JunkMail

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

We interrupt your normally scheduled chaos to present Izzy simply vibing in her apartment

@Knight of Doom

vibe check

Izzy's vibes
en.shindanmaker.com/chart/937709-67d6…

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

Kayla

♪♪♪

---

When the Hound brought it's paw down, Kayla desperately attempted to do what she could to shield the blast, but she would need another few minutes before she could do something like that again. She wouldn't be able to dampen in incoming shock wave on her own.

Thankfully, she didn't have to.

Molly had appeared, summoning a wall of earth before them both and diverting the force away from them both.

"Whatever you have planned, I would hurry."

Respect surged through Kayla in that moment. Not even because Molly had been blind or appeared powerless up until now, but because she had taken it upon herself to defend her while she was downed. Kayla nodded, wiping her bloodied nose on her sleeve and clearing what was left of the hemorrhage away from her face. She breathed once in and once out and spoke. "Molly," she began, forcing herself to her feet. The pupils of her eyes already glowing a dull red like molten metal. Kayla peeked out from the side of the wall. At quick glance, it appeared that Madison was clear. Kayla turned to Molly, and with practiced glace gave Molly her shoes.

"Take these, get Jess and Madison, and run. Book it to the car. I'll be right behind you."

Kayla didn't give her any time to fight her on it. This was her ace in the hole, her eject button. It was truly all or nothing now, for this was not a foe they could best. Kayla's whole body began glowing a dull red, like when one held a powerful flashlight under the hand, except it was her whole body. Her bones shone through her clothing as her core temperature skyrocketed, casting skeletal and angular shadows. Her hair danced, changing from her natural brunette to brilliant yellows and reds and blues as it became flame. She pushed her sleeves up, revealing flames that danced across her forearms.

The forest was alight, it was like she was one enormous light bulb. It was so hot near her that the ground beneath her feet began smoldering and catching fire. The rain that made it through the trees above didn't even make it to the ground, evaporating into hisses of mist as soon as it came within ten feet of her. Her shoes, if she hadn't given them to Molly, surely would've melted. She cracked her knuckles, each eliciting a supernatural crack. Like each bone was a supercharged firework. The Hound's attention was shifted to Kayla.

There were no words exchanged, no insults or clever taunts that were so typical of Kayla. The woman wasted no time, and with both the Aether and Oblivion whispering in her ear she drove her hand into the overturned earth and roared.

If the power she had released earlier had been empyrean, a the will of heaven above... then this was the chthonian wrath of hell. The cracks in the earth created by both Kayla and The Hound began glowing incandescent hues of reds and yellows. It held for a moment, Kayla's eyes flashing to Molly and Madison as they made it behind her and away, and then Kayla let loose for the second time that night.

The earth beneath and around The Hound erupted in a hellfire that consumed everything it touched, uncaring of the rain. It split the beaten earth, throwing it up and away with explosive, concussive force. The flames climbed higher, consuming the destroyed forest in a primordial torrent of fire and rage. It was a wall of fire, climbing up and above the tree tops- which caught flame and spread uncontrolled in the blaze. The forest was alight, scorching the the earth and turning everything it touched to ash in its rage.

With The Hound at the center of the inferno.

Kayla directed the holocaust like a conductor of a runaway train, unable to stop the spread but capable of aiming the apocalypse that was unfolding. She couldn't stop it now that it was going- not this much fire, but she could aim it. Waves of fire crashed in The Hound's direction as the forest became an ocean of fire, fueling her onslaught to an almost unprecedented degree. In that moment, Kayla didn't care about self preservation, or thirst, or hunger, or air, or sex, or guilt, or Madison and Molly and Jess. She let go of anything that made her human, and her body erupted with the fire.

It felt good.

But she was dying, and even if she didn't know it and didn't care, the passenger within her did. It tugged at her psyche, pulling her out and away from her high and forcing her back down to earth. Run, Kayla.

Her body's internal temperature dropped, and her body extinguished even as the forest fire's flames licked at her body- the devil on her shoulder encouraging her to come back to them, except it was all around her. The visibility was so low and the fire so loud, and the smoke so thick that there was no way The Hound could track them. She was tired, she knew this, but she was dehydrated now. More so than she felt she had ever been. She felt the heat of the forest around her, burning at her clothing and attempting to make her one with it once again... heat had stopped affecting her a long time ago but er dehydration dragged her psyche, making her sluggish and confused. She couldn't remember which direction was safety, and while the heat of fire was no longer dangerous, the smoke that came with it could still kill her. She had completely forgotten about The Hound, her addled mind more focused on not suffocating to death in her own flame.

The smoke in the sky hid the stars above, darkening what had once been the canopy of treetops in a thick, soupy smog. She could see the dark, skeletal shapes of tree branches that had yet to burn. Come on, Kayla! that voice hissed in her ear, urging her up from her hands and knees and onto her feet. Her legs shoved her forwards in a direction, pushing her forwards every time she stumbled or fell, unwilling to let her own flame go out in the dark.

Kayla didnt know how long she walked, but when she stumbled out of the woods and her feet hit the gravel of the parking lot, she collapsed. She hoped she wasn't far from Madison's car now. She hoped that they had seen her, that they would help her, and that they hadn't left her. "Help-" she choked out. The rain felt good against her still unnaturally warm skin, hitting her body and disappearing in a hiss. Her clothes were singed on all areas, some of her jacket had been burnt away. Her feet were bloodied and dirty from stumbling barefoot through the woods. Blood still lazily oozed from her nose. And she was dehydrated and confused.

She could hear the echos of firetruck sirens in the otherwise quiet night. The fire in the distance lit up the night, unconcerned with the rain up above.

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

Kayla

---

There were a lot of moving parts to Madison's gambit, the fact that someone had died. The fact that she was trying to trade her soul. The fact that she had already been dead herself... All wonderful topics to explore and question had she not lunged forward and attacked the shady hound head on. Kayla had seen the kind of damage that Madison could do- which was a good deal in controlled areas like this one, but she didn't think she'd ever see the day when she'd see someone take a hit from her and laugh.

"... You know you can't win yet you still fight. If you're so set on this path at least make it entertaining."

The Hound charged, and Kayla wanted to scream. Let in rage, and more in frustration at Madison's complete disregard for their lives. Like, fuck, if you're going to throw your life away, do it on your own bill rather than someone else's. She was going to have Madison's ass for this later, dead or alive, rain or shine. She was going to kill her.

But that would have to wait. Right now, she had a death hound on her ass that needed far more immediate attention, because this Hound was going to kill them. There was something so unsettling about it- making her pulse race and adrenaline flow. There was always something about the supernatural that did that. Forest. It could be pushed. a voice whispered in her head, and as she reacted her passenger seemed to act on its own accord in her body. That's right, this was a forest. The Hound, at that, had been shoved a great distance by Madison's attack even if it was mostly unharmed.

Kayla's arm acted on its own accord, her eyes flashing a brilliant white as an invisible, irresistible, unstoppable force rippled through the air from her hand. Everything in front of her not nailed into the ground was uprooted in a positively empyrean blast of telekinetic power moving so fast and with so much power that it, momentarily, rendered the laws of physics a child's plaything. The very air danced with energy like heat on a scorching hot road during the day. It was the sound of thunder, a lightning strike of the loudest sound one would ever hear in their lives. Like a freight train passing directly by, but it's coming from every direction at once, including above and below. The breath left Kayla's lungs momentarily as the force displaced the very atmosphere around them in a vacuum lasting for not even a moment.

And in that moment there was no sound, there couldn't be. There was no air. It felt like the pressure around her had returned, and she felt like she had fallen ten feet and not at all at the same time. She gasped, filling her lungs with the air they had been robbed of. The rocks had been thrown, or obliterated outright. The Sticks, leaves, any animals among them... every tree within sixty feet of her had been not only uprooted, but hurled dozens of yards away. It was like a hurricane, or a meteor had fallen directly on the area, but only in one direction. The Coven had never seen her really let loose. They hadn't even seen a tenth of what she could do until now... but this Hound? There was something wrong with it. Something told her that it would take everything she had if she wanted a chance to survive it, if it wanted to kill her.

The Hound was undoubtedly within the rubble, having been hurled like it was nothing along with that entire section of the forest. Her hearing began returning, a small amount, but enough so that she heard more than the incessant ringing that always came after an event like this. She tasted metal on her lips, and ran a hand across her nose to confirm how badly she was bleeding. It would heal- it always did, but it was heavy on the body.

Kayla wasn't sure how the other group was fairing- they undoubtedly had been shoved back by the sheer air pressure even if they had been behind the blast, but she doubted the thing was dead. If it had shrugged off Madison's punch so easily, this likely did little more than but them time.

And create kindling.

But Kayla needed a moment to right herself. "Keep it busy!" she just about hacked out between gasps, trying to catch her breath again. "Just- just buy me ten seconds and I'll get us out of here!" Her sense of balance having been thrown off by the scale of the blast she had created- that was one of her largest. That could have leveled a fucking multi-story building. a part of her surmised, somewhat proud of her work.

The other part?

That part wanted to hurl.

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

Kayla

---

Without further adieu, the three split off from the Coven to take care of business, much like they had when they went to beat vampiric ass. Kayla held the door for Oleander, and settled herself into the far back row of seats with her dog.

Madison lead them to north Tampa, not too far from where they had bee, maybe a twenty minute drive away- but too the woods. Kayla disliked the woods at night. The woods can be intimidating in the daylight if you don't know where you are and where you're going; at night, well, it's a whole different beast, and Florida- Florida was snake country. She wasn't particularly worried, she knew her passenger would be looking out for her, but the idea of both of them making a mistake and needing to visit the hospital was no small concern. It was raining some, most of the water being dispersed by the canopies up above and her own ability kept her warm. It wasn't the most comfortable she had ever been, but Oleander wasn't being a pain and so she could deal.

"Kayla, you aren't just doing this so I'll owe you something in return, right?"

"Listen, Madison," Kayla said, her tone easy. "You had my back when I asked for help. I have yours. Only difference is that I'm not saying your thing is a bad idea." As Madison had said, even though things had been fine. Kayla snarked, but offered Madison a slight smile. She was used to people thinking any job she needed doing or any idea she had, had some degree of insanity to it. Obviously Madison doubting before hadn't particularly bothered her.

Kayla's attention on Madison was dropped when her other noted something. The sounds of the forest are gone. Kayla quieted to listen, and then there was almost a sensation like a plane depressurizing. She felt her ears pop, and had this odd sensation of having dropped about ten feet. Fog began trailing in, thin at first, but so thick that one could cut it with a knife after a few dozen more yards. Eventually its voice boomed out, speaking to Madison. Kayla whistled a low note, calling a snarling Oleander to her side. She was the further back in the group, and could only just see the giant's form through the fog, aside from its eyes, which shone through the night and fog like search lights. "Jessica..." she warned, her stance instinctually dropping. "...Shut up." Fire began dancing between her fingertips, arching between her digits like red electricity. The entity was gigantic, easily the size of a small elephant.

"I take it back, Madison." she said, her voice low and quiet. "This was a bad idea."

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

Kayla

---

"Is there some sort of bar for entrance that I wasn't made aware of?" Kayla drawled, lazily looking Agatha over with thinly veiled boredom. "A good portion of us simply joined. Some of us, and I don't mean this in any way negative..." she said, her eyes glancing to Herik and Molly, "...Don't even possess any abilities of their own. Do we even need another member?"

There was an unspoken second part to Kayla's question. An insinuation that would likely be picked up by those paying attention around her. Another member that you cant control. Kayla was not the type to openly insult people, preferring to choose her battles and dress her temperament in biting tact that held truth to the statement. She sighed and rubbed her temples a bit. "Madison," she said, her tone ever sharp. "I'll help you." she said simply, not bothering to explained her thought process too much further. Simply put, Madison helped her settle her business and Kayla owed her one... And Kayla hated owing people anything. She turned her attention back to Agatha.

"I see no reason not to give the person the time of day, but calling a vote when we know nothing about them is..." Moronic, stupid, asinine, unintelligent, dumb "...Unwise. I want to see what I'm voting for."

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

Kayla

---

When Kayla had called the retreat, she had ensured that first and foremost that the girls that came got out of there. She had rallied them behind her, and she'd be damned if she left anyone behind. She didn't care if she had to burn the whole neighborhood to the ground to do it. So she had waited. She made sure each of the girls got out, and then she ensured the most important thing out of all of this: That they weren't followed.

This was, for all intents and purposes, the equivalent of a drive by, or even gang warfare. She they came in, hospitalized a few people when they weren't ready or expecting her, and then peeled out before the vampires really knew what hit them. They probably could've stayed longer, hit harder, done more damage... but the goal was to send a message- Don't fuck with me. Not to cause totally irreparable damage. As soon as one of their own had eaten a bullet it was time to boogie and Kayla knew it, even if they didn't.

But because she had eaten a bullet, Kayla stayed. She needed to know if there were cops coming. If they needed to lay low for a while. Or if they were at risk of the vampires telling. They had parked far enough away that license plates and vehicle identifiers were unlikely, and they had all worn face masks- it was unlikely anyone could be truly identified...

But she needed to make it look like an accident. Just in case.

Kayla knew that one of the trailers was less of a trailer and more of a meth lab than it was a home. She also knew that they sold, and while they had yet to encroach on her own dealing business, another dealer of anything in her general area wasn't good. She circled back, driving just within sight of the Greenwood's estate, and more importantly the trailer.

She focused on it, and shoved the rising bile in her throat down to steel her nerves. It was her and her coven or them. They had attacked her. They- they had brought this on themselves, she rationalized. Meth production was a sensitive, extremely volatile process. One misplaced medication here, overheating of the chemical reaction there, one errant twitch and... Kablewy.

She couldn't check to see if anyone was inside, but she whispered a silent, unheard apology to whatever was listening IF anything was listening as a chemical reaction gone wrong exploded within the trailer, sending shrapnel and debris and an enormous thick plume of smoke sky high in a thunderous cacophony. Kayla wasted no time fleeing the scene, speeding off towards their meeting point. If any police came now, it would be written off as infighting. No one would come for them.

When she arrived at the meeting point, she walked into the Dairy Queen without her glove and without her bandana. She was rattled, and a little shook as she always was knowing she very well could have killed another person or more. She wouldn't sleep right. At least not until she returned a week later and spoke to the vampires after she dealt to them and found out if anyone died in the trailer explosion. She hoped it had been unoccupied, that they had run out to fight the coven and been unhurt by the explosion. If they hadn't... well, she really wouldn't sleep right.

Kayla marched straight in with Oleander in tow, completely ignoring the 'no pets' sign and coven at first, and slapped a ten dollar bill on the table. "I'd like a large oreo blizzard and a bottle of water." she said, just barely concealing her shaken voice. Now is the time to be strong, Kayla. She was thirsty, as she always was after using her heat based abilities. She hadn't used them much but... it was always a good idea to stay hydrated when one was a pyrokinetic.

She took her change, and waited at the counter for both parts of her order before joining the rest of The Coven at their booth. She pasted a smug smile on her face, forcing the shaken feeling down into the pits of her gut to be dealt with later. "Ladies," she said, glancing over the table. "Glad you all made it back in one piece. For the most part. Anyone need stitches?"

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

I mean, the gunfire is a pretty good reason to gtfo lol

*EDIT: So, when we're all running, are we retrieving our cars or no? I mean, Elise probably stopped by the DQ earlier just for the quick escape. But Jess and a lot of the others brought cars

@RogueFox

Hmmm yes today I shall run to DQ on foot for no reason

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

Kayla

---

Kayla pulled again against 'Pa's' neck with the chain as he clawed at the metal around his throat in a desperate bid to free himself. The heat in the chain traveled further down the chain, the molten metal transitioning from red to yellow as it became hotter and hotter- with the red hot ends of the chain getting closer and closer to the man's neck. Choked screams began coming from that man's throat as the chain branded it's pattern into the sides of his throat.

Kayla was more than happy to leave it, to let the brand go deeper, to make him suffer more for sending a man to break into her home and hurt her dog... but the sound of a gunshot tapered the rage in her hot blooded attack. Her grip slackened, and she dropped the molten chains to stand up. The head vampire she had been beating did not rise with her, too focused on attempting to breath than anything else. She whistled a low, monotonous tone, and Oleander was instantly circling the the downed man in case his beating wasn't lesson enough. "Stay." she snapped to the man, rather than Oleander.

Some of the vampires had firearms. Firearms meant injury, and drawing loads of unnecessary attention. The alarm had gone off now though, and if there were any police in the area, a gunshot was sure to draw them in. She sighed, it was close to time to end this.

How many?

Five. That disembodied voice answered her. Her eyes felt like they moved without her say so, dragging her to details she had seen but hadn't paid enough attention to, to notice. Revolvers, rifles, and shotguns. Kayla's eyes darted to the shotgun that the head vampire had possessed before he had been effectively dropped.

Her eyes went to the various firearms again, she took a breath in, and snapped her fingers.

It was impossible to see from an outsider's perspective, but she focused on the chambers of the guns- subtly raising their temperature while dropping their spark point and in a moment, like marvelous, dangerous fireworks, the ammunition inside the firearms began exploding in a brilliant chain reaction. It was loud as all hell, because it was live ammunition she was setting off, but it was effective. Burning hot shrapnel was everywhere, one of the vampires had almost shot one of their own. Some of their hands were disfigured from holding what Kayla had deftly turned into improvised explosives.

She turned back to the man she had beaten down earlier, and pulled him up by the chain that was around his neck- seemingly completely unaffected by how hot the chain still was.

"Don't fuck with me, old man." she hissed, roughly twisting the chain so that the metal links bit into the burnt skin on his neck. "You got a problem, you take it up with me. All nice like, and I'll take it up with you, just as nice like."

The shoved him back into the ground and stood back to her full height. "Girls! Finish your business! We're getting out of here!" she just about roared, not wanting to stick around any longer in case any law enforcement was on the way. She began taking a step towards the gate of the neighborhood, but stopped. Kayla decided to say one last thing to the downed leader.

"I'll see you next week, Bill. Hope Les' arm heals up well enough." She looked from him to the rest of The Coven, and made for the gate.

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

Kayla

---

The hum of a diesel engine in the distance caught The Coven's attention.

Old Ford truck, it's color faded from the sun and it's model easily older than anyone in the Coven was, a bit beaten and weathered- came to a stop by the group. In the passenger seat was Kayla and Oleander. Now, some of those without critical thinking skills might assume that Kayla had broken one of her own directives- to park a few minutes walk away. They would be correct, but the difference is that the vampires of Greenwood Estate knew Kayla was coming. Her goal in having the rest of the group park out of the way was that, if things went south, they had alibis. Nothing was more attention grabbing than a convoy of vehicles and occupants wielding weapons from bats to... onions?

Kayla furrowed her brow and regarded Riley's garlic necklace and antics with hidden humor, obscured only by a maroon bandana that covered her face. Her outfit was mostly the same as it had been before- but this time had forgone her typical leather jacket, wearing only her tank top and black jeans. However, she had taken a to a pair of leather gloves and what appeared to be steel toed boots. Wrapped around her forearm and secured in her grip was a chain. It appeared she had no other weapon on her.

"You're a bit confused, but I like the spirit." she commented to Riley, stepping out of her car and putting her weight onto one hip. She held the door open for Oleander, and shut the car door as soon as the dog had hopped out of the passenger's seat. "Thank you all for coming." she said, regarding all of them evenly. She took a moment to eye the weaponry each person had arrived with and had it not been the mask they would have absolutely seen how wide her smile was.

"I take it none of you have done this before." she stated, her eyebrow raising as her half hidden expression fell into a smirk. "Alright, crash course," Kayla said as she reached out and took the end of Lyss' baseball bat, and with deft hands moved it to various points on her body. The first and foremost, across the sternum. "Aim here. The torso's a big place. You'll bruise 'em bad and break rips but you wont kill them." she explained, and then moved down, directing Lyss' bat to her knee. "This is also a good spot. You'll take someone out of a fight. And potentially cripple someone for life. It takes fifteen pounds of force to dislocate the knee. A bat can swing with over a hundred."

She placed her hands over Lyss' and angled her hand upwards, placing the bat in the crook of her neck. "Collarbone is a good place. Easy to break. Across the back is good, too." she lifted the bat and held it against her temple. "Aim here if you intent to end someone's life. Girls, do not aim above the shoulders today."

Kayla dropped the end of Lyss' bat and nodded to the other woman. "Remember, they arent expecting any retaliation. Just follow me, and follow my lead. Only jump in if you think someone on their side is going to. You follow me in there, you dont leave without everyone else. Now or never, girls."

Kayla turned without another word and began walking into the Greenwood Estate, lifting her arm and making a 'follow me' motion with her hand. Time for heads to roll.

Hollow Moon 2240

EDISON TADAMASA

Edison is an starborn mercenary and hired handyman who has, for the most part, placed his days as a hired gun firmly behind him. In his younger years he was renowned as a capable technician and an even better shot. Now that he has reached an age that most in his line of world would consider old (or experienced, as he'd prefer to put it), he retired to spend most of his time with his family to which funds were funneled in his time in the stars. Times have become harder once again, and as his world faces its seemingly constant struggle the call of the Hollow Moon has caught his attention and given him good reason to come out of retirement. Soft spoken, polite, methodical, and endlessly patient- he is far from the typical mercenary in more than just age. Armed with years of technique and experience scouring astro-terrain and harvesting everything from fallen bodies to invaluable equipment, and interfaced with an additional pair of cyber-prosthetic arms that have been surgically networked into his body and nervous system- Edison is prepared to do whatever it takes to ensure safety and a good life for those he loves back home- and those he cares for in the stars.

Full image

Face