Infinite Cosmos

The Sisters of the Dying Branch

After the brief morning run-in with Charlie and Hana, Arken had mostly kept to himself. His not-so-newly discovered powers were something he needed to learn how to properly utilize, instead of pulling off cheap party tricks and being told to use them to show off to relatives whose names he can't even remember.

Arken has always known his magic would be connected to the earth, and its utilization in constructing things. Thats what his family is known for after all. To that end, Arken has always been able to sculpt and create small constructs on the fly, with minimum effort. But now, as a full-fledge member of the Coven, he needs to stop using his powers in a menial way and actually do some good for once. On this path, he found that he was interested and quite frankly, pretty good, with runes and small feats of divination. Of course, he isn't able to accurately predict any futures or claim to know someone's fortune, but he can guess and determine things like if someone is going to have Italian food of some sort for dinner that day.

Runes, however, was a subject of much intrigue and interest to Arken. It was very fascinating to him that he can just write or draw a symbol and a piece of paper, and that paper is no longer just an ordinary writing medium. It can be made to float, to adhere to things, and even to cause harm. There were so many things one can do with a rune. A combination of runes even. That got him thinking about adding runes to his constructs. What if he was to make a...say...cage, and add a rune that made the object suspend in the air. Would the cage then float in the sky? Or what if he added a rune that made things float on water, to a slab of earth he gathered? What would that do? There were simply an endless amount of combinations and possibilities that floated in and out of his mind.

Of course, his proficiency at this stage of his career, is his biggest hurdle. Often times the two magics conflicted with each other. Sometimes, the results were even borderline disastrous. One particular incident saw Arken injured to the point of badly spraining one of his ankles. He was trying his 'hover board' rune combination. The earthen slab hovered without a problem. As soon as Arken stepped on to it, his foot must have smeared a small bit of the rune that has hastily drawn. The slab shot up in the air a good three feet from where it was hovering, and Arken's weight was simply too much for the unhardened earthen slab to handle and it crumbled, much to Arken's surprise. The result of his fall was a grade two sprain to his left ankle and some minor cuts and bruises from falling. Not too well versed in medicine, and being way too foolhardy, Arken tried to 'tough it out' and walked the small distance that took him five minutes to cover previous, back to the coven house. By the time he had gotten back, it had taken him about fifteen minutes and his ankle had swollen to the point of it being rather grotesque.

His injuries were promptly treated by someone well-versed in athletic injuries. He was explicitly told to ice his ankle and stay off of it as much as possible, for a few weeks. Akren of course didn't listen. The first few nights were annoying, with the icing and swelling. As soon as that became manageable, Arken tried to be as active as his usual self. Sure the pain was a constant, but Arken didn't much care. He was too excited to practice his new found hobby than to let something as small as an ankle sprain stop him...

This particular morning, the dull pains of him shifting his left leg in bed woke him. It wasn't bad to the point of immobilizing him, but it was enough to keep him from enjoying his sleep. He rolled over in his bed with a soft, disgusted grunt. Lifting his blanket and taking a look, he noticed that the swelling and external bruising are all but gone. That made him audibly sigh. The observable injuries are all but healed, so then why does it still hurt so much? Shaking his head, he gingerly climbed out of bed, and headed into the kitchen for a spot of breakfast. It wasn't too late, and he noticed some wet spots on the counter. Someone must have just been here doing exactly what he is about to do. Shovel cold cereal into their mouths and call it breakfast. Giving off a small shrug, Arken carried out what he planned to do, and cleaned up after himself, stashing the rinsed bowl into the dishwasher as well.

Soon after, just as Arken was hobbling towards the door to head into the clearing for the morning, he was rounded up by a sister of the coven, who gave him a small talking to about taking care of himself and staying off his feet more to let his injuries heal more completely. To that, Arken thought to himself "Well... If you want me to rest and heal, tell me to go back to bed and not head to Sister Deborah's office then...geez..." In any case, Arken was one of the later witches to arrive, choosing to stand closer to the door than the middle of the gathering.

He listened intently to Sister Deborah brief them about their first official mission. vampires. Baltimore. Those were two very foreign terms to him. Previous to this, he thought vampires to only exist in works of fiction and he thought Baltimore was in North Carolina, not Maryland.

The sister bid them godspeed. Why did that feel so odd? It was as if she knows something bad is going to happen, but needed to say those words. No matter. They now have a task to do, and people to save, hero stuff. Calypso took the file for their group and started delegating tasks. Arken spoke up about a car, "There are nine of us. I don't know if we'll all fit into your car? I have a car too, I can take a few of us. Besides, not saying that your car will break down, but its good to have another in case something happens to one of them, right?" Arken shifted slightly between his 'teammates' "And yeah, we should pack. The drive from here to Baltimore should take a least a few hours, right? But anyways, we should pack. Clothing, equipment, gear and all that. We have hotel rooms, so thats nice. But, somehow, I don't feel like we'll be going back to the rooms at night to shower, change and have dinner, if you know what I mean. Somehow, I imagine us having to be out at night, in our cars, and chase these things down, because, like, don't vampires have super speed or something?" Arken said with a shrug. "And yeah, armory. Maybe Iris and I can make some runic charms or something. Also, do we have like... wooden stakes and holy water? Does that sort of thing even work or is it just movie magic?"

God. Saying movie magic here made him feel so gross...

Replying to Calypso and Iris @canaryrose@Blizz but also addressing the rest of the group.

《 H. E. R. O. 》

Meanwhile in the city of Gothenburg, on the coast of Kattegat...

It was a balmy afternoon. William was clutching the collars of his coat, bracing against the coastal wind. The smell of the sea, the tiny mists of water that came from waves crashing against wave breakers, the cawing of seagulls. All of it was so foreign yet so familiar to him.

This was where his ancestors once lived. Scandinavia.

Without disclosing this trip to his parent, to Brie, to anyone really. William just got up and left. He didn't as much as leave a note of absence to Powers either. Surely there would be hell to pay once he returned. Oh well. Such is the consequence of his actions. No matter. William needed to get away. From nothing in particular. It was just him, needing to find his sense of self again.

Standing on a small pier, William watched the ebb and flow of the sea current, feeling naturally drawn to them. Jumping in for a swim would be foolish, but not out of the question. He was more worried about his clothing and belongings disappearing as soon as he dove into the frigid sea. Perhaps another time, he thought, when it was more appropriate.

The life in Castelburg can get monotonous. Sure, the fighting offered by the random criminals and monsters keeps one on their toes. But, for William, it was becoming a drag. He loved hanging out with his friends at HERO. Sure. He loved hanging out with Brie. But towards the end there, it felt like he was living his life around those two things. His friends and Brie. He glanced at his phone. No messages. No calls. It was to be expected after all. In that moment, he had half a mind to just throw his phone into the sea and disconnect from the world entirely.

Breathing steadily, he concentrated connecting the timing of his breathing to the flow of the sea. Breathing in when the sea flowed towards him and exhaling when it inevitably ebbed. His eyes slowly closed and he could feel his powers, something he has not used in a long while, welling up inside him.

Sounds of crashing waves and the repetitive calls from seagulls as they searched for more food could be heard. William, in his semi-meditative state, seems to slowly fade out, and figuratively become one with the sea...

The Sisters of the Dying Branch

Letting out a satisfied sigh, Arken stood up from his bunk. Outfitting his bed with light grey sheets, coupled with light grey pillow cases with a navy blue comforter. The night before left him exhausted. He vaguely remember being accompanied back from the forest with Charlie and Summer, but the rest of the time was relatively blurry.

He took the first chance he got when the room assignments were announced to dash up to his room and picked out his bed location. He actually felt like Taking some time, he first set all of his things out on the whatever flat surface he can utilize while not being too...selfish. He made sure to clip a fan to his upper bunk, knowing how heat rises and such. He took some closet space and since he took the top bunk that is often seen as the more inconvenient one, he took the dresser drawers that was easier to access. "That's fair, right?" He said to himself. Packing his toiletries into a corner near his bed, he took another glance and found that he was satisfied for now. He reached into his rucksack and took out a few more smaller items. A small Totodile figure he has had since he was a child and couple of Polaroid pictures that reminded him of his time back home. "Those get pinned to the wall..." He said to himself...

Once he was done 'decorating', he climbed down and straightened himself out. Deciding that it was time for a spot of breakfast, he put on his house-slippers, and went out of the room. Aimlessly walking from his room down towards the kitchen, he noticed Hana and Charlie in a conversation. "Well. Good morning Charles. Hana. How are you two this morning? Have you guys had breakfast yet?" Arken said. As soon as he finished his sentence, he noticed the plate of pancakes. "Ah. Thats whats for breakfast. Thanks Charles." He said with a mischievous grin and took the topmost pancake off of his plate and bit into it. "Mm. Fresh pancakes." He said, giving Hana a small wink. In between bites, he would say "So, has everyone met their roommates? How are you guys all settling in for this fun-ass summer ahead of us?"

@KaijuBaragon@Akayaofthemoon

The Sisters of the Dying Branch

Meanwhile, back at the original campsite, Arken must have dozed off. He blinked back to consciousness, looked around his surroundings. He noticed the s'more Hana had made for him. Just before he had fallen asleep, he had apparently set the sweet treat down on a semi-elevated surface that he had created through his magic. Glancing at the sweet treat, he picked it up, taking a rather large bite out of it. Sweet, slightly charred taste of sugar immediately rushed over his taste buds. The treat had cooled considerably from its pinnacle form when it was freshly made. But that did not deter Arken from thoroughly enjoying it.

Standing up from his makeshift sleeping pit, he glanced around and noticed that most people have gone off somewhere. Catching a slight case of FOMO, Arken finished off the dessert, and dusted any crumbs from his shirt before wandering off into the woods, in the hopes of running into one of his new coven-mates.

Or at least coming back with a cool story of seeing some sort of shadow beast in the deep, dark, forest.

Off in the distance, he could see small glints of light, and hear very very faint conversations. The sight of humanity was reassuring. His primary magic was rather useless in the pitch black woods. His runic writing isn't good enough for him to rely on. He more likely would misspell something and create an explosive tag rather than an illumination tag. So, there he was, blindly traversing the woods, heading towards what sounds like Charlie and Summer.
"Charles, Abernathy? Is that you?" Arken called out blindly. He wasn't too worried for his safety. After all, they're still in an area that is well-controlled by the senior members of the coven. The most that would happen to him, or the rest of his new friends for that matter, is a telling off and maybe a slap on the wrist for wandering into the wood so late at night. Nothing sinister, of course...

@KaijuBaragon@Danvers

The Sisters of the Dying Branch

Faintly, Arken could hear Hana’s voice. She mentioned s’mores. That’d be nice, he thought. A nice, toasted dessert to ease him into the night. Milk would be nice as well. There was no way he was getting though, is he. Unless he goes and knocks on the door to the place the elders were staying at for the evening and asks for milk. They’d probably turn him away or scold him for disturbing their peace or something...

In any case, Arken rummaged around his small rucksack and found a canteen of water. Taking a small sip, he let the night breeze take his mind where they wanted to go. At first, it was the crackling fire, the scent of burning wood, the red-orange glow. The way the marshmallow charred just right, the sweet perfume of caramelizing sugar, the faint scent of glee and excitement. His mind drifted. Away from the fire, away from his surrounding, and back into the void. What was it? What stared back at him. Just as his thoughts were getting heavier, a small sliver of light shone through.

Hana.

The way she took his arm and healed it. He looked at the scar. Was that really their first major interaction? He remember, vaguely, seeing her around at coven gatherings and family get-together and that sort of thing. She always kept to herself, and he did the same thing. Arken, in typical Arken fashion, didn’t pay the shy, wallflower-esque, girl much attention at all. He carried on, behaving as he is told to. As time went on, he has always held a sort of odd curiosity towards the Song girl.

The thought of s’mores returned, snapping Arken back to reality. He turned, peeking over whatever he had made for himself. “Uh. Ha- Hana? Can you make me a s’mores? I’d really appreciate it. I like the marshmallow to be toasted and chocolate be melted. Thats the only request I have...” His voice trailed off slightly at the end. It felt so odd just simply asking for a s’mores to be made for him...

By the Gods, was Arken nervous? It didn’t even matter that all the commotion was going on around him between what sounded like Dakota and Summer. Those two weren’t his concerns. His mind then went to the thought of “If Hana brings me the s’mores, I can keep her away from those two fighting...”

Illogically, his mind couldn’t stay away from her...

@Akayaofthemoon

The Sisters of the Dying Branch

Arken, after being essentially shooed away from Summer, sort of just putzed around a bit while a few of the other newly initiated witches headed back towards the house. Camping under the stars would be a great way to end the night, he thought.

Then his thought aimlessly floated over to Hana.

Nothing about her in particular. Just...her, in general. There were many questions he wanted to ask. Conversations he wanted to have with her. For some reason, sharing a campsite with her made his pulse quicken and heart flutter a little. He has literally never felt like this towards anyone else.

How does Hana see him? Some rich, old coven family dickhead? Some guy that plays too much? UGH.

After a short while, he glanced around the wellspring again, noticing that most people have either started to or have already headed back, Arken decided that he should probably do the same. Walking through the tunnel, he spotted Hana, slowly making her way back as well.

All the healing she did previously could not have been easy on her body, he thought. Ah what the hell, the thought followed. He walked up, took her hand and just kept striding forward, back towards the party.

What could go wrong? He thought. His heart might as well have stopped when his hand touched Hana’s. He took a few steps forward, his mind completely blank. Eventually, he was able to blurt out a few words. “Ah. UM. The night. The...um...sky, sure it full of stars...” He even followed his random sentence with a few nervous chuckles. “Uh, we should get back to the group...” He said, letting go of her hand and essentially power-walking his own way through the tunnel and back to the group...

Back at the campsite, Arken made his way back into the house And got changed into something more comfortable and campfire appropriate. Dressed in a pair of athletic shorts, a plain grey t-shirt and some simple tennis shoes, he found a spot not too far from the fire and sat down. Staring up at the sky, he leaned back and propped himself up with both hands. This was it. He is now a fully initiated member of the coven. Though not in the same standing as some of the more prominent members, he can at least now claim to fully be in the coven, and not just by association and birth. He sighed softly. The magic coursing through his body was itching to be tested. He glanced around him, making sure there wasn’t someone too close as to potentially be hurt. He inhaled a steady breath and gentle placed his hands on the earth near him and let the magic run from his palms into the ground. In his mind, there was something in particular that he wanted to make. Something...comfortable. It wasn’t exactly enclosed, but it was enough to shield the elements. It made for a decent place to spend the night, given the simple sleeping bag that there were given.

The rest of the newly initiated witches were speaking about heading into the wood for a little bit of adventure and thrill-seeking. Normally, Arken would be all for it. Tonight, he had something else on his mind. The darkness that he saw during the ritual. The feeling of impending doom. Just what was that. He leaned against the earthen wall he had just made, looked up in the glittering sky and pondered.

For a brief moment, he would poke his head out and scan around the site, wondering where Hana was or what she was doing. Hopefully his actions had not caused too much trouble for her...

@Akayaofthemoon

《 H. E. R. O. 》

Glancing around the room, William naturally backed up slightly, away from Brie. Their powers, and how his own power affected his body, made it an potentially lethal mix if William was to get in the way of Brie using her powers. Watching the lights flicker, William chuckled inwardly. In spite of all of her shortcomings and recklessness, Brie IS a proper heroine. Her love for animals, namely Leftovers, of all sorts is in direct conflict with the task at hand. Yet, when asked to, she can definitely choose the responsible path.

Oh what the heck. What is a little shock anyways. William took a step towards Brie, wincing slightly as the static electricity around her crackled. William gave her a quick, soft kiss on the cheek and whispered “I’ll never get tired of seeing you use your powers...” before backing away a safe distance as Brie sent her electricity through the columns of water holding up the creatures.

William scanned the room once more, noticing the key card. “That. I’d be willing to bet that that key card is our way out.” As Brie’s powers started to recede, and the Swampjaws at least incapacitated through shock, William snagged the card off whatever it was hanging on and presented it to Brie. “Look at this. They just put whiteout over the words... Such a dumb way to try to conceal something...” William let out a sigh. “It looks like Basilica is printed on the card. I’d reckon that’s where we need to go?”

@Danvers

Sol City Modern Slice of life - Chapter 3 - (all welcome new and old)

Early afternoon. A time where Ryan hasn’t had to himself often. He sat in his empty restaurant, glancing around. He still keeps the place clean, but due to a lack of muse, he hasn’t opened for service for some time now. His staff are still being paid, through the restaurant’s well-funded saving’s account. Though, it is not endless. Eventually it comes a time where he would have to decide whether he is going to shutter his restaurant for good, or to resume service.

That day is not today.

Idly scrolling Reddit (tm), Ryan would occasionally look up, peer around the clean space around him, sigh slightly, and look back down on his phone. When he would look up, he would look towards the door, as if he was waiting for someone to walk through. The door isn’t locked, per se. He did have his closed sign up, or at least he thinks he does. The tea he just made and random things on the internet is keeping him from walking over and checking.

Setting his phone down, he took another, and the final, sip from his tea cup. Getting up and stretching, he sauntered over to his door, made sure the closed sign is up, and turned back around. Pausing for a brief moment, he walked into his kitchen and started pondering some new dishes. Or, rather, dishes that he hasn’t made in a while, giving the seasonal offerings of produce and fish.

The Sisters of the Dying Branch

Arken bit his lower lip as the pain slowly subsided. Maybe it was just the natural endorphins his body was producing, or maybe it was just him, getting used to the sting from the raw wound on his wrist. In any case, there he sat, just glancing around at his fellow recruits, most of which are going through what he just went through.

Just what was that? What was that rush of power... What was that sensation? He felt like...well, he felt like he has never felt before. And what was that emptiness? What was in it? Who was there? What was he meant to see? So many questions, and no answers to be found...

Back to the situation at hand. He was still bleeding, albeit less so, when Hana approached him. She obviously saw his wound and proceeded to heal him. The contact, however professional and brief, made Arken feel...warm and fuzzy. All of their interactions previously, however momentary, flashed in his mind like shadow puppetry. All of the previous coven meetings that they were both present for, the party, if you can call it that, before the ritual, the ceremony, now. All of it.

“I. I..uh. Thank you, Hana...” He said softly. He was blushing, if she cared to look at him. His voice was soft, if she could hear him. He was not his usual self, if she had the mind to look at him. Shaking his head ever so slightly, he clambered to his feet and shifted over towards Summer, kneeling down besides her. Smoothly, even casually, he placed a hand on the small of Summer’s back, and whispered to her “Didn’t think you’d fall this easily, Abernathy...” He said, with his trademark smirk plastered all over his face.

@Akayaofthemoon @Danvers

《 H. E. R. O. 》

Having caught up to Brie, William rested his hands on his thighs to catch his breath. Has Brie always been this fast? Or was it fueled by adrenaline? In any case, he looked up and surveyed the area. A ‘classic’ bathhouse. Marble everywhere. Water in the center. Could it really be this easy?

What would they have to do to get through this ‘challenge’? Just as that thought exited his mind, the TV in the room came back on. William looked up, side eyed, and waited for Nero to speak. Nero, in typical fashion, made what essentially is a torture chamber with a hot tube sound grandiose.

He then said the word ‘attack’.

In that moment, William noticed the glowing eyes. Thats never a good sign. Brie, being the leftover lover like she is, recklessly approached. Squealing about how cute these overgrown, monstrous crocodiles are, William sighed and if they weren’t under a potentially lethal situation, he would have facepalmed. However, he did not have the time nor mind to do that. Seeing Brie nearly have one of her arms torn off, William just shook his hand and sprung forward to pull her close to him.

He looked her up and down, to make sure she was not hurt. “Ok. So, we need to incapacitate these things... And I’ll do it, knowing the fact that you don’t want to hurt these things. And no, we’re not keeping them as pets. Dog would not get along with these things nor do we have the space for them to live a good life, in relative terms that is... So. I figure we can drop something heavy on their heads to knock them out?” William said, looking around. “Though, there aren’t anything in particular that I can pick up...”

William sighed. “Ok, this is what we’ll do. You, please keep yourself safe and look for a way out. I’ll trap these things in some really strong streams of upwards flowing water, pinning them to the ceiling for the time being...” He said, snapping his fingers once.

Several discs of water appeared around the room, one under each of the seven Swampjaws. With a steady exhale, William waved his right arm upwards as streams of water, large enough to lift and contain the majority of the Swampjaw’s bodies, erupted from the floor, occasionally drawing more water from the tub in the center of the room.

“Any luck on finding a way out?”

@Danvers