."

She paused, glancing at Claudette before looking back at Kimberley. "But today we're concentrating on finding someone that can cure curses or whatever, and heal people. We were hoping that you, with your large network of supernatural simps, could help us find someone with that ability."