Interactions: Sloane @Atrophy The Halloween Festival
Anya almost couldn’t hold Sloane’s gaze. There was an unconditional love there that brought back that irritating little feeling of ugly guilt. It was overwhelming. She knew that Sloane admired her and viewed her as a close friend, but this open, intense affection went beyond that. It was difficult for her to process how she felt about it. There was a certain sense of security. Sloane was unlikely to doubt her, and their friendship would be safe unless Anya betrayed her… something she didn’t plan to do unless there were extreme circumstances pushing her to it. But there was also that guilt - a tiny, niggling guilt in the back of her mind.
But what was there to feel guilty about? She cared about Sloane as much as she was capable of caring about anyone. It wasn’t her fault that she didn’t feel it as strongly as other people would.
She was still glad when Sloane’s eyes closed briefly.
”Then we won’t talk about it.” Anya reached around with the arm Sloane wasn’t holding onto to awkwardly pat her shoulder. It was supposed to be comforting, but Anya didn’t really know how to do that. Having Sloane holding her hand and resting her head on her shoulder was already a lot, which Anya normally wouldn’t tolerate. But she was feeling quite cheerful, and drunk Sloane was… quite cute. Again, a strange thought.
Another drink sounded good. She'd mostly sobered up while talking to Ezra - well, moved from near drunk to tipsy. Enough that the alcohol wasn't affecting her head, which was how she generally preferred it. But with her business so to get a major investment and Sloane already so drunk, what was the harm in letting loose a little? It was just the two of them now, anyway. The risk of her slipping up and saying something that would ruin everything was very, very slim.
”A drink it is then, I was hoping to get another one, but-” she narrowed her eyes slightly, looking at the actually drunk Sloane. ”I’m not drunk at all, you’re drunk. I’m perfectly sober-” Was there any pointing in arguing about this? ”Your painting?”
Anya glanced over at the painting Sloane had drawn her attention to with strange arm shakes. A completely blank canvas. She highly doubted it, or whatever had been on it, was actually drawn for Sloane. But if she thought so, who was Anya to argue? ”Jasper did? That really doesn't surprise me, you're correct, he is obsessed. After all, you’ve featured in his dreams quite a few times.”
It wasn’t technically a lie, but it wasn’t the whole truth. Sloane had been in his dreams, but only when he was dreaming of the coven itself. It was never just about Sloane.
Anya gently removed Sloane’s hand from her arm, moving around her and bending down to pick up the blank canvas. She then stepped back to Sloane’s side, wrapping her free arm around Sloane’s shoulders - because she probably wouldn’t be able to walk without support with the way she’d barely gotten to her feet. ”Let’s go. They were putting up parasols at the bar just past this tent, so we can get a drink there and be protected from the rain…”
Slowly, Anya led and supported Sloane out of their hiding spot and back into the main festival area. She went straight for the popup bar, pausing for a moment when she spotted some… familiar figures. Meifeng, her second in command, Bianca, and a few power rangers. The PRA. Thankfully, she didn’t spot the one PRA agent she wanted to avoid for the rest of her life. She wasn’t in the mood to talk with them, not when she’d made up her mind to enjoy the rest of the night without thinking about more business. That business wasn’t so important to her personally anyway. So, she would just ignore them.
She took Sloane to a table a few away from the PRA group, as the area was sadly too small to get out of their sight. She made sure Sloane was seated, with the blank canvas placed on the seat beside her, before going up to the bar and getting them both drinks. An old fashioned for Sloane, and a long island iced tea for herself. Thankfully with the rain there were less people willing to stand in the line, so she got them relatively quickly.
”Another old fashioned for you,” Anya smiled, sitting opposite Sloane and sliding the drink over to her. She then raised her glass towards Sloane. ”To us. Let’s enjoy the rest of our night. No thoughts about the boys, or anyone else. Though…” her smile turned just the slightest bit playful. ”I have seen some rather interesting dreams recently, and haven’t been able to talk to you about them yet. I think you'll find them very entertaining.”
Bianca Manalo
Interactions: Trevor @Punished GN Cracker Island Cracker Bar
”I’ll catch you another time!” Bianca waved to Lynn as she and the rest of the coven left, with a brief appearance from Ken. She shrugged and went back to her drink. It had been nice to catch up with them for a little while, at least. She wasn’t sure what Lynn had been talking about with respect to Emily, and she wasn’t planning to jump up and find out. If Meifeng wanted to, sure, but otherwise? She’d keep her ass sitting right here.
Then, two more familiar faces appeared. Bianca raised an eyebrow as Anya and Sloane came out from behind a tent flap.
”Hey, Trevor!” She hopped up and moved over to Trevor, nudging him with a devilish grin and pointing over to where Anya and Sloane were sitting a few tables away. She didn’t speak loud enough that they’d hear her, but the rest of the PRA group would. ”Isn’t that the girl you went on a date with last week? You should go talk to her!”
Of course, Bianca knew her name, and knew very well who she was with. While Bianca would say she was neutral towards Sloane nowadays, she’d always disliked Anya. So what was the harm in making her night a little more… unbearable.
Finally... after about a week of work Anya's updated spellbook is here @Punished GN if you want to add any weaknesses
Paranormal-Abilities ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "How naive to think you’re safe from your dreams."
TYPE ⫻ Adept
ABSTRACTION ⫻Pink, Purple, White & Orange Lux Channeler: a silver fountain pen
ABSTRACTION DESCRIPTION ⫻ Anya’s main speciality comes with the ability to manipulate dreams. She sees dreams as a way into someone’s soul - to find out information they wouldn’t otherwise divulge, to manipulate their opinions and to ultimately control them. It took her a while to come to this conclusion, and discover her affinity.
Dream Weaving ⫻ Anya's main spell discipline, Dream Weaving is the art of entering and manipulating dreams. It's a unique combination of Anya's purple and pink lux, allowing her to physically enter dreams. She essentially teleports into the dream. The target must be asleep and dreaming for her to enter their dream world.
Dream Visit ⫻ The primary spell to Anya's Dream Weaving discipline, allowing Anya to enter a specific person's dream. This hinges on two conditions. First, the person must be asleep and dreaming. Second, she must have met them before. Once these conditions are met she can enter someone's dream. This takes both time and concentration, and she then teleports into their dream world - her physical body is in there, so her body isn't left behind. Entering a specific dream takes a lot of energy, so she can generally only visit two before she need to rest (either a minimum four hour sleep, or ten hours outside of the dream world). She can exit the dream at will, either to her previous physical location (where she entered the dream) or to another dream.
Dream Walking ⫻ A more dangerous variety of Dream Entry, where Anya can walk through the dreams of anyone. It’s much like walking down a dark path - she doesn’t know where she’ll end up, and can only pick a direction. She can move from dream to dream like this, not being limited in the number she goes to as it doesn't take as much energy as entering a specific dream, but it's risky. It's much easier for her to get trapped doing this or to walk into a dangerous dream and get hurt. She can exit this in the same way she does dream entry.
Dream Manipulation ⫻ Anya's primary and strongest spell, this allows her to change the dream she's currently in. It's possible for her to change any element of the dream. She can shift the dream to an entirely new location, or bring in a specific "person" (a dream version). She can manipulate the narrative of the dream, change the events going on. Each change takes time, and the amount of time is dependent on how large the change is. She can only change one aspect at a time - she can't change the environment while also removing the presence of something. She needs to layer them change by change, with each one taking energy and time. It's easier to manipulate a dream to something similar to what it already is. However, she's very adept at this spell and it's one of her best. She's been working on it for ten years to get faster and more efficient at manipulating it, to the point she can fully change a dream during the hours she's in it.
Dream Interaction ⫻ A passive spell that comes by virtue of Anya physically being within a dream, rather than accessing it with just pink lux. Anya can physically interact with the dream and the dreamer, just as it can interact back with her. This means she can move things in the dream, interact as if they were real ect. She can talk to and interact with the dreamer. But it also means that if anything in the dream hurts Anya, it's hurting her physical body. If she dies in the dream she's properly dead.
Dream Damage ⫻ A more advanced version of Dream Interaction, which allows Anya to interact with and damage the dreamers physical form through hurting them in her dreams. Any wound she inflicts on the dreamer will appear on their body. With active concentration, this will be damage caused by her or anything she holds. With more concentration and energy she can allow the dream itself to interact and damage the dreamer. In the case of the blind, it would be possible for the dream to kill them. She has never tried this before.
Dream Scrying ⫻ A spell that allows Anya to gain specific information from a person dream. This could be about their current emotional state, the environment of the dream, about them as a person - all sorts of things. She essentially manipulates the dream to show her the answer, so she gains the information visually in a small, localised dream manipulation. She can only get one piece of information at a time. The more the dreamer doesn't want to 'share' information the more difficult and time consuming it is. Trying to find out how they're feeling would be easy and only take a few minutes, but trying to discover a secret someone is keeping would take the majority of the time she's in a dream.
Subliminal Messaging ⫻ Based on pink lux knowledge Greyson Devola passed on to her, this is essentially Anya's version of dream 'More Than a Feeling.' This is unaffected by emotional fields, as she's already essentially infiltrated. This works by leaving subtle suggestions via the dreams, directly influencing the dreamer to wake up feeling inclined to follow the suggestion. These are typically simple messages, pushing people to return to her shop and purchase more of her wares. Or for them to wake up feeling content. Given enough time, she can paint much more intricate subliminal messages through the dream imagery in combination with her dream manipulation. This is quite energy and time consuming, compared to more simple suggestions. This is heavily based on the dreams themselves, and how likely the target is to follow through on a suggestion - as dreams often reflect their moods, and anything to jarringly different won't be followed.
Dream Exit ⫻ A spell that Anya is currently working on, but hasn't made any progress on. The aim is for it to allow her to exit the dream at the location of the dreamer, rather than from where she entered which is the 'default'. She wants to be able to choose which of the two to exit from. So far her attempts have been unsuccessful.
Dream Companion ⫻ Another spell Anya is working on, which would allow her to bring another person or physical object into a dream with her. Right now she is practicing with objects. She's been able to bring up to something as big as a tennis ball, but nothing larger. She tried a teddy bear recently, and the results weren't pretty.
Dream Boost ⫻ The third spell of her dream weaving Anya is working on, born from her own selfishness. She wants to be able to boost her own abstraction using the dream itself. This would essentially allow her to drain part of the dream to strengthen herself, thus allowing her to be more powerful within the dream itself and be able to manipulate it better. She is yet to succeed at any attempts of this spell.
The Waking World ⫻ A discipline of spells that Anya can actively use in the waking world. These are primarily spells to support her dream weaving, or create images based on dreams.
Dream Illusions ⫻ Anya can create basic illusions based on things from the last two dreams she was in. These illusions are visible to anyone that could feasibly see them. They are intangible and relatively easily dispelled. She can only make visual illusions. They make no sound, and are destroyed upon being touched. Those with emotional fields can easily see through them.
Dream Hallucinations ⫻ This spell targets one person, and causes them to hallucinate. The images they see are chosen by Anya and must be something she saw in one of the last two dreams she was in. These can be both visual and auditory hallucinations. For the blind its near impossible to tell they're hallucinating. Those with emotional fields have an easier time seeing through them.
Dream Inducement ⫻ This spell is the ability to induce dreams in someone, rather than waiting for it to happen naturally. Anya either has to touch the person to induce dreams, or have something “anchoring her to them”. Specifically, they must have an object with a specific dreamer locator spell on it. When Anya induces a dream she can choose the general type of the dream - whether it's a good dream, or a nightmare. She can’t choose anything beyond that, it's otherwise the same as a normal, natural dream.
Dream Alert ⫻ A simple spell that allows Anya to 'check' on someone who she knows, and find out if they are currently asleep and dreaming.
Dream Information ⫻ A spell that Anya's currently working on to allow her to discover the details of the last dream a person had. She needs to be close enough to the person, and touching them makes it easier. Currently she can only get the most surface level information - that they had a bad dream, that it was about work, ect. She can't get any details.
Dream Devices ⫻ Anya's final discipline, focusing primarily on using her orange lux to infuse objects with the aid of her other lux to enhance her dream weaving use, along with objects to manipulate dreams in her place.
Dream Locator ⫻ A spell to infuse a small object with a locator spell. This allows Anya to induce dreams without touching someone, or to perform other spells (such as dream hallucinations) through the locator as if she were there. This object needs to be close to them, at least within a metre. For example, put on a bedside table. Its useless if its too far away. This infusion lasts for approximately a week.
Nightmare Ward ⫻ Anya infuses a small object with a weak nightmare ward spell. If kept close enough this will reduce the number of nightmares someone has. Like the dream locator, it must be placed within a metre of the user. It only reduces nightmares. It doesn't keep away other bad dreams, such as stress dreams, nor does it guarantee good dreams.
Nightmare Inducer ⫻ The opposite of Nightmare Ward, Anya infuses a small object with a spell that increases the number of nightmares someone has. It has a slightly larger range, just having to be in the same room as someone (unless it's a really big room).
Dream Encapsulation ⫻ The main spell that Anya is working on, which would allow her to store a specific dream within an object. It is essentially her dream manipulation spell infused into an object, with specific dream "settings" chosen upon infusion. At the moment, she can infuse a tiny dream influence into an object - something like a plant appearing. The aim is for her to have three different types of Dream Encapsulation infusions, as follows:
Generic Dreams ⫻ The simplest type, which she is currently working towards. This would allow her to create objects with a basic dream stored in them. This object would then influence the dreams of a nearby dreamer, like Anya would within their dreams, to turn it into the stored dream. This would be generic scenarios without any person specifics - such as a nice picnic in a field, going to a beach, or a space adventure.
Specialised Dreams ⫻ A more complicated type, this infusion would include more complicated and tailor made dreams. This would include elements that only a specific person could have in their dream - people they know, for example. It could also be an incredibly specific scenario: for example, going on a date with a specific person at their favourite restaurant, with the music from a specific band playing. She hasn't made any progress on this part.
Variable Dreams ⫻ The most complicated type, combining white lux with the dream manipulation infusion. This would allow her to infuse a stone with a variable dream manipulation spell, with pink-white lux reading what the user wants to dream about and then manipulating their dreams to follow their wishes that night. This is her ultimate aim, so that she no longer has to manipulate every dream herself. Currently she's very far away from making it happen.
Dream Anchor ⫻In conjunction with her dream exit spell, Anya is working on a spell that will allow her to infuse an object to "anchor" her. Essentially this will allow her to teleport out of a dream to where the object is. It acts as a location marker for her dream exit, since she can only exit to the dreamers location or her previous location. Currently she hasn't made much progress with this spell.
From the time of her kindling event at age ten, until she went through her rebellious phase at sixteen and subsequently joined the coven, Anya primarily learned spells from her older siblings and parents - struggling to create her own. She has lower affinity for most of these spells, and basically doesn’t use them anymore due to them being weaker and having more limits.
Psychometry ⫻ A spell to gain information from an object by touching it. By using it Anya can find out how this object was last used, which is generally useless information. She learned this from Nisha.
Portal Creation ⫻ Learnt from her mum, Anya can created a portal to somewhere else. To where, you ask? Well, Anya doesn’t know until she steps through the portal.
Telekinesis ⫻ Learnt from Kiran, Anya has a very rudimentary telekinesis spell. She can use telekinesis on an object up to 20g of weight.
Sharpen Object ⫻ A very basic version of a spell her dad could use, Anya can make an object sharper. The object has to already be sharp, though, or it doesn’t do much.
LIMITS ⫻
Dream Weaving ⫻ There are some general limits to Anya's dream weaving spells. She can only be in any dreams that aren't her own for five hours, and one specific dream for up to three hours. To enter a dream, the target must be asleep and dreaming. If they wake up she's forcefully teleported out. Since Anya is physically in a dream, she can be hurt by it. She could be hurt enough to get killed. While Emotional-Field’s generally don’t affect her spells (being non offensive in nature), Paranormals can sense something’s off with their dream. It's possible for them to even notice her presence, realise she’s not part of the dream or actively seek her out in their dream.
Dream Visit ⫻ Anya needs to have met whoever's dream she's entering. She can only enter two in a night before she needs four hours minimum of sleep, or ten hours outside of dreams.
Dream Walking ⫻ Anya can enter about ten dreams during dream walking, before she needs four hours minimum of sleep, or ten hours outside of dreams. Anya can't choose where she's going, only the direction she's walking in. The dreams she walks into are completely random, and she could walk into a dangerous situation.
Dream Manipulation ⫻ Dream manipulation takes time and energy. The bigger a change, the longer it will take. Adding in a new element will take seconds for something small, to minutes for something large. Bringing in a dream person could take up to ten minutes. Changing the entire dream, such as a peaceful dream to a warzone, would take an hour or two in total for all the elements to be changed. There's a risk of "overloading" the dream if she adds too many conflicting elements, which could rebound and hurt her. The dream doesn't pause during the manipulation. Changes also take energy, and the larger changes she makes the more likely she is to exhaust herself and have to leave a dream early.
Dream Interaction ⫻ Anya is physically limited by how she can interact with a dream. She can't interact with something that's outside of her reach. She can't do anything she couldn't do in the real world if she's not using her dream manipulation spell.
Dream Damage ⫻ Using this spell is incredibly taxing on Anya. Hurting someone through a dream is difficult, and will exhaust her enough that she'll likely have to leave the dream immediately afterwards. It requires complete concentration. Emotional-fields protect against it, she can't just kill someone with them in their dream.
Dream Scrying ⫻ The amount of time and energy it takes to get a piece of information depends on how much information there is, and how much the dreamer wants it to stay hidden. A simple thing would take seconds, something they keep well hidden hours. She can't use other spells while scrying.
Subliminal Messaging ⫻ Anya can only leave one subliminal message, and it can't be anything too complicated. If the suggestion conflicts with what the person would normally do or their personality, it's likely it won't be followed through. Something jarringly different from the rest of the dream will also be ignored. These suggestions or emotion changes need to be done through dream imagery, which can be time consuming for anything more complicated.
Dream Companion ⫻ Currently, Anya can't bring anything bigger than a tennis ball and she hasn't tried it with anything sentient. It's more exhausting to bring something into a dream with her.
Dream Boost ⫻ The boost will directly correlate to the amount Anya drains from a dream, and eventually she will run out of elements to take. It takes time to draw the energy from them. At the moment, she can't use this spell.
The Waking World ⫻
Dream Illusions ⫻ The illusions are easily dispelled by touch or magic use. If anyone paranormal observes them more than casually it will be obvious they're illusions. If blind observe them closely it will be obvious. She can only hold the illusion for about ten minutes. She can only create illusions of something from the last two dreams she visited.
Dream Hallucinations ⫻ These target one person and she can only use it for about ten minutes. The hallucinations need to be based on something in one of the last two dreams she visited. These can be visual and auditory, but not sensory. Blinds can't tell they're hallucinating, but it's possible for those with Emotional-Fields to see through them with a lot of effort or something like white lux.
Dream Inducement ⫻ Anya either has to have physical contact with the person to induce dreams, or they have to have a “dream locator” infused object nearby. She doesn’t choose the specific dream she induces outside of whether it's good or bad, instead just putting them in a dreaming state.
Dream Alert ⫻ Anya can only check if someone she knows is dreaming, and the further away they are from her the longer it will take to get that information.
Dream Information ⫻ This spell takes concentration, and she must have the target in her line of sight and be within a few metres of them. Touching them speeds it up. The more indepth information she wants the longer it'll take. Currently she can only get surface level information.
Dream Devices ⫻ Anya can currently infuse about five a day of her first three dream objects. The rest she can't properly do yet, but will be slower when she can.
Dream Locator ⫻ This infusion last approximately a week. The object needs to be within a metre of the person for it to work.
Nightmare Ward & Nightmare Inducer ⫻ The object needs to be kept within two metres to be effective. The infusion only lasts for two weeks. It only increases or decreases nightmares, it doesn't guarantee a major change in dreams.
Dream Encapsulation ⫻ Anya currently can't really use this spell, and it takes a lot of energy to use. She can only infuse an object so that it makes very minor, near neglible, manipulations to dreams. It needs to be within a metre to be effective.
Dream Anchor ⫻ This spell just doesn't do anything right now.
Anya is pretty shit at most of these spells to the point they are practically useless.
Psychometry ⫻ The only information Anya can get is how an object was last used. Not who by, but how. For example, she’ll know a pen was used to write. Nothing more than that. She can only do it once per object, and twice a day.
Portal Creation ⫻ Anya can’t choose the location of the exit portal. It’s two ways, but only lasts for five minutes. She can only do it once a day.
Telekinesis ⫻ Anya can only levitate an object of up to 20g of weight. It's blocked by emotional fields, but she couldn’t use it on any person anyway.
Sharpen Object ⫻ A non sharp object won’t be affected by this spell. It can only make objects such as knives cut a bit better. Emotional fields completely block it, so she can’t sharpen a table knife and then kill a paranormal with it.
Interactions: Sloane @Atrophy, Jack (Brief Smile) @Blizz The Halloween Festival
Anya didn’t have to wait long to get a response from Sloane. As efficient as always, sending a direct location pin. She was surprisingly close - perhaps she’d looped around and ended up nearby after walking off her irritation. Anya could only hope she would be in a better mood. Though, Anya was in a very good mood herself, so she could handle Sloane however she was.
It didn’t take her long to reach Sloane’s location… but she paused behind the tent flaps that separated Sloane’s private spot and the main festival when she heard Sloane talking.
There was a hint of… guilt when she heard Sloane called her and Jade being her best friends. Of course, Sloane was Anya’s best friend too, by virtue of being her only friend, but it wasn’t quite the same. Sloane’s friendship was selfless and genuine, hers not so much. Of course, the feeling didn’t last long. It was probably just the alcohol she’d consumed, anyway. Thankfully the rest of what Sloane said about her was nonsense. Anya didn’t spend time with her out of pity. She wasn’t the pitying sort. It was a shame Sloane didn’t see her own value.
She silently listened. Some of it she already knew. Sloane told her practically everything in her life. What she didn’t know must be recent discoveries - Jinhai being in a shoebox in Linqian’s linen closet being one of them. Was that what Sloane and Linqian had discussed at the start of the night? No wonder she’d been so upset. It was an unpleasant surprise. After Sloane, Jinhai had been the closest to being her friend too. While he wasn’t allowed to keep contact with her traditionally thanks to his failure of her sister, they spoke in his dreams often. She had been sad that he’d died, and disappointed but unsurprised that she wasn’t invited to his funeral.
But his ashes being stuck in a cupboard was much worse.
Anya exhaled softly, waiting for Sloane to stop talking before stepping through the tent flap separating them. She stood out of the way as Jack talked, and smiled at him as he went past. Perhaps she’d have to mend what had been broken tonight, but now wasn’t the time.
”You know, I’d likely be hated by the majority of the coven even if we weren’t friends,” Anya finally said, approaching Sloane. She very carefully lowered herself down to be at eye level with her - making sure not to sit on the ground, instead perfectly crouching with her legs pressed together. She shrugged one shoulder. ”I heard the end of what you were saying. I’ve never been bothered by how they view me. It’s not our fault they don’t understand what we do for them. It would be rather lonely to both be hated alone, wouldn’t it?”
They weren’t just empty words, Anya knew her position in the group very well, Sloane aside. While Anya was much better at playing the game of pretend now, adjusting herself to be exactly what was needed, she hadn’t been quite so good at seventeen. It was harder to hide her ego as a child and unfortunately what she’d let slip had solidified poor opinions with a fair amount of the coven. There were some who disliked her more than they did Sloane - Lynn and Linqian, for one. Sloane probably didn’t realise that.
She carefully considered what to say next. It was difficult to tell when Sloane was drunk like this - it wasn’t a Sloane she’d dealt with before. Best to leave things open. Don’t push her to open up about everything she’d dumped on Jack, but don’t cut it off as if it didn’t matter in case she did want to open up. A careful balancing act.
”Ah.” Anya smiled apologetically. The rain was beginning to wash away the spiders painted on her face, black lines running down her cheeks as if they were crying. ”Sorry for not immediately following you. I wanted to make sure you weren’t going to suffer for ignoring Ezra Vanburen, but it seemed I worried unnecessarily. He was quite reasonable. I also thought perhaps you needed to talk to Jack alone, so that he could make amends, so I sent him after you… a miscalculation, I admit. Even I make those occasionally.”
It was a nice excuse, of course, and one she was sure Sloane would believe. With her business well and truly taken care of, she was quite happy to spend the rest of the night concentrating on whatever Sloane needed to feel better. ”We can talk about all of... that, if you’d like. Or not. There’s still plenty of time to enjoy Halloween. Perhaps we could have another drink, or go back to mine and watch some halloween movies. Whatever you want.”
There was something oddly endearing about Layla and Linqian's interactions.
Britney smiled when Layla invited him in despite trying to flee from the boy desperately. This was a... perilous move because the drunken shenanigans started around this time (Britney should brush Layla up on some street smarts soon... eventually). Then, it was revealed that the damn boy was Linqian's little brother. Wow. Britney didn't know that Linqian had another little brother and wondered if there was a reason for that...
A grin formed on Britney's face as she walked over to Linqian and leaned against her (well, she put some weight on it because Britney didn't want them both tumbling down).
"... Why didn't you tell me you had a little brother?" Britney asked, barely containing laughter. Then she turned to him and said (making sure she was loud enough for him to hear), "He's cute."
She followed it up with laughter as Linqian was probably ready to explode again, then walked away. Turning back towards the group.
“Where's your home, Sabrina?”
"It's not too far away from the Coastal Plaza Mall, not too far away from the beach," Sabrina began, then sighed. "It should only be a ten-minute drive from the ferries... and you can call me Bean like Britney does." She softly chuckled afterward.
”Bean it is.” Layla said with a smile.
"Yeah, let's hurry up while Emily is distracted!" Britney awkwardly laughed as she moved towards the ferries. Fast as she physically could. She hoped the group didn't make the mistake that her desire to avoid Emily was fear.
Everyone followed.
They climbed aboard the ferries, and they left Cracker Island behind...
... for now.
Sabrina's "Manor".
Thankfully, the ferry was the lengthiest part of the trip. After they got off, as Sabrina promised, it was a ten-minute drive to her house. This does not account for the slight traffic of people trying to get to Cracker Island. Still, the two different carloads of people eventually met at Sabrina's house... a very fancy and exquisite three-floor house that stood in a wealthy neighborhood in St. Portwell. Hidden behind a walled-off gate, the group was safe from psychopaths like Emily and the Sycamore Tree Coven here! Sabrina, for once, led the group as she walked up the stairs.
"Well, this is my house, the..." Sabrina laughed as she put a hand to her lips. "... 'Sabrina Manor.'"
She pulled a key out of her "pocket" (actually an opening she created with the Silkworm), inserted it, and then opened the door with a gentle hand. "But, make yourselves at home, Trisha - whom you all should be aware of - should still be at the Halloween Festival for a little longer if you're worried about that. My other two sisters are out of town... So we have the place all to ourselves."
She laughed as she held the door open for the group... revealing the fancy living room. She gestured for them to hurry up. "Come in, come in; I'll feel bad if you stand out in the cold for too long," She smiled at them, not revealing any teeth.
”Geeze, Patty still haunting this city? Well pollinated at least. Thanks for the warm welcome.” Edict was quick to accept the invitation in, just like the vampire he knew he could be. Though, he’d probably not filch anything. It’d look too suspicious, and frankly Bean was Brit’s friend. Not off limits, but certainly not someone he’d choose to steal from primarily.
”There won’t be any bees around will there?” Linqian asked with a frown, quickly stepping inside - she was fucking cold in the toga, and couldn’t risk adjusting her body temperature with her brother right there.
Layla stepped in after Linqian, a disbelieving look on her face. “Bees?”
Edict’s brow furrowed at Linqian's comment. ”Weird thing to say, why would there be bees?” Edict responded with a sarcastic tone, throwing a strange look toward Henri.
”Because beekeeping was Patty’s strange hobby,” Linqian intoned, hitting Edict with a flinty glare.
“They’re in Trisha’s bedroom,” Sabrina answered with a shrug. She then pointed down the hall, towards Trisha’s room. “Unless you want to add bees to the equation… stay out of there.” She laughed.
Layla stared down the hall with an incredulous look. ”Actual bees…”
”Who’s Patty?” Henri piped up cheerfully from right behind Linqian, once again looming over her.
”Patty is Trisha. Patricia. Sabrina’s… What, sixteenth sibling or something? The one she mentioned who may be home later.” he smiled back at the young man, nodding his head as he pulled the dumb hat and half wet suit coat from his head and body.
”Whaaaattttttt?” Henri’s eyes widened comically, and his jaw dropped. Matching Edict, he took off his Mario cap. An absolute mess of curly hair fell in front of his eyes. He looked from Edict to Sabrina. ”Sixteen siblings?! How?!”
”Not something you need to know about.” Linqian turned around and grabbed her brother’s arm, practically dragging him further into the living room and away from Edict. At least properly putting herself between them. The two awkwardly hovered though, not sitting down on the very fancy looking couches.
“My father… Well, he just got around…” Sabrina shrugged. “So… I have a little bit of everything to drink. What would you all like? Or should I just grab everything and we’ll decide from there?”
The silent Britney sat down on the sofa, smiling softly at Sabrina as she said, "White wine if you got any, Bean.”
”Beer for me,” Linqian sighed, looking at Henri. She really wanted to move onto the hard stuff but she shouldn’t while he was here. Then who would protect him from Edict’s dangerous mind probing and Britney’s as dangerous stares (she didn’t trust her after she’d called Henri cute)? She threw a thumb towards him, ignoring his pout. ”Soft drinks for him. I can help you get shit if you want?”
“If you don’t mind,” Sabrina added. “I mean… you all are my guests.”
“I'll take anything!” Layla said cheerily.
”Scotch? Or some kind of grain alcohol, please.” He took the time to pull his shirt from his belt and get a bit more comfortable before getting a bit closer to Britney. Not in a creepy way, however, but what seemed to be a fairly natural saunter. ”Hey uh… Can we talk for a second in private?” he asked her, low enough that it wouldn’t cause too much of a scene.
Britney smiled at him, then she leaned in, and whispered back, "Awwww, but we just got here… ” She chuckled. "We can - but hold on.”
Britney walked over to the massive, fancy, Bluetooth Speakers Sabrina kept against the wall. She turned them on as if she was here before, pulled out her phone, and turned on some music…
Britney dance-walked after Edict, swaying her hips back and forth as she rolled her shoulders.
Edict didn’t want to go too far with Britney, not wanting those in attendance to get the wrong idea. He didn’t need Linqian getting any hotter than she already was, but he also didn’t not want to spend some quality time with her. It was something he’d dreamed about for years.
He looked for an empty room, some place just to tuck away - which ended up being the guest bedroom. It had a very simple setup of a bed, dresser, nightstand… etc. He even left the door open, flicking the light on into some other foyer in the house. Finally there, he looked her in the eyes. Really looked. His channeler was out in the living room in his jacket pocket; he was completely vulnerable under her gaze.
"I've missed you so much.
Britney sat her behind on the bed and kicked her legs back and forth… wondering if she would break it. "Awwwwww…” Britney said with a smile. "You’re so sweet, Greyson. I hope you know that.”
Greyson held up his finger, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. ”But that’s not what I want to talk about… Listen. Yesterday, a woman came to see me. She works for dangerous people, and as far as I’m aware, they wanted to hurt you. Because of what happened with her.” he urged out toward the hallway.
"... And here I was thinking you were just trying to get into my pants.” Greyson bit his lip as the words left her mouth at the thought of jumping her then and there, but the situation was serious. It called for something different than his usual instinct.
Britney couldn’t help but awkwardly laugh before that smile wiped itself off her face. She leaned forward to look out the door to see if Layla was there. "... Do I need to fill you in on her situation? The whole thing with Voidy…?”
"Well, honestly? he stopped for a moment, smiling and rolling his eyes. "Listen to me, talking about honesty… I lost you last time because I wasn’t honest. Britney, I fucking swear to you, you’re the only thing I’ve ever missed!”
He gritted his teeth, closing his fingers onto the bridge of his nose. "Fuck, anyway: Honestly, I’m in her head right now. She’s high as fuck on the Lotus, and I can confirm it.”
"Wait… why did you…” Britney turned her head towards the door again. "... I figured you did something to her, I was hoping to bring it up privately but you came forward. That’s good on you, at least...”
Britney trailed off. "But, you know I don’t like you using your Pink-Lux on people, but you didn’t just use it for the hell of it, right? Not for some sick game, right…?”
Britney stared knives into Greyson.
”... RIGHT."
Greyson grimaced, throwing his hands back and up as if to surrender. "Three years ago, I was in my bathroom back home detoxing off coke, all alone with nobody left. I told myself then that if I ever had the chance to see you and talk to you again, I’d never fucking lie to you… I only did this because those people came and threatened you.”
He moved to sit down on the bed next to her, reaching out to take her hand into his. "I nearly killed their representative. While I was in her mind, I saw the pale one giving you up. You, and Stormy and Jack… Whoever was there and in on that shit.”
Britney’s face didn’t change at all.
”... I figured she would try something,” Britney shook her head. ”I always got the weirdest vibes from her since what happened, but at least I feel justified in plotting her death.”
She let the words hang in the air, before she asked the golden question.
”... Just who is after me? Emily?”
He shook his head, a puff of air leaving his nose. "The House of Cards Mafia. The local outfit, unfortunately. Pushed my folks out after my Uncle retired, and now the local crews work for them. Phantasia Vorpal.”
”... I thought it’d be the Temple, honestly,” Britney mused out loud. ”I really don’t know what to say… You got them off my back, or are they still gunning for me?”
"Well, if you think you can put a little misbehavior in your rear view mirror, I think I can solve the problem and rotate it back in our advantage. But I need to keep messing with her, and I know other people aren’t gonna like that.” He shook his head, closing his eyes.
"But I can’t promise it’s done yet. I was hoping you’d let me keep an extra eye on you; get some guys from up North to come down, or let me ask Leon and the Temple to protect you. They owe me; she was gunning after their guys too. For what they did… Creepy shit.”
”... I don’t trust Leon far as I can throw him, first off,” Britney made sure to note as she shook her head ”Second off… I would prefer, if anyone watches over me, it’s you… if what you’re telling me is true.”
She paused for a moment.
”Thirdly, tell me about this… Phantasia, I never heard of her before, and why is she listening to Layla of all people?”
Greyson’s eyes lit up at what she said to him. About wanting him to be around her. He couldn’t think about why, or if it was something else altogether. He wouldn’t know about it unless he got inside, but he didn’t want to. He didn’t want to let her go again. "The big guy’s folks are creepy, but as far as I’m aware we’re important players in her lore or some shit… But, the Vorpal lady…”
He took a long, deep breath and thought about what he’d seen when he had the chance to rummage through her head. "From what my Uncle told me, she’s the daughter of some real old blood around here. Italians from a very different age. They were in the Casino business, and still roll with underground groups around here. We can probably link them to Wolfpack and some other lowlifes, but… But when I was in her head, I don’t…”
Greyson took a long look across the room. "It’s gonna sound weird, but maybe it didn’t have anything to do with her. The lady, she… There was personal pain there, having to do with Andrade Salamente, the Temple Chef. And with you. So, something tells me that they had some sort of connection to Voidy as well. Something personal.”
Britney silently and intently listened.
”Phantasia?” Britney asked out loud. ”Well, I let Auri take the credit, but I was the one that urged Auri to go seal Voidy after Alizee’s… final hurrah.” She awkwardly scratched the back of her neck.
”As it turns out, Voidy was making deals with the Temple. So… it’s possible - well, at this point, plain obvious - that Voidy had other connections than just the Old Coven and the Temple.”
Greyson nodded along with Britney, smiling at her the same way he did as a goofy eighteen year old pretend gangster. But now he was a man, feeling like it was the first day of his life again. "Yeah, it’s clear… I think they know about us. It’s why they came to me and not someone more known for that line of work. They didn’t want me to just kill you, Brit. They wanted you bodysnatched. Bagged up.”
Britney winced at the thought of what was going to happen to her.
His head tilted back, blood rushing just thinking about that moment where he felt her emotional field snap under his grip. "I… I implanted a command for her to come and find me again. When the time comes, I think the pistol is the next step. And, as far as me protecting you? Of course. Of course I’ll be there with you. You have no idea how much I’ve wanted that.”
Britney grimaced.
”I get that you’re worried about me, but you gotta pump the breaks, okay?” Britney began. ”This is going to be strictly professional, at least until you show me you really mean what you’re saying and aren’t going to regress back into the old Greyson the second you get what you want… Greyson.”
He wasn’t sure what the right next move was. She was definitely right, he wasn’t doing any of this in a professional fashion. But he wasn’t above calling her out. "So in this case, is sleeping in your bed considered a professional standard? Or was that just you getting your hopes up to shit on my life?” he narrowed his eyes.
The tone wasn’t aggressive like it would’ve been so many years ago. Now it really sounded like a genuine question despite the little pang of babyrage he felt well up in his chest.
”Oh, come, ooooooooooooon, Greyson…” Britney said with a roll of her eyes. ”I just want to clarify this so there’s no misunderstanding down the line. I know what you want. You don’t need Pink-Lux - or any magic for that matter - to tell. And I know the behaviors you were exhibiting when things fell apart.”
She narrowed her eyes at him.
”I’m not trying to bring anyone down. I never was. You know me Greyson... I build. Not destroy,” She began. ”What I’m saying is that I’m giving you a chance... one more than I fucking should, really. But we all need a second chance. And a third and fourth after that.”
Britney shook her head, laughing. Then she looked at him with a broad smile, one that was joyful—not mocking.
”I know deep down you’re not as bad as they say you are, Greyson… I just want to take things slowly. Build something again so maybe after all of this blows over, we can go on nice relaxing cruises. How’s that sound?”
He did his best to not grit his teeth, giving away any tension in his jaw would be something she could see and use against him. He didn’t want to give that kind of thing up, especially not with his plans.
Greyson couldn’t be honest with her if his intentions remained what they were. It gave him a sense of dread. "Because you know I never wanted people to think I was a scumbag. And I was. I am. Except they always treated me like it. I kind of knew it was coming, even if I really didn’t want it. But when they did what they did to you?”
His hand came up under his chin, fingers dusting forward and brushing his goatee as he flipped the bird for a flourish. "The biggest thing they trusted me for was to lock The Memory away. Make it so nobody had it. After that? Poof. Fuck you Greyson. But you? They leaned on you hard, like you were an old person’s walker… Then when they found out you had wheels, they got rid of you too? I mean come on, Brit… We’re all in danger, sure, but fuck it.”
He took a long, deep breath, falling back on the bed. "Auri’s only involved people like us because she wants the people she actually likes to stay insulated from it. And then people like Drake are gonna take all the credit anyway.”
Britney sighed.
”... Auri only invited me because of my expertise, nothing else,” Britney began. ”So I can’t really argue with you, there. Personally, I always thought they knew what I was doing before it came to light, but kept quiet about it until… you know….”
Britney trailed off.
”... Stopped being convenient for them,” She couldn’t help but laugh a little bit. ”I want to say this is bigger than you. Bigger than me. Bigger than all of us and people who live in their own fantasy worlds like Blackmore and Stormy. And Auri’s my girl, and I know she’s a good person deep down, but as it stands, I don’t have a whole lot of faith in Auri’s… leadership.”
Britney shrugged before she continued.
”She obviously has no clue what she’s doing, and never did. She only got her position before because she was friends with Daisy and Ashley, nothing else,” Britney began, then sighed. ”She wouldn’t have been anything other than another footsoldier if she wasn’t...”
"I think men are prone to living in their fantasies. I’m just as guilty as they are. What I’m not guilty of is being a self serving preachy fuck like they can be, and I never discluded people from being involved in what I was doing.”
Greyson rubbed his face with his hands, taking a moment to think about what he was going to say next.
"Hot take? As creepy as they are, that’s a legit draw toward the Temple in my eyes. As far as I’m aware, in the few conversations I’ve had with Missus Lynette, they never ever turn a magical person away. No matter what you’ve done, it seems like their goal is to include Third Eyes in every aspect of their community.” he commented, sitting up to look at Britney’s reaction. He wasn’t saying it to get a rise out of her; it was genuine. This was the most genuine he could be.
"Better than us. Better than Sycamore. How you have the strength to call any of them your friends still is beyond me.”
Britney narrowed her eyes a little.
”I had one conversation with Lynette…” Britney began. ”... And that was enough for me. I got nothing but bad vibes from her! Leon too. She sent some Temple goons after us while we cared for Voidy.”
Britney sighed. ”I know they take in anyone, but that’s the problem… they’re, as it stands, a chaotic element and I can’t trust them. Leon neither. I’ve been keeping a silver fork in my purse just for him.”
Then Britney sighed again…. She was doing this a lot. Britney looked down at the fancy carpet that she dangled her feet over. ”But, a lot of Sycamore are my girls… and boys. You know, way back, I was befriending everyone. Trying to get everyone’s name. Because, we were losing people left and right, I wanted to be someone who wanted to remember them. Remember their contribution in the fight, even if it was small.”
Then she raised her head and looked at Edict, ”Because everyone else was too busy with themselves. So, I get a lot of them are real assholes and manchildren sometimes, but they’re still my people. I’m unsure how you look at it, but that’s how I see it.”
He shook his head, unable to consider her feelings. He didn’t understand how she couldn’t feel betrayed, or like she still had a connection to them. "I have a tattoo. A lot of them that you haven’t seen. But the biggest one on my back… It’s a big sycamore tree getting chopped down.” He told Linqian because she saw it, but he was telling Britney because he hoped that she’d see it one day. "I got it because I was hurt that I was betrayed. I felt like I had nothing but revenge left on my mind. I still taste it on my tongue when I see people now. Going to that meeting, I guess there was some part of me that wanted people upset. Like I wanted people to push me so I could throw it back at them.”
His face looked gripped with anxiety. Like there was something bigger wrong. "But now there’s feds! The PRA! And Kali was with them, God rest his fuckin’ soul. I never wanted anything bad to happen to that kid until he said he had a fucking badge. You know how I feel about those people.”
Britney shook her head.
”Auri said he just walked in there and flashed a badge,” Britney shrugged. ”... Did he really do that?” She awkwardly laughed.
”I wanted to talk about Kali… I mean, I’m sad he’s gone, but I’m not sad he’s gone,” She awkwardly laughed. ”Wasn’t it weird that he was one of the first to get killed…?”
"Hardly weird if you’re just going around flashing a badge to everyone… What, you think there’s a rat feeding the wolf info? Like someone saw that and fingered him-” Fingered, in the sense of pointing the finger was a poorly chosen turn of phrase. He remembered Britney’s pervy sense of humor, and scrunched his face.
”-If someone saw him with a connection and immediately chose him for execution, that would be smart. Besides him, it’s just Bianca Manalo left as far as I’m aware. She was with the other feds at the raid, and as far as I’m aware, she was at the stripclub when shit went down.” Greyson grimaced, not knowing how much information he could divulge without Britney starting to question who else’s head he’d been in.
”No, no, no… I mean,” Britney awkwardly looked off to the side. ”I don’t think the killer is one of us… At least, far as current members of Sycamore. I think it’s someone else… something else.”
She let her words hang in the air. ”... This does sound like a government purge, right? Mysterious killer who comes in at the perfect time and leaves zero evidence?”
She narrowed her eyes,
”Kali was just an unfortunate red herring.”
She shrugged.
”As far as Bianca goes… I think she was at the strip club? There was a lot of girls I didn’t know there, but… maybe I can just go have a word with her? Maybe get something out of her.”
Greyson’s face sunk. He definitely didn’t want Britney risking that sort of thing. ”Brit, girl, use your head. You think I want you getting any closer to some magical Feds than I do some magical Mafiosos? Doesn’t matter if she was one of us at one point, they pay her salary now.” He shook his head, standing up again to move toward the door.
His head popped out of the door, glancing around to see nobody. Greyson wrinkled his nose, listening to try and hear anything going on before he pulled back. ”Let the Hothead out front deal with it, they dated… I’m paying her good money to get the scoop, after all.”
”... Linqian?” Britney gave Edict the dumbest smile. ”Okay, um… okay, she’s my girl, I know. But, you’re trying to rely on Linqian of all people…?” She laughed afterward.
”I’m surprised she remembers to put her draws on half the time!”
”She only needs to see and hear things.” he turned to Britney with a massive grin on his face. ”You thought the Lotus was a pain in the ass before? You should see my spellbook at home, Brit. Ten spells in development. The formulas, the brain chemistry… I should’ve studied medicine… Sometimes, I imagined you being proud of me for working on it so diligently. Helped through the hard parts…”
He bit his lip and took a deep breath before shaking his head. ”Come on. Let’s not be gone too long, I don’t want people thinking we’re in here just plowing, y’know?” Greyson was about to turn to vacate the room, but his eyes got bright and wide. ”Wait… Do you want to make the evening a bit more fun?” he grinned evilly at her.
Britney winced.
”... Define fun.”
”Like something private. Something we can laugh about later but for now may take some skill and finesse…” he replied, his lip curling into his teeth.
”... God damn it we’re not fuckin’.”
”No, you fuckin’...” He moved closer to her, offering his hand to help her up off the bed. ”Linqian’s brother? He’s Kindled. And as far as I’m aware? She has no idea. It’d be fun to mess with him a little. And her…”
”Oooooooooh,” Britney mouthed. ”Hehe… my bad,”
”What did you have in mind?” Britney laughed.
”Standard shit? I… I blasted him thinking he was blind and hit his E-Field, so we had a little brain talk. He knows we’re magic, we know he's magic, she thinks he isn't. Person who drops the most subtle hints without getting called out wins?”
At that moment, he heard Linqian talking about his scotch from the other room. His fucking scotch.
”I don't think anyone wants to see my magic staff, Linqian, so you better put the fucking cap on it and have a little FUCKING PATIENCE!” he called out and down the hall with what he hoped came across as a playful tone.
He grinned at Britney. ”One to none… Easy as pie.”
Britney grinned back.
”... Deal,”
Then she extended a hand to him, then looked a him. She gave it a little shake.
”... It’s not going to hold itself, Greyson.
With a grin, hearing Linqian’s desperate pleas from the living room, Greyson took his love’s hand, holding it tight like it was going to be the last time again.
She/Her | 27 | Indo-Caribbean | 5’2” | 124lbs _______________________________________________ Superiority _______________________________________________ Skills & Talents "Yes, I’m better at that than you. Perhaps you should try harder." ___________________________________
Academics ⫻Anya is academically gifted, and had no choice to be anything else growing up. She was a straight A student, and got the highest degree grade possible. She doesn’t actually use her degree. She’s intelligent, but mainly in an academic rather than practical sense.
Musical Instruments ⫻From a young age Anya learned the piano and violin, and is skilled in playing both. This was something that came more from hard work than natural talent.
Imagination ⫻Anya has always been imaginative - in fact, as a child she was more interested in reading and writing than school. Her parents tried to stomp this out, but she was eventually able to channel it through a different medium - magic.
Spell Creation & Development ⫻It took Anya a while to truly discover what her affinity was, and since she’s been actively developing spells and improving those she already has. She’d count it as a skill, because she’s clearly better at it than everyone else.
Subtle Scamming (“Business Acumen”) ⫻ Anya’s business is partly a scam, as she offers to get rid of people’s bad dreams or aid their sleeping when she really only does it for one night - and uses it to manipulate and dig up information on people. She’s very good at selling it, ahd the fact that it’s a scam at all is well hidden.
Appearance ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "It’s not my fault that I have everything - good looks, intelligence, and strong powers. You should blame my parents."
With clear confidence in her appearance, Anya stands out even with her petite stature. She’s slim with long legs, but a bit of fat around her stomach from focusing more on books than exercising. Anya always dresses to look her best, with a preference for nice tops and skirts of varying lengths - from barely covering everything to well past her knees depending on her audience. She enjoys dressing up and has a large wardrobe, allowing her to vary from the normal with pretty dresses or turtleneck jumpers for the winter. The colours vary depending on what she’s feeling - muted greyscales to soft pastels to dark reds. Anya has enough of an interest in fashion to pick out nice outfits each day, specifically tailored to customers or the people she thinks she’ll be interacting with. Most of the time she’ll wear high heels, helping boost her height.
Anya has medium brown skin in a cooler, more reddish tone. She takes good care of it and is rarely found without makeup, another weapon in her repertoire to make an impression. Compared to her teen years of bright eyeshadows and long wings she goes for the more subtle looks now - a variety of brown eyeshadows with the occasional purple and champagne highlights along with minimal eye lining or subtle dark brown wings. Her sizeable lips are normally done in a two tone style, with a brown upper lip and edges and more pink shade to the lower lip. Sometimes she will change this to a more intense maroon and red. Her eyes are a medium brown with subtle green hints, looking almost hazel in the sunlight. Her black hair is incredibly thick and falls in waves down to her waist. She wears it in a variety of styles - loose, ponytails, loose buns and twin braids if she wants to change things up.
Anya has two lobe piercings, always adorned with earrings although they’re often covered by her thick hair. She used to have a septum piercing, which she got at sixteen, but she stopped wearing it in her early twenties so it’s mostly healed over.
Psychology ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "I'm the most important person in my own life. Everyone else is inconsequential.”
MAIN GOAL ⫻ Anya has two primary goals. To get rich, and to become a master adept. She is consistently working towards both through her business, and constantly improving her core spells while developing new ones. She wants to prove to her parents that she can make it without their help, and just how strong she is individually. Deep down, she also wants their love - genuine and without any requirements.
PHILOSOPHY ⫻ The strong and smart make it in life, and the weak are left behind. She believes in prioritising yourself above all others and making selfish decisions to save your own skin. Those with power deserve prestige and to be in charge, while those who can’t make it on their own don’t deserve to at all.
SECRETS ⫻ The fact that she’s running a less than legitimate business. While more legitimate than most “spiritual” businesses due to her abstraction, she doesn’t actually deliver the full service she claims to. She also, throughout the years, would visit the dreams of old Sycamore Tree coven members - observing only, but still intruding on their privacy. She also keeps hidden her constant fear of not being good enough, and insecurities that fuel her superiority complex, caused by her parents high expectations.
SEXUALITY ⫻ Grey aromantic heterosexual. Anya very rarely feels any romantic and has never wanted to pursue a relationship. She’s open to more casual relationships, and had one or two queer platonic ones during university. They didn’t last long.
FEARS ⫻ Losing everything she’s built. Being severed from her lux. Being beaten by other people and proven to be inferior. Not meeting the high expectations of her. Getting stuck in the dream world and never being able to escape.
REPUTATION IN OLD COVEN ⫻ Smart but arrogant. Anya came with a large amount of paranormal knowledge that she was willing to share, particularly about developing spells, but also arrogance about her own abilities. After all, she’d been doing this for years, so many of them were just beginners in her eyes. Anya’s arrogance clashed with a lot of other coven members, and while she was generally tolerable not many actually liked her.
ROLE IN THE BATTLE AGAINST THE STYGIAN SNAKE ⫻ Anya was not particularly useful in the battle against the Stygian Snake itself, something she’d vehemently deny. It was through joining the coven that she discovered her affinity with dream based spells. Before she only had spells she’d learned from family members which she had some affinity to, but it didn’t really match her. Her main use came later on when she was able to manipulating dreams, helping people who wanted to train in their dreams by changing their dreams to simulate battles against the Stygian Snake or apparitions. She also helped with strategy.
FLAWS ⫻ Anya feels superior to others. She went through her kindling event at only ten, and then went through intensive teaching of magic from her parents (even through her rebellious stage, she was training herself). She’s been improving and developing spells for seventeen years and thus thinks better than anyone who hasn’t. There are very few people she respects. Her people skills leave much to be desired when it comes to genuine connections. She’s incredibly analytical when it comes to people and relationships, and this can be her downfall when she tends to look at things much more logically than emotionally. A lot of relationships are transactional to her, business only rather than for genuine connections. She’s very good at putting on the airs, especially for her business, but not so much in her personal life. She’s selfish, only caring for herself and the two siblings she’s still close to. Anya has controlling tendencies, and will easily manipulate others to get what she wants and needs. She feels no guilt over this.
Backstory ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "I’m better because of the work I’ve put in, not because of the way I was brought up."
Anya was born to Ranjit Baksh and Ishani Maharaj, first generation Indo-Caribbean immigrants to the United States. Ishani moved to the US from Trinidad as a young girl, and Ranjit moved from Guyana for college. The two met during their college years and got together, both from romantic feelings and a shared desire to have a powerful legacy. Both were of strong adeptal lineage that recently mixed lux types. Ranjit was a purple and orange adept, while Ishani was a pink and gold adept. They hoped that together they could have children with multiple lux - four being the ultimate goal.
So after they graduated, they moved to St Portwell to make a life together. Ranjit became a highschool teacher while Ishani went on to get a PHD, eventually becoming a university lecturer (many years down the line). Only a few years after they moved they started having children together, four each two years apart. They had a girl (Nisha), a boy (Kiran), and then two more girls - Riya, and then the youngest being Anya.
Anya had a relatively normal upbringing for her younger years. Her parents were strict and her house busy, with three older siblings always enforcing their rules on the unruly youngest, but she never wanted for anything. She was a precocious, imaginative child who was either lost in books or running through the streets with her older siblings causing all sorts of trouble. Her parents tried to punish this out of her, forcing her into playing musical instruments and studying before she even started school, but her and her siblings always found a way to have fun.
She was only four when Nisha suddenly stopped spending as much time with her, then Kiran at six, and Riya when she was eight. Her parents claimed they had to study harder once they turned ten, but she didn’t understand why. She turned more to her books during this time, and started writing, much to her parents dismay.
Then Anya herself turned ten. For her tenth birthday the whole family was there - her four siblings, her mother’s parents, and her parents themselves, even though it was a Wednesday! She was even allowed to miss school, so she was on cloud nine. Her parents said they had a special gift for her, and when her siblings went to school they ushered her into the car. No matter how much she asked, anticipation growing higher and higher, they wouldn’t tell her where they were going. Eventually they reached one of the forests near St Portwell - a large, rarely visited place. Her parents led her deep inside. What was the surprise? Why were they in a forest?
There was no surprise. When they reached a secluded clearing and her parents turned on her. Suddenly there was a pressure on her mind she didn’t understand and her father attacked her with a glowing knife. The sudden fear for her life, combined with the anticipation she’d felt so suddenly dropping, forced her into a kindling event. People she’d never seen before appeared before her - her ancestors, they told her. There were four of them, from each family line, and they explained lux and magic to her.
When Anya woke up from the recollection she was back in the car. Her parents immediately questioned her - how many ancestors did she talk to, what did they tell her? Scared that they’d try to kill her again, Anya answered all their questions. The joy on their faces was unlike any she’d seen before. They explained everything to her. They hadn’t actually been trying to kill her, no, they loved her far too much. Instead they were inducing her kindling event through the threat to her life, with her mum applying mental pressure to her. That’s what they’d done to all of her siblings when they turned ten as well, the age they deemed old enough to start learning. But Anya was special. You see, they explained, they both only had two types of lux, and her siblings had three. But Anya? Anya had four.
It was a lot for Anya to digest, and she only had that day and night to do so. The very next day she was back to school, and then in the evening on top of the normal intensive studying she was brought into what her siblings had been doing - paranormal training. She started learning spells of them, reading book after book about adepts, and trying to develop her own. Suddenly there was a whole new world of stuff she had to be perfect at.
Anya suddenly got the most attention, something she’d hardly gotten before, but also the most pressure. Her siblings started to resent her and Anya started to resent them. It wasn't her fault she was so special, and better than them. Constantly being told how special she was started to inflate Anya’s ego, while also giving her a constant fear of not living up to their expectations. She worked herself to the bone trying to be perfect - getting perfect grades, learning more spells, and excelling in the instruments they wanted her to play. If she didn’t, they’d punish her and eventually stop loving her. But unlike her siblings, she struggled to develop her own spells. She could only learn off of her family. It was frustrating, especially when her siblings were too resentful to help her. She didn’t want their help anyway.
Her resentment towards them grew, and it grew towards her parents too. She reached the breaking point at age sixteen, when she suddenly wanted to have friends and go out rather than constantly being stuck inside learning. This was the beginning of her rebellious period, having constant explosive fights with her parents and frequently crashing on other people’s couches.
Then, the Stygian Snake started its reign of terror over the town. Her family didn’t plan to do anything about it - they’d protect themselves, and leave if necessary, but why solve this problem for no rewards? Anya held the same opinion too, until the only two friends she had were killed right in front of her while they were out together. She got away herself, but she couldn’t save them.
Because of this Anya found and joined the Sycamore Tree coven. She offered her paranormal knowledge, willingly passing on all of the spells she knew or hard tried to learn, and helping in any way she could. But it was always as if she viewed herself as better than them all. Like she was being oh so generous by helping them, and they should be grateful.
She wasn’t actually as useful as she claimed, dependent on spells she had little affinity with… Until a while in, when with the help of Britney (who somehow had more magical knowledge than her) she discovered her actual affinity. Anya stepped into a dream that night and never looked back. She was finally able to help, even if it wasn’t useful in the final battle.
With the Stygian Snake defeated, there wasn’t much reason for her to stay in the coven. But she did for a short while - partly due to the few she considered almost friends, and the use she could get from the group. Then they voted her out for her snooty attitude and the fact that she didn't condemn various 'wrongdoers' (Britney, Greyson, Sloane). Anya didn’t actually care. She moved on with her life, making up somewhat with her parents before going off to an ivy league college to do Chemistry. She spent more time developing and perfecting her dream spells than concentrating on her degree, but she did enough work to not disappoint her parents. There she reconnected with her oldest sister and brother, who’d both long moved out and cut off their parents. It was nice. Four years later she graduated with a good degree in a subject she didn’t care about, and moved back home.
It was tolerable. She got a decently paying job, and spent her free time on her abstraction. She kept up the contact with the two siblings she’d reconnected with, a secret from her parents, while still having a bad relationship with Riya, the sister closest in age to her - who still lived at home like her, and did everything she could to be their parents' favourite. Anya claimed not to care about that, even though she really did, because she was better. That was just a fact.
Her second breaking point with her parents came when she turned twenty three, just one year after moving back home. Riya had just gotten engaged, so Anya was next. Either she found someone herself or her parents set it up. Marriage wasn’t in Anya’s plans. She didn’t want to marry anyone ever, and told her parents that. This escalated and escalated until they threatened to kick her out if she didn’t get engaged. So Anya left herself.
Now as independent as she ever had been, Anya rented a small flat with her savings and quit her job. She set up her own small business - one of a “spiritual” nature, selling objects to ward away nightmares and offering more expensive dream related services. She ran this out of her livingroom at first, and then was successful enough to rent a small shop with a second floor she could live in.
Her business was relatively simple. She would get customers to come in and talk them through their dreams, including the sleeping problems it was causing. Then she would give them various options. She could ensure they had good dreams, or give them specific dreams. If they wanted she could have them dream of someone they lost. When they’d chosen she’d sell them a single use “dream” stone that would do just that. That night, Anya would go into their dream world. She would manipulate their dreams to be exactly as they wanted, while getting information about them she could use later. Then she would continue to sell them dream stones, that would ward away large nightmares while not being as effective. She also used the dreams themselves to manipulate her customers, pushing them to pay her large tips or buy more expensive products that did very little. This was how her business grew. It was scummy, but she didn’t care. Who was going to catch her?
She lived a good life, making money off her abstraction while constantly improving it. She never stopped learning and experimenting with spells, because being this good wasn’t enough - she had to be the best.
Then, someone started killing the coven members. At first Anya didn’t pay it much mind, because she couldn’t care less about them. Sure, she’d spent the last ten years occasionally visiting their dreams, but that was just to dig up dirt or out of pure curiosity. She’d moved past it. But then more died, and it was clear they were being targeted. Anya valued her life far too much to ignore it. So when Auri put out the call she decided to answer it… Though perhaps not right away.
Paranormal-Abilities ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "How naive to think you’re safe from your dreams."
ABSTRACTION DESCRIPTION ⫻ Anya’s main speciality comes with the ability to manipulate dreams. She sees dreams as a way into someone’s soul - to find out information they wouldn’t otherwise divulge, to manipulate their opinions and to ultimately control them. It took her a while to come to this conclusion, and discover her affinity.
Dream Weaving ⫻ Anya's main spell discipline, Dream Weaving is the art of entering and manipulating dreams. It's a unique combination of Anya's purple and pink lux, allowing her to physically enter dreams. She essentially teleports into the dream. The target must be asleep and dreaming for her to enter their dream world.
Dream Visit ⫻ The primary spell to Anya's Dream Weaving discipline, allowing Anya to enter a specific person's dream. This hinges on two conditions. First, the person must be asleep and dreaming. Second, she must have met them before. Once these conditions are met she can enter someone's dream. This takes both time and concentration, and she then teleports into their dream world - her physical body is in there, so her body isn't left behind. Entering a specific dream takes a lot of energy, so she can generally only visit two before she need to rest (either a minimum four hour sleep, or ten hours outside of the dream world). She can exit the dream at will, either to her previous physical location (where she entered the dream) or to another dream.
Dream Walking ⫻ A more dangerous variety of Dream Entry, where Anya can walk through the dreams of anyone. It’s much like walking down a dark path - she doesn’t know where she’ll end up, and can only pick a direction. She can move from dream to dream like this, not being limited in the number she goes to as it doesn't take as much energy as entering a specific dream, but it's risky. It's much easier for her to get trapped doing this or to walk into a dangerous dream and get hurt. She can exit this in the same way she does dream entry.
Dream Manipulation ⫻ Anya's primary and strongest spell, this allows her to change the dream she's currently in. It's possible for her to change any element of the dream. She can shift the dream to an entirely new location, or bring in a specific "person" (a dream version). She can manipulate the narrative of the dream, change the events going on. Each change takes time, and the amount of time is dependent on how large the change is. She can only change one aspect at a time - she can't change the environment while also removing the presence of something. She needs to layer them change by change, with each one taking energy and time. It's easier to manipulate a dream to something similar to what it already is. However, she's very adept at this spell and it's one of her best. She's been working on it for ten years to get faster and more efficient at manipulating it, to the point she can fully change a dream during the hours she's in it.
Dream Interaction ⫻ A passive spell that comes by virtue of Anya physically being within a dream, rather than accessing it with just pink lux. Anya can physically interact with the dream and the dreamer, just as it can interact back with her. This means she can move things in the dream, interact as if they were real ect. She can talk to and interact with the dreamer. But it also means that if anything in the dream hurts Anya, it's hurting her physical body. If she dies in the dream she's properly dead.
Dream Damage ⫻ A more advanced version of Dream Interaction, which allows Anya to interact with and damage the dreamers physical form through hurting them in her dreams. Any wound she inflicts on the dreamer will appear on their body. With active concentration, this will be damage caused by her or anything she holds. With more concentration and energy she can allow the dream itself to interact and damage the dreamer. In the case of the blind, it would be possible for the dream to kill them. She has never tried this before.
Subliminal Messaging ⫻ Based on pink lux knowledge Greyson Devola passed on to her, this is essentially Anya's version of dream 'More Than a Feeling.' This is unaffected by emotional fields, as she's already essentially infiltrated. This works by leaving subtle suggestions via the dreams, directly influencing the dreamer to wake up feeling inclined to follow the suggestion. These are typically simple messages, pushing people to return to her shop and purchase more of her wares. Or for them to wake up feeling content. Given enough time, she can paint much more intricate subliminal messages through the dream imagery in combination with her dream manipulation. This is quite energy and time consuming, compared to more simple suggestions. This is heavily based on the dreams themselves, and how likely the target is to follow through on a suggestion - as dreams often reflect their moods, and anything to jarringly different won't be followed.
Dream Exit ⫻ A spell that Anya is currently working on, but hasn't made any progress on. The aim is for it to allow her to exit the dream at the location of the dreamer, rather than from where she entered which is the 'default'. She wants to be able to choose which of the two to exit from. So far her attempts have been unsuccessful.
Dream Companion ⫻ Another spell Anya is working on, which would allow her to bring another person or physical object into a dream with her. Right now she is practicing with objects. She's been able to bring up to something as big as a tennis ball, but nothing larger. She tried a teddy bear recently, and the results weren't pretty.
Dream Boost ⫻ The third spell of her dream weaving Anya is working on, born from her own selfishness. She wants to be able to boost her own abstraction using the dream itself. This would essentially allow her to drain part of the dream to strengthen herself, thus allowing her to be more powerful within the dream itself and be able to manipulate it better. She is yet to succeed at any attempts of this spell.
Dream Inducement ⫻ This spell that Anya can use in the waking world to induce dreams in someone, rather than waiting for it to happen naturally. Anya either has to touch the person to induce dreams, or have something “anchoring her to them”. Specifically, they must have an object with a specific dreamer locator spell on it. When Anya induces a dream she can choose the general type of the dream - whether it's a good dream, or a nightmare. She can’t choose anything beyond that, it's otherwise the same as a normal, natural dream.
Dream Devices ⫻ Anya's second discipline, focusing primarily on using her orange lux to infuse objects with the aid of her other lux to enhance her dream weaving use, along with objects to manipulate dreams in her place.
Dream Inducer ⫻ A spell to infuse a small object with a dream inducer spell. This induces dreams in someone when they're asleep but not dreaming. This object needs to be close to them, at least within a metre. For example, put on a bedside table. Its useless if its too far away. This infusion lasts for approximately a week.
Nightmare Ward ⫻ Anya infuses a small object with a weak nightmare ward spell. If kept close enough this will reduce the number of nightmares someone has. Like the dream locator, it must be placed within a metre of the user. It only reduces nightmares. It doesn't keep away other bad dreams, such as stress dreams, nor does it guarantee good dreams.
Nightmare Inducer ⫻ The opposite of Nightmare Ward, Anya infuses a small object with a spell that increases the number of nightmares someone has. It has a slightly larger range, just having to be in the same room as someone (unless it's a really big room).
Dream Encapsulation ⫻ The main spell that Anya is working on, which would allow her to store a specific dream within an object. It is essentially her dream manipulation spell infused into an object, with specific dream "settings" chosen upon infusion. At the moment, she can infuse a tiny dream influence into an object - something like a plant appearing. The aim is for her to have three different types of Dream Encapsulation infusions, as follows:
Generic Dreams ⫻ The simplest type, which she is currently working towards. This would allow her to create objects with a basic dream stored in them. This object would then influence the dreams of a nearby dreamer, like Anya would within their dreams, to turn it into the stored dream. This would be generic scenarios without any person specifics - such as a nice picnic in a field, going to a beach, or a space adventure.
Specialised Dreams ⫻ A more complicated type, this infusion would include more complicated and tailor made dreams. This would include elements that only a specific person could have in their dream - people they know, for example. It could also be an incredibly specific scenario: for example, going on a date with a specific person at their favourite restaurant, with the music from a specific band playing. She hasn't made any progress on this part.
Variable Dreams ⫻ The most complicated type, combining white lux with the dream manipulation infusion. This would allow her to infuse a stone with a variable dream manipulation spell, with pink lux reading the users mind to tell what they want to dream about and then manipulating their dreams to follow their wishes that night. This is her ultimate aim, so that she no longer has to manipulate every dream herself. Currently she's very far away from making it happen.
Dual-Teleporter ⫻: Another spell Anya has been working on, but has no success with. It's technically unrelated to dreams but will allow her to return to a specific location after using dream exit to step out at a dreamer's location. The aim is to infuse two objects, with one acting as a location and the other an entry point. She would then use the entry point, on her person, to teleport to the location object. This would allow her to use basic teleportation where she otherwise can't. So far, she's been unsuccessful with it.
A Living Dream ⫻ Anya's third and final discipline, she has primarily focused her efforts on developing this over the last ten years. It taps into the gold lux she was unable to use during the battle against the Stygian Snake, much to her frustration. Her first success with a summoning spell was eight years ago. This discipline allows Anya to create creatures from her own dreams, nightmares she visited or a target's dream in the waking world.
Dream Creation Control ⫻ A key spell to Anya's living dreams, using her gold lux with a small amount of pink lux to allow Anya to fully control and manipulate her creations. She can give them commands telepathically, and they will follow them to the best of their ability. She can give any kind of command, but the creation won't neccesarily be able to follow them.
"Your Worst Nightmare Brought To Life" ⫻ Anya's primary summoning spell, she can create a creature from or based off one of the last two nightmares she visited. It's easiest to directly create something that was in the nightmare, such as creating a werewolf that she saw in the last nightmare she visited. She can form more abstract nightmares into a living nightmare - such as a nightmare about fire, allowing her to create some kind of monster made of fire. This takes more effort and concentration compared to directly creating what already existed. Anya can only summon one living nightmare, but is relatively unlimited by size. The larger it is the more difficult the spell is to cast and the longer it will take. A small to medium sized living nightmare would take a minute, and larger could take up to five. These living nightmares are completely solid, able to interact with the real world and fight like a creature of that type would. However they're also limited by the real world and have no emotional fields.
"My Dreams Are Reality" ⫻ Anya's secondary summoning spell, which is both more potent and limited. It allows her to create something from her last dream. Now, Anya can manipulate her own dream (within reason) just as she would anyone else's. She can manipulate her dreams to include a dream creature that she know's she'll need, and then summoning it when awake. However she can only summon from her own dream for up to two hours after waking up. This severely limits her, to the point that she can rarely use the spell efficiently. She can summon one large creature from her dreams, or multiple smaller ones - which is often her main use to help her tidy up her shop in the morning. Otherwise, it works like her living nightmare spell.
"Show Me Your Dreams" ⫻ A spell that Anya is still working on, this allows her to create a living dream directly from a target's last dream. This uses her pink lux to read the target's last dream from their mind, and then create something based off of that. She has to be able to see whoever she's targetting however emotional fields don't block it, as she's barely intruding. At the moment she can only use this to create a small minion, and she can't choose what it will be - it's completely random based off the dream.
From the time of her kindling event at age ten, until she went through her rebellious phase at sixteen and subsequently joined the coven, Anya primarily learned spells from her older siblings and parents - struggling to create her own. She has lower affinity for most of these spells, and basically doesn’t use them anymore due to them being weaker and having more limits.
Illusion Creation ⫻ A spell that would allow the caster to create a full illusion, Anya can only create a tiny and very subtle illusion. For example, the sound of something falling, or the illusion of a fly. She learned this from Nisha.
Portal Creation ⫻ Learnt from her mum, Anya can created a portal to somewhere else. To where, you ask? Well, Anya doesn’t know until she steps through the portal.
Telekinesis ⫻ Learnt from Kiran, Anya has a very rudimentary telekinesis spell. She can use telekinesis on an object up to 20g of weight.
Sharpen Object ⫻ A very basic version of a spell her dad could use, Anya can make an object sharper. The object has to already be sharp, though, or it doesn’t do much.
LIMITS ⫻
Dream Weaving ⫻ There are some general limits to Anya's dream weaving spells. She can only be in any dreams that aren't her own for five hours, and one specific dream for up to three hours. To enter a dream, the target must be asleep and dreaming. If they wake up she's forcefully teleported out. Since Anya is physically in a dream, she can be hurt by it. She could be hurt enough to get killed. While Emotional-Field’s generally don’t affect her spells (being non offensive in nature), Paranormals can sense something’s off with their dream. It's possible for them to even notice her presence, realise she’s not part of the dream or actively seek her out in their dream.
Dream Visit ⫻ Anya needs to have met whoever's dream she's entering. She can only enter two in a night before she needs four hours minimum of sleep, or ten hours outside of dreams.
Dream Walking ⫻ Anya can enter about ten dreams during dream walking, before she needs four hours minimum of sleep, or ten hours outside of dreams. Anya can't choose where she's going, only the direction she's walking in. The dreams she walks into are completely random, and she could walk into a dangerous situation.
Dream Manipulation ⫻ Dream manipulation takes time and energy. The bigger a change, the longer it will take. Adding in a new element will take seconds for something small, to minutes for something large. Bringing in a dream person could take up to ten minutes. Changing the entire dream, such as a peaceful dream to a warzone, would take an hour or two in total for all the elements to be changed. There's a risk of "overloading" the dream if she adds too many conflicting elements, which could rebound and hurt her. The dream doesn't pause during the manipulation. Changes also take energy, and the larger changes she makes the more likely she is to exhaust herself and have to leave a dream early.
Dream Interaction ⫻ Anya is physically limited by how she can interact with a dream. She can't interact with something that's outside of her reach. She can't do anything she couldn't do in the real world if she's not using her dream manipulation spell.
Dream Damage ⫻ Using this spell is incredibly taxing on Anya. Hurting someone through a dream is difficult, and will exhaust her enough that she'll likely have to leave the dream immediately afterwards. It requires complete concentration. Emotional-fields protect against it, she can't just kill someone with them in their dream.
Subliminal Messaging ⫻ Anya can only leave one subliminal message, and it can't be anything too complicated. If the suggestion conflicts with what the person would normally do or their personality, it's likely it won't be followed through. Something jarringly different from the rest of the dream will also be ignored. These suggestions or emotion changes need to be done through dream imagery, which can be time consuming for anything more complicated.
Dream Companion ⫻ Currently, Anya can't bring anything bigger than a tennis ball and she hasn't tried it with anything sentient. It's more exhausting to bring something into a dream with her.
Dream Boost ⫻ The boost will directly correlate to the amount Anya drains from a dream, and eventually she will run out of elements to take. It takes time to draw the energy from them. At the moment, she can't use this spell.
Dream Devices ⫻ Anya can currently infuse about five a day of her first three dream objects. The rest she can't properly do yet, but will be slower when she can.
Dream Inducer ⫻ This infusion last approximately a week. The object needs to be within a metre of the person for it to work.
Nightmare Ward & Nightmare Inducer ⫻ The object needs to be kept within two metres to be effective. The infusion only lasts for two weeks. It only increases or decreases nightmares, it doesn't guarantee a major change in dreams.
Dream Encapsulation ⫻ Anya currently can't really use this spell, and it takes a lot of energy to use. She can only infuse an object so that it makes very minor, near neglible, manipulations to dreams. It needs to be within a metre to be effective.
Dream Exit ⫻ Currently can't use this spell.
A Living Dream ⫻ There are a few general limits to her living dreams. She can only have only have a living dream summon from one dream - so if she creates from her own dream and then wants to do something from a nightmare, she must dispell the one from her dream. Her creations only last for up to thirty minutes, but anything past fifteen starts to physically drain her to the point she could pass out. The larger her living dream the more energy she will have to use to create it, and control it. She has to be able to see her creation to be able to control it. Her creations don't have emotional fields, making them weak to magical attacks. They are limited physically by what they could do - even if they were 'magical' in a dream (like a ghost) they won't be in reality (she hopes to make this possible one day).
"Your Worst Nightmare Brought To Life" ⫻ Anya can only create one living nightmare. A small one, about half her size, would take a minute to create. One of her size a couple of minutes, and anything larger up to five. While these living nightmares generally recognise their creator and won't hurt her even if she isn't controlling them, that isn't guaranteed. The larger, the more unstable. Abstract nightmares made into creatures double the time taken and use more energy, compared to a direct creation.
"My Dreams Are Reality" ⫻ This can only be used within two hours of her dream, making it severely limited. She can create multiple small, identical creatures, or one larger one. She can only use this once, before she needs to sleep and dream again. It takes about two minutes to cast.
"Show Me Your Dreams" ⫻ This spell is quite limited at the moment. She can only create a small minion based on the dream she read, and doesn't choose what it is from the dream - instead it's relatively random. She has to see the person she's reading a dream of. It's quite a risky spell as she doesn't really know what she'll get until it exists.
Anya is pretty shit at most of these spells to the point they are practically useless.
Illusion Creation ⫻ She can only create really small illusions, three times a day, which last for up to five minutes.
Portal Creation ⫻ Anya can’t choose the location of the exit portal. It’s two ways, but only lasts for five minutes. She can only do it once a day.
Telekinesis ⫻ Anya can only levitate an object of up to 20g of weight. It's blocked by emotional fields, but she couldn’t use it on any person anyway.
Sharpen Object ⫻ A non sharp object won’t be affected by this spell. It can only make objects such as knives cut a bit better. Emotional fields completely block it, so she can’t sharpen a table knife and then kill a paranormal with it.
WEAKNESSES ⫻
Attempting to exert excessive control or make too many changes within a dream could destabilize the dream environment. Anya's manipulation may introduce conflicting elements or disrupt the natural flow of the dream, leading to instability within the dream realm and possibly collapse - ending the dream then and there and forcing her back to the real world. Anya's attempts to manipulate dreams may provoke resistance or backlash from the dreamer's subconscious. If the dreamer's subconscious rejects Anya's alterations or perceives her presence as a threat, hostile anomalies within the dream could manifest and force her out of it. Overloading the dream environment with excessive changes or manipulations can lead to unintended consequences or unforeseen outcomes. Anya's alterations may also create unexpected scenarios that escalate out of control, leading to the collapse of a dream. The more Anya interacts with nightmares, the greater the risk of succumbing to their malevolent influences. Prolonged exposure to nightmares can corrupt her thoughts, emotions, and perceptions, blurring the line between reality and illusion. She may struggle to distinguish between dreams and waking life, experiencing hallucinations or delusions that threaten her grasp of reality. If Anya is injured in a dream, the injuries transfer to the real world, and if she is killed in someone's dreams, then she dies in real life.
Summoning creatures from dreams can be mentally taxing, especially if Anya attempts to summon complex or large entities. After prolonged use, she may experience mental fatigue, headaches, or even lose control over her creations. In addition, Living Nightmares drains Anya's stamina and energy reserves rapidly. Extended use of this spell can leave her exhausted and vulnerable to subsequent threats. Maintaining telepathic control over her creations requires intense concentration and cognitive focus. Anya's control may falter if she becomes overwhelmed, potentially leading to her creations acting unpredictably. They may behave erratically or even turn against Anya if they perceive her as a threat, posing a danger to friends and foes alike.
Also, there is a chance that Anya may randomly enter the Dreams of the dreaded Trevor Obott. The more dreams Anya enters a night, the more likely she'll accidentally enter his dreams. Even if Shimmer's Trevor is dead, due to magic bullshit I won't explain; she'll just enter the dreams of an alternate Trevor. And every one of them is just as terrible as Shimmer's Trevor.
Other ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "I’m so much stronger than when we last met."
Drake.Blackmore
"I don’t understand what Jade saw in him." _______________________________________________
Usefulness: 4/10. Strong, but too reckless. Refuses to listen to those that know better than him.
Drake was a typical case of someone with a strong abstraction who couldn’t use it wisely. Instead he would just run headfirst into danger and drag everyone else along with him. No wonder his wife died. Anya feels sympathetic for what happened, but it doesn’t change her dislike for Drake. His inability to stop and think frustrated Anya to no end. She hopes he’s matured after all these years, but doesn’t particularly want to meet him again anyway.
Britney.Williams
"She has nothing to feel guilty for." _______________________________________________
Usefulness: 8/10. Smart, resourceful, does what needs to be done.
Once it came out that Britney had been adjoining other people non consensually, Anya was one of her few supporters. While she wasn’t especially vocal about it, as that would be a bad look for her in the group, she was very clear with Britney privately that she didn’t see a problem with what she’d done and tried to talk more neutral members of the group around. Anya honestly doesn’t think Britney did anything wrong. She did what had to be done under the circumstances. Really, she’d saved many people’s lives. Everyone else just didn’t have the guts to do it.
Alizée.Altieri
"All that power yet she can’t decide what to do with it." _______________________________________________
Usefulness: 2/10. Her personality destroys any use her abstraction would bring.
Anya doesn’t understand how such a man as smart as Jinhai could have such a stupid, irritating twin. Perhaps something went wrong when they were both developing. Anya has practically no good opinions about Linqian - not only is she a bitch, but she wields her abstraction with little thought to the consequences. While Anya was saddened to hear of Jinhai’s death, as he was one of the best of the group, she has no plans to offer sympathies to someone like Linqian. It was a shame she didn’t die instead.
Luca.Oliviera
"Ah, poor Luca. If only he’d move on and use the gift Britney gave him." _______________________________________________
Usefulness: 3/10. Too much of a coward to fully use his power. Pathetic.
Another one of Britney’s “victims”. Anya doesn’t know Luca well, since he joined late and she didn’t last that long in the coven afterwards. It was clear he wanted rid of the apparition and Anya didn’t approve of that. Surely he could learn to control it if he tried hard enough? Though his dreams recently have been quite disturbing, so maybe there’s something going on there.
Sloane.Faris
"It's a shame that Sloane doesn’t know how to fake friendliness. She’d get so far if she could." _______________________________________________
Usefulness: 8/10. Would be more beneficial if she learned tact. One of the most useful abstractions.
While Anya disagrees with Sloane’s idea that it was their duty to protect St Portwell, there were plenty of other things they saw eye to eye on. There was a shared “sympathy” (as much as either could feel that) over the state of their abstractions during the Stygian Snake era, with Sloane having lux types that were difficult to blend and Anya having so many she didn’t know what to do with them. However Sloane thought too little of her contributions, which frustrated Anya, and Anya thought too much of her own. Anya kept in touch with Sloane after the coven dissolved, as she was useful. It was a mutually beneficial relationship when Anya returned to St Portwell - through her dream visits Anya could help persuade former coven members to hand over their artifacts, and could use it to find others that needed to be stored away. Anya agreed that it was best they were in the hands of someone sensible, but didn’t want to take the risk on herself. Sloane was the perfect choice. This eventually grew into a genuine friendship. Anya has a good opinion of Sloane, and is unbothered by her demeanour. She’s learned to easily read the small changes in Sloane’s facial expressions, and understands her completely. She’s likely the only person Anya considers a friend.
Lately, Anya’s slightly concerned that she’s growing to care for Sloane too much.
Tayla.Choi
"Without lux she doesn’t exist to me." _______________________________________________
Usefulness: 0/10. Severed herself from her lux, useless.
Anya knows that Tayla no longer has an abstraction thanks to visiting her dreams, and thus has a very low opinion of her. She’s just resigned herself to a life on the bottom rung without an abstraction, and has made herself incredibly vulnerable. Anya hopes for all of their sakes that she doesn’t come back.
"Edict".Devola
"It’s a shame the old leaders were too virtuous to see his uses." _______________________________________________
Usefulness: 7/10. Knows how to use what he has to his advantage.
Anya and Edict have a mutually beneficial agreement to work together, and have kept in contact for the past ten years. They meet in his dreams, resulting in knowing things about each other that normally wouldn’t be shared. Anya doesn’t trust Edict and knows he doesn’t tell her everything, but the reverse is true as well. He is one of the few people she can truly be herself around - he knows what she’s really like, and there’s no problem there. There’s mutual respect between the two, and they work well together. It’s difficult for Anya to tell whether she actually likes Edict, or merely views him as a business partner. His company can be enjoyable, but equally irritating. But overall they get on well, and there’s an ease between them. Their close relationship and working together is kept secret from everyone else, however, as it benefits neither of them for it to be out in the open right now.
Kali.Mahendra
"Shame, that he died.." _______________________________________________
Usefulness: 9/10. Strong abstraction and knowledge, too much of an ego.
Jack is one of the few people in the coven that Anya “gets on with”, in that she can have an equal conversation with him where she’s normally looking down on everyone else. If anyone’s close to her equal it would be Jack. Back in the day she was happy to pass on what she’d learned from her family to him, spending time together pouring over books and trying to figure out new spells. They had incredibly similar passions, and egos - which is the main area they clashed. There were some heated arguments between Jack and Anya about who’s way was best, who’s idea was right, but that’s water under the bridge. The fact that Anya actually deigned to have arguments with him, rather than just dismissing him, show’s how much she thinks of him. It’s not so much a past friendship, though, as a mutually beneficial partnership to improve their magic and knowledge.
"Sully".McPherson
"I can’t believe Sloane let him take the chalice back. It was much safer with her." _______________________________________________
Usefulness: 0/10. A bumbling fool. The chalice would be better used in another’s hands.
The only positive thing Anya has to say for Sully is that he supported Britney near the end of the coven, the only time he actually used his single brain cell. Otherwise Anya has nothing but disdain for him. He used an ancient artifact to provide teenagers with beer, turning the coven into a party house when it should have been a place for learning and getting rid of paranormal threats. He was incredibly unreliable and ran when the going got tough. All in all, it would have been better for everyone if someone more sensible had the chalice.
Everleigh.Thorn
"I’m sure prison will treat her well." _______________________________________________
Usefulness: 4/10. Strong but uncontrollable. Just as likely to be a danger as it is to be an aid.
Ten years ago, Anya both got on with and clashed with Leon. They had their similarities coming from long, proud lines of adepts, and his mastery of orange lux ultimately helped her figure out hers when it was the one she struggled with most. However, his self decided role of an enforcer was just irritating. When you put two people with superiority complexes in the same room it’s difficult for either of them to come out happy. So while Anya would go to him (reluctantly) for help with her orange lux, she also disliked the way he acted superior (ironically) and pushed his ideals on others. When he sacrificed his lux to seal Lady Lelou inside of him, she lost most of the good opinions she had of him. Adjoined had their places, but his lux had been too impressive to be worth the sacrifice.
Stormy.Carson
"He pushes his morals on all of us as if we should care." _______________________________________________
Usefulness: 7/10. A strong protection is needed for others to shine.
Anya feels mostly neutral towards Stormy. He was smarter than the other “jocks” of the group, and less reckless - along with being irreplaceable in the battle against the snake. However, he was one of the most vocal against Britney. Morals always got in the way of strength, and Stormy was the type to not back down when he’d decided something was wrong. Anya just couldn’t get along with someone like that.
"Lyss".Burns
"I enjoy visiting her dreams." _______________________________________________
Usefulness: 6/10. A personal army she could easily turn against us if she wished to.
Lyss’ dreams are some of the more interesting ones, so Anya does enjoy visiting them. Lyss didn’t socialise much in the old coven, and she always held back a bit - which Anya didn’t approve of. But her abstraction was a strong one, used relatively well. She isn’t one for moral grandstanding like many of the others, which does improve Anya’s opinion of her slightly. They didn’t talk too much, so Anya views Lyss mostly neutrally - if with the view she could do more with her lux.
Evelynn.Serenelight
"I suppose your opinion is formed from a supposed future? But what about the ones you’re not telling us about?" _______________________________________________
Usefulness: 0/10. A false prophet, rarely predicting anything useful.
Evelynn seems to hate Anya, and Anya thinks very little of her. As a result, Evelynn’s opinions of her also matter little. Ten years ago Evelynn “used” her abstraction to help them see future possibilities and draw up plans, but so often it didn’t lead to an outcome any better than one without them. And how much was she keeping from them? And now? Is Evelynn foreseeing all of their deaths and keeping it to herself? Anya doesn’t trust Evelynn, though she keeps this to herself and just treats her coolly. There’s no point giving someone like her the time of the day.
Lila.Blackwood
"If you have a problem, I will try to help. No, I don’t mind that your friend dislikes me." _______________________________________________
Usefulness: 5/10. Has so much potential, but refuses to use it.
Anya has a relatively neutral, if barely existent, opinion of Lila. She didn’t do anything notable ten years ago, and Anya only knew she existed because she made it her job to know and remember everyone. She’s changed a lot since she came back, it seems. There’s more crows, and more of a backbone. Anya plans to observe her - both in the waking and dreaming world - to see if she could be an ally when away from her antagonistic friends.
Jasper.Wilde
"It’s alright. Many don’t recognise brilliance until it hits them in the face." _______________________________________________
Usefulness: 2/10. Wastes his talent by fixating on a hatred for someone much better than him.
Just as Jasper dislikes Anya by association, Anya dislikes Jasper for his hatred of Sloane. It’s unfounded and quite frankly incredibly irritating. What little goodwill she had towards him was quickly destroyed by his actions, and she still doesn’t have good opinions of him. She would gladly knock him down a peg or two, but generally treats him as she does everyone else - diplomatically, with a few snide jabs. It’s not her fault he’s not smart enough to see who are the ones in this coven who can truly help them all, and who have been holding everything together for the past ten years. There’s no use wasting her time on the opinion of the weak.
Adora.Phoenix-Prescott
"Yes, Lisa’s death was your fault. What are you doing to fix that?" _______________________________________________
Usefulness: 1/10. Too busy wallowing in self pity to do anything useful.
Anya once had a high opinion of Adora. Along with Clementine and Vanessa, she was a powerhouse of the coven. It’s safe to say they wouldn’t have survived without those three. But after Lisa’s death she abandoned her abstraction, and has barely progressed from there. If she feels so guilty, why not do something about it? What is there to grieve ten years over? Anya doesn’t understand, and just finds her pathetic. She needs to move on and do something with herself. Thankfully, her dreams are more interesting than the rest of her life - and have given Anya plenty of material to work with.
Layla.Hyacinthus
"I’m afraid you chose to side with the wrong Apparition." _______________________________________________
Usefulness: 1/10. Not much of an issue before, more dangerous now. Painfully naive and easy to manipulate.
Anya viewed Layla as little more than one of the many fighters in their ranks, hardly remembering her name and face. She contributed very little against the Stygian Snake and came with issues too annoying to be dealt with. Her opinion of her has only grown lower upon finding out how easily she was manipulated by the Void, and the House of Cards in turn. While Anya wouldn’t care, she agrees with Greyson that the House of Cards will be a problem - and Layla could be, in turn, so she’ll work with him to deal with it. Whether that means manipulating Layla herself… well, that’s something she’s considering.
Clancy.Patrick
"I’m sorry for your loss, at such a young age." _______________________________________________
Usefulness: ?/10. An unknown. Needs more investigation.
Anya didn’t know Ashley had a cousin, even with all her dreamwalking. On the outside, she’s welcoming to him - taking his leads and offering condolences. But she’s suspicious of him, and plans to keep an eye on him even if he’s just a kid. Most kids don’t climb down from a church’s rafters.
Kenshiro.Murakin
"His adventures in other realms are sometimes more interesting than dreams." _______________________________________________
Usefulness: 8/10. Strong, well trained. Lacks some flexibility and has grown reckless.
While Anya and Kenshiro aren’t particularly friendly, he is one of the few people she respects. Just like her, he comes from a long lineage of adepts. That gave a base level of respect, and his strong magic made him someone Anya viewed as an equal. There was a hint of jealousy there, too, for how easily Kenshiro seemed to be able to use his gold lux - the one type Anya was unable to tap into during the Stygian Snake, even with help from people like him. But she kept this hidden. After all, they were very different magically. Kenshiro learned spells from spellbooks passed down from his family, and Anya had to develop her own. Anya views Kenshiro as one of the more useful, and tolerable, members of the old coven.
Aaron/Aryin.Thorne
"Like attracts like, no wonder they’re so close to Linqian." _______________________________________________
Anya doesn’t have a particularly positive view of Aaron/Aryin - especially as Aryin. The restriction of lux type to form seems ridiculously limiting to her. While how it works is interesting, Anya doesn’t particularly care past that. They were in different circles and had very little reason to interact ten years ago. She hopes to keep it that way.
Amara.King
"Her dreams are a little difficult, with so many of her." _______________________________________________
Usefulness: 7/10. Strong abstraction, dangerous side effects.
Anya and Amara got on reasonably well, ten years ago. Amara came up with good battle plans which Anya agreed with, and was strong enough in a fight to gain some respect that way. Her friendliness with everyone was always something Anya found… irritating. Perhaps because she didn’t understand it.
”Luna”.Inoue
"A spy among our ranks that we don’t need back." _______________________________________________
Anya never trusted Luna, and was never friendly with her. This worked in her favour when it was revealed she was working for a St Portwell mafia recruiting teenagers. This tarnished Anya’s view of her further, along with the House of Cards itself. What kind of group needed barely functional teenagers to keep running?
Knowing that the House of Cards is causing issues makes Luna a person of interest for her right now.
Bé.Rochefoucauld
"He’s a kindred spirit, I suppose. We understand each other were others do not." _______________________________________________
Usefulness: 8/10. Smart, useful abstraction, like Sloane could learn some tact.
Anya and Bé understand each other, even if they’re not exactly friends. With them both lacking in empathy there just isn’t that need there for them to get emotionally close to each other. But they’re very similar, and Bé is one of the few people Anya can be a bit more of herself around without the friendly and good facade she’s built up. She does find the fact he doesn’t bother to hide it like she does a bit infuriating, while simultaneously being jealous of it. She doesn’t have the family money to fall back on - or family at all. But overall, Anya has a positive view of Bé - he’s one of the people in the previous coven she was closest to.
Luca looked at Lila’s arm and winced. To outsiders, it was probably no worse than the rotting wounds across his own arms, but to him it absolutely was. It was someone else, and was caused by feathers physically pulling themselves inside her skin. That must be excruciating. At least his pain was constant, if increasing.
”That’s their healer,” Luca said to Lila, pointing at Trevor with his incredibly recognisable voice. ”If they don’t help I have painkillers on me, and plenty of bandages and other stuff at mine!” His voice grew softer, so that just Lila could hear. ”We can talk too. About this.”
He smiled at her and took a step back so hopefully Trevor could come around and heal her. He got closer to Jasper again, half leaning against him. The walk over to Lila had taken a lot out of him. His legs were aching, and he felt a tiredness deep in his bones. He knew that it would hit him even harder tomorrow, especially after the rot came back.
”Yeah, I think heading home is for the best,” Luca eventually replied to Jasper with a nod. The Halloween Festival had been appealing, and they hadn’t done much of it but… at the end of the day his friend’s comfort was more important. Lila’s comfort. And he wasn’t really physically able to enjoy it. There was always next year!
If I’m still around next year.
”Oh, we can watch some more horror movies, since I downloaded so many!” He glanced at his friends with a grin, gaze settling on Lynn. ”And avoid drunk toga conga lines… what even is that? Is that a normal thing?”
As he thought about that weird concept, a petal floated past his eyes. Then another one. Suddenly broken up bits of flowers were flowing all around them, like a gentle snowfall of petals. Luca reached out to catch one, holding it between his fingers and smiling at it. He hadn’t touched a flower in so long. But where were they coming from? It wasn’t a freak flower weather event was it?
He craned his neck to look up, glancing around the sky- Oh!
”Is that Ken?” He pointed to the familiar floating figure, before waving. It had been a while since Luca last saw Ken, but he was one of the people he'd been able to keep contact with. It was nice to see him again... he could come along to Luca's place as well if he wanted to! ”Hey, Ken! Kennn!”
Anya raised an eyebrow. What did Ezra Vanburen know of Sloane’s many ‘difficult nights’? To Anya, those currently boiled down to three things: Trying to protect a city that didn’t want protected, trying to protect herself and an unruly rabble from a magical serial killer, and having all her artifacts taken by an unknown thief. None of these were things Sloane would have told him… probably. Was there another issue Anya didn’t know about?
Well, that didn’t matter right now.
”Call me Anya, then,” Anya smiled, reaching out to shake his hand. It was a well practised and well done action - firm enough to show purpose, but not too firm to be overbearing. Her hand was small and smooth, with soft skin that was carefully taken care of. She didn’t balk away from eye contact, gaze confident and neutral. Two shakes, and she retracted her hand. ”I’m the third Ms Baksh, so I’m not too fond of that. It is rather unfortunate Sloane is facing so many problems… And it is difficult to have the right timing with her. Sometimes you have to force it.”
She followed his gaze towards Sloane’s rapidly disappearing back. Of course, the good friend thing to do was to follow Sloane. The honest thing to do would be to completely ignore Sloane, and push her business. Of course, Anya chose to toe the line of both - acting like a truly caring friend, while still pursuing her own desires.
"My other friend is going to talk to her," Anya gestured towards Jack... Who had disappeared. Because of course he had. He was too reliant on his abstraction to just walk anywhere. "The two of them need to discuss their issues without me there. I would just be intruding unnecessarily. I have approximately fifteen minutes until I’ll be needed. If I’m wrong and needed, I’m sure she’ll call me."
Anya carefully opened her handbag and pulled out a business card. It was neat and to the point, with ‘Boundless Dreams’ written in dark purple, cursive text on the front along with, with the s curling out to a cloud. Underneath was her name in much smaller writing, and on the back was a phone number and address.
”What I do would be most simply described as consultations, with a focus on dreams, and specialised services.” She watched him carefully as she held out the business card. There was no point going into the details if he was going to dismiss it immediately. Of course, he was someone she’d try her hardest to impress… But if she couldn’t convince him to take a locator stone (for free, of course), to then prove her services, she wouldn’t get anywhere. ”That’s just the basics, of course. There’s much more to it than that.”
Ezra took the business card and ran his thumb over the print, his reaction to the initial pitch quite muted. Frankly, it would be impossible to tell if the tightening of the brow and quick twitch of the lip when Anya mentioned dreams was a dismissive smirk foreshadowing the conclusion of this conversation or simply the face of a man trying to read the small font in poor lighting. He reached into his suit jacket and pulled out a sleek and polished dark steel card holder, flicking it open with a satisfying snap to reveal a daunting spectrum of other business cards. Ezra didn’t give the impression of being the kind of man who’d tolerate clutter with his personal effects, meaning there was quite the horrifying possibility that the dozen and a half cards or so had all been handed to him today. His hand turned ever so slightly, masking where in the holder Anya’s business card made it, as he tucked it back into his pocket.
“One would hope. It’s niche. It’s really niche,” said Ezra, almost to himself, his arms crossed with the look of a proper skeptic etched on to his face.
“However, niche doesn’t equate to bad. There could be a market. Some people always want to share their dreams and try to grasp meaning from what are essentially just random images caused by the firing off of neurons, but most people also tend to glaze over when someone recites their dream to them, typically around the time the third or forth ‘it was you but it wasn’t you’ is being uttered,” said Ezra. “A hirable consultant lets the one camp share to their hearts content while sparing me from having to hear about how my sister spoke with an angel yet again.”
Ezra smiled to show that he did not intend to offend even though his words were coded with condescension.
“I’d want to hear more about these specialized services, but before that I’d like to know more about you, Anya, other than how it sounds that, like me, you’re also burdened with siblings,” said Ezra. The smile lingered, as did his gaze. “What are your qualifications? Your credentials? Why go to you instead of the shrink down the hall?”
Anya was unbothered by the clearly condescending words. When you were confident in yourself and your abilities, and knew your worth, other people's opinions rarely affected you. It didn't matter who those opinions came from. At the end of the day, she knew she would make it, with or without his investment. It would greatly speed up her future plan, but wasn't necessary. She wasn't intimidated by his scepticism or the sheer amount of business cards he already had. It would be his loss if he didn't invest in the end, after all.
"If dreams are, as you say, random images caused by firing off neurons, then so are all our thoughts," Anya said evenly, her smile not wavering. She had perfected smiling, and all the minute changes to make to go from a joyful friendly smile to a more polite business one. "Dreams reflect the aspects of us we don't even see. Along with this, our sleep quality affects our ability to function during the waking day, and this in turn is affected by dreams. Say you dream of being late to work, and wake up panicked about that - your day is already off to a bad start and that anxiety will linger. Dreams can often point to the problem, and solving dream related sleep issues can massively improve quality of life."
She spoke calmly, with enough passion for it not to appear like she was reading off a script but not so enthusiastic it was overwhelming. Of course, she was genuinely passionate about her work, but she knew the correct way to show that.
"I am significantly less burdened than you," Anya laughed lightly. She only had three siblings, after all. "As for qualifications... I minored in neuroscience, though I took enough extra credit courses that it was close enough to my major. Unfortunately, my major itself is useless for the business - Chemistry at my parent's behest. I am currently pursuing a part time masters in Cognitive Neuroscience around my business. I have at least four certificates in dream analysis and psychology, and I've been independently studying it for ten years. I've read the majority of books about the field. Some are absolute nonsense, of course. My business related qualifications are lacking, but I have experience aiding both friends and family. I helped my older brother set up his business and took my own from something I ran out of my living room to an independent shop. As for why anyone should go to me, rather than another? Expertise. A normal therapist has a much broader but shallower understanding. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that no one else knows as much about this subject as I do."
Her lips pulled up into a wider smile, the spider painted on her cheek creasing slightly. It was confident and more genuine, her dark eyes lighting up slightly. Perhaps it was because she had gotten to talk about all her own achievements, or perhaps it was confidence in what she was about to say. ”And I can guarantee that I'm the only one who can actively change people's dreams for them.”
Ezra laughed, but it died when he realized Anya had not just been blowing hot air. The other shoe was right on time just moments after Anya had legitimately impressed the man with her knowledge and accolades. Often he expected the people he was dealing with to be working some kind of angle, or padding their resume, or just outright lying, but he had detected no falsehoods in any of Anya’s statements. Even the impossible guarantee had been spoken with such an earnesty that for a moment Ezra had actually believed that she believed it.
“Anya, I’ve unfortunately been raised to be an honest man. While it pains me to do it to someone who seems so wonderfully driven and thoughtful, I am required to call bullshit,” said Ezra, actually sounding sorry. “I’ve been forced to attend enough TED Talks on magical thinking and the power of belief to know that while you could influence what a person thinks and dreams, there’s no actual tangible way to guarantee that any of it sticks and they don’t go back to standing in front of their classroom naked. False promises like that are liable to doom a potential prospect.”
Ezra gave his words a moment to sink in and then continued, “But having said all of that, let’s pretend that I’m a dishonest man. I owe that much to you for giving me advice on how to handle Ms. Faris. So assume that instead of saying bullshit, I said elaborate.”
Ah. Anya did regret, for a moment, bringing up changing dreams. A drunken slip up, perhaps. It was the least believable to people more grounded in reality, even if it was something she could do. Sticking to her very real and impressive qualifications would have been the smarter move, and one she would have made if she wasn’t three cocktails in. But words couldn’t be taken back, and there was no point dwelling on that. ”Point taken. I’ll take that one out of the next pitch I make.”
She smiled, seemingly not upset in the slightest about him calling it bullshit. It was only a reasonable reaction. Loathe as she was to admit it, that had been a blunder on her part. Thankfully her friendship with Sloane was once again showing its benefits.
”There’s no magical thinking or power of belief involved.” Only actual magic itself. ”Dreams are essentially just electrical impulses in the brain, which can be studied and influenced. It’s possible to generate signals for the brain to read that influence dreams - from subtle changes to make them slightly better, to completely dictating what a dream should be piece by piece. The process is… complicated, but entirely founded in science. It’s based on a combination of neuroscience and dream psychology. By studying the electrical signals the brain creates during a specific dream, it’s possible to recreate it or figure out entirely different ones.”
Anya opened her handbag again, carefully looking inside it. She pulled out a small, black box. It looked rather unassuming but it was actually filled with complicated circuitry. Of course, that didn’t do anything she’d described. That was all nonsense, of course. As qualified as she was, and as good as she was with neuroscience, something that could influence the brain’s signals wasn’t feasible with science. The black box was merely the presentation she’d chosen for a dream locator object in this situation. For most who sought her she went for crystal, as they were already spiritual people. That wouldn’t work here. She was glad she’d brought one of these, which she had a lower supply of. Though she didn’t need him to take it to get into his dreams, she did to prove the machine ‘worked.’
”Of course, I don’t expect you to just believe it. You already called ‘bullshit’, which I completely understand. I wouldn’t believe it either. But,” she held up the black box, ”I can demonstrate it for you with this. Not right now, as it requires the user to be asleep and dreaming, but tonight. If you wish to try it.”
The skeptical look crossed Ezra’s face again as he reached out to accept Anya’s box. He held the device that sounded like it was straight out of science fiction up to his eyes as he inspected it. A sleek little black box that rests on a nightstand and guarantees the user better dreams that leave them more energized and ready to take on the world. Sweeter dreams, happier days. Catchy, easily marketable to housewives and middle managers hoping to bring a spark back to their suburban nightmare. An invention that would make the world a better, brighter place. The kind of thing any honest man should champion.
A dishonest man would see another path. If dreams could be tailormade, they could be mass marketed. Imagine dreams that continued to reaffirm with yourself how fat and ugly you were so you’ll buy in to the next fad diet, dreams paid for by the next sociopathic television star trying to kick start their political career to get you to vote for them, dreams that told you to consume and buy and reproduce and obey. A dark dystopian future until someone figured out how to install an ad blocker in the box.
Fortunately, it was bullshit. Except with every new idea there was also the person who cried out that it’d never work. Ezra didn’t want to be the exec laughing off the idea for the smartphone or the man in the cave screaming about how they didn’t need agriculture when they could just go hunt dangerous game instead and live to the ripe old age of thirty. So even if it was bullshit, he had to know for certain.
“And let’s say I don’t remember my dreams?” asked Ezra with a smugness to his smile that all but vanished as quickly as it had appeared. “No, you know what, fuck it. You’re the first interesting person I’ve talked to tonight, which is impressive considering I typically find someone talking about dreams to be a conversation killer. Plus, most people would hear me call something bullshit and immediately start falling apart or pushing back, but you rolled with the jabs and cooked while under pressure. How do I go about setting this, this…thing up? You have a name for it?”
"Well, when most people talk about dreams, they really just want to talk about themselves and their boring lives. That’s the conversation killing aspect, is it not?” Anya’s eyes crinkled at the corners, clearly pleased. ”And anyone who breaks after merely being questioned a little bit doesn't deserve to be in business at all. It’s unnamed right now, beyond being boringly called a dream box. Here."
Anya reached out, a delicate finger tapping the top right corner of the box, where there was a slightly indented circle. A red LED appeared next to where her finger had been. She was glad she'd had her brother, with his electronic engineering firm, manufacture these for her in exchange for her occasional help.
"Unfortunately, it's quite limited at the moment. It requires complicated programming that only I know currently, and it needs reprogrammed for a second use. This is something I'm working on, but it's a difficult problem to overcome." Infusing an object with even a fraction of her dream manipulation power was incredibly difficult. While she could infuse them for good dreams, specifics were a lot trickier. She was trying to at least infuse a specific dream into an object, but it was difficult. Her real goal was to combine her pink-white-orange lux to have an object that could read a user's desires, and then manipulate their dreams towards it. That was a very far off goal. "The short term goal is to have ‘preset’ dreams, with a much vaguer specification. For example, a relaxing dream in a field, as opposed to the specifics I offer currently. It is something of a bespoke service for now, but I’m actively working to change that."
She spoke clearly and concisely, open about the current issues in her business while also presenting the solutions. She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out her phone, pulling up a program connected to the box. Of course, it didn’t actually program dreams, but it would change the LED colour. "What do you want to dream about? I can program it from here. Then, it’s as simple as pressing the button and putting it beside your bed at night."
“Dealer’s choice?” suggested Ezra. He reasoned that the validity of the test could be tainted if he offered a suggestion. He pulled out a business card of his own and handed it to Anya. “You can tell me what you programmed the dream to be in the morning. If, by some stroke of insanity, it actually matches up, we can proceed with setting up an actual business meeting later. Even the best startups centered around the greatest ideas and run by the best possible person can still fail. We can discuss how to avoid common pitfalls, as well as the potential of future investments and perhaps a partnership.”
“Assuming, of course, that is something you would be interested in,” said Ezra with a smile that said he already knew the answer to a question. “Sometimes I get ahead of myself. Don’t feel like a yes now means you can’t say no later. It’d just be further discussions. Nothing is official until you sign your name on the dotted line.”
”Dealer's choice it is.” Anya took the business card from Ezra and held it between her fingers as she typed on her phone. It was easy to pretend to be typing something complicated when she was really typing a simple program, and some nonsensical comments. Dealer's choice made things easier for her - all she had to do is enter his dreams, add a few memorable elements, and that would be her job done. At the same time as 'programming' she sent a text to both Sloane and Jack, asking where they'd ended up. Once that was done, she pressed a button and the LED on the box lit up green before disappearing. She then slipped her phone into her pocket. ”It's done. We shall see in the morning if I meet your lacking expectations, or exceed them.”
It was clear she'd take the offer to both of them, but the words still had to be said. ”Of course it is something I'm interested in. It is the... dream,” her lips curved up in amusement at her word choice, ”of many small business owners to get advice from someone so successful. I'd be a fool to turn it down.”
She took a step back, raising the business card still between her fingers. ”I'll contact you with the details of the dream in the morning. For now, I should go after Sloane and ensure she's not chased off our other friend. It was a pleasure talking to you, Ezra.”
”Of course,” said Ezra, shifting to head on his way. ”Thank you for your time, Anya, and for not being a waste of mine.”
Anya smiled, and inclined her head towards him, turning to head in the direction Sloane had disappeared.
Linqian’s eyes narrowed as Edict’s images played across her vision, shooting him a glare. Play it cool? There was only one reason she didn’t want to play it cool - him. But it did seem like her brother was actually drunk. He was swaying as if there was music playing in his head, and staring at them like he’d suddenly forgotten why he was coming over there in the first place. It took everything in her to not just fucking explode at everyone. Fine. Play it cool. She could do that.
When Henri was bombarded by a hallucinatory mashup, he froze again. The words played through his mind, immediately calming his panic. Linqian didn’t know, and the magic man wasn’t going to tell her. He let out a soft sigh of relief, half swaying to the songs playing in his mind. At the same time, he was blown away by the magic itself - it was so cool! So impressive! He grinned like a drunken fool at that, inadvertently playing into the role he’d been given.
"But you think I don't know who this is?"
Edict’s words sent a shiver down Linqian’s spine. Her heart rate increased and breathing got a little more difficult. She tilted her head to look at Edict, eyes scarily expressionless and lips twisted into a dark frown.
Of course it was obvious who Henri was. He looked like so much like Jinhai had at that age- fuck. There were too many similarities between them. Perhaps if the fake moustache had still been there… no, that was unlikely to change anything. Shit.
”When I was his age, I was working my ass off to keep him fed,” Linqian muttered.
But it wasn’t the worst case scenario. Edict had walked away just like she wanted. He’d recognised Henri, but hadn’t talked to him. It was fine, she could tell Henri to go home and then enjoy the rest of her night-
Then Layla did the worst thing possible, and invited him to join them. Linqian’s head snapped around to shoot a heated glare at Layla. She wanted to tell her to fuck off, to shoot her temperature up to one hundred and grab her by the shoulders until she cried from the pain. This was the second time she was trying to ruin Linqian’s night. The toga push she could forgive - it only hurt her. But this? No.
But she couldn’t do any of that in front of Henri.
”Oh yeah, Linqian’s my big sister!” Henri grinned widely at Layla, waving back. She looked a lot younger than his sister and the man with the magic… Closer to his age, perhaps. He didn’t know Linqian had friends his age! She should’ve invited him along. He quickly caught up to them with his long legs. ”I’m Henri Han, nice to meet you, I guess you’re one of my sister’s friends… Hell yeah I’ll join!”
He then looked at Linqian as if asking permission.
She pinched the bridge of her nose, holding back an exasperated sigh. She wanted to say no. She should say no. But Henri was hitting her with that adorable look of his he used when he wanted something from her. ”Fine. But no more drinking.”
”Yay! I promise I’ll be good!”
Linqian rolled her eyes, spinning on her heel and hurrying to catch up with Edict - having to jog a bit to do so. She fell into step beside him. If Henri was going to be with them, which she wasn’t happy about, she had to make sure he didn’t try anything. She moved close into his side, pressing into his personal space, and leaned in and up towards his ear so there was less chance of her being overheard.
”If you use any of your pink lux bullshit on him, I’ll burn your dick off, got it?” Linqian hissed. She then lowered herself back down to her normal height, expression relaxing as if she hadn’t just threatened him. With that out of the way, she was willing to be somewhat chill about it because Edict had walked the fuck away just like she wanted… it was Layla who’d invited him along. ”You know, I am going pretty fucking easy on him by not dragging him home by his ear. Fuck! Now I have to babysit. Staying cool really worked out.”
Though her brother was an adult, she often felt like he hadn’t matured past his early teens. Perhaps that was on her and Jinhai, as the ones who raised him… but she was pretty sure she’d taught him better than that.
”Hey, Jiieeee, introduce me to everyone!” Henri piped up, coming right up behind her. He practically loomed over her thanks to being much taller. For once his eternal happiness didn’t make Linqian feel any better. Hopefully he’d grow bored of hanging around them on the ferry journey and then she could send him home. ”C’mon, Jie, don’t be so grumpy, I want to get to know your old friends! You used to talk about them all the time. C’mon, introduce me, introduce me!”
”Keep being this annoying and you’re going home,” Linqian snapped, switching to Chinese instantly. ”I said you could have one drink, Yi-er. I also told you to not disturb me unless it was an emergency!”
”What, was I just supposed to ignore you?” Henri whined, replying in English. ”That would be rude!”
”Yes, that’s exactly what you were supposed to do.”
”But you always taught me to be polite. Also, Jie, isn’t it rude to talk in a language not everyone can understand? When I was younger you stopped me from talking Chinese to another kid at school, saying it wasn’t nice. Aren’t you being a bit hypocritical?”
”That wasn’t-” Linqian pinched the bridge of her nose, swapping back to English. ”It was what you said, not the language you said in it.”
Henri grinned, completely ignoring that. ”So, introductions!”
”Fine.” Linqian really didn’t want to, but in the time the two of them were bickering they’d reached the ferry dock - and her chances of getting rid of him were getting slimmer and slimmer. She gestured between the other four, pointing to each as she said their name. ”Layla, Sabrina, Britney, and… Greyson. This is my brother... Henri.”
”Henri,” Henri corrected with the proper French pronounciation, compared to her more American one. But it was fine, since she never used that name for him... she used his family only Chinese name. He grinned at them all, entire expression full of shining joy. It completely contrasted Linqian’s tight lips and narrowed eyes, and for those that had known Jinhai well was jarringly different to the smug smiles he’d often had. His eyes lingered on Edict a little longer than the other three - after all he had magic! But he looked away as Linqian looked his way. ”Nice to meet you all! I’m guessing you're all the old friends her and Ge- uh, Jinhai- used to talk about! That got close and supported each other during that weird disaster ten years ago!”
He then turned to Linqian. ”Oh, Jie, do you still have the food you brought? Can I have some?”
”Fine.” Linqian carefully opened her bag, shoving aside her red riding hood clothes to cover the gun that was still in there and pull out the tupperware she'd been carrying the whole time. She held out the one filled with finger foods to Henri.
Henri grabbed it with a grin, cracking it open and pulling out a dumpling which he shoved right in his mouth. He instantly grabbed another and then held out the container to everyone else. It was filled with a mix of food - dumplings, both small and large, baozi and spring rolls along with potato skins, chicken wings, (homemade) pizza rolls and all sorts of other finger foods. ”Want any? They're really good!”
Linqian just sighed, looking tired. She needed another five drinks, right now. But could she even drink with her little brother around? She certainly couldn't pursue the one other thing that would take her mind off the shitshow. She was definitely sending him home early. Or leaving with him, dumping him at home, and going back out to a club to get smashed in both ways. ”... Let’s get on the ferry.”
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[color=SeaGreen]They/He|UK(GMT)
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Mid 20s. Been here a long time, generally only join friend's rps. Constantly tired. Masc nonbinary, preference for they pronouns but he are ok too!
<div style="white-space:pre-wrap;"><div class="bb-center"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/uUydHWE.png" /><br><font color="seagreen">They/He|UK(GMT)</font><br><a href="https://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/162255-fernstones-character-archive/ooc"><font color="mediumseagreen">Character Archive</font></a></div><hr class="bb-hr"><hr class="bb-hr"><br>Mid 20s. Been here a long time, generally only join friend's rps. Constantly tired. Masc nonbinary, preference for they pronouns but he are ok too!<br><br></div>
Izurich
Punished GN
Atrophy
NoriWasHere
AtomicEmperor
Estylwen
Zombiedude101
Lexisheeps
The Savant
