KazAlkemi

Avengers Academy: X of Swords ⚔️

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Location: California
Magic Items:

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The Moon. Luna stared at yet another altered tarot card. She frowned. What was her Lady trying to tell her? Saturnyne must have known where she was sending Luna. Did she send her to the students of Ser Nemo to save him? Why? Luna shook her head, a flash of a cloak being ripped off before she stumbled to her knees, begging. Had it all been an act?

Luna turned her head in an effort to hide that she was on the verge of tears, and flipped the tarot card around to show Andy.

”That's the second card that has been altered to show one of your friends.” In place of the usual wolves howling at the Lady in the Moon was April. She sat on a crescent moon, holding two theatre masks. One sad, the other happy.

Luna slipped the deck back into her pocket. She wasn't ready for more revelations today. She frowned at Chase. Having no clue what his references meant but at the sound of a hot cup of tea, she relaxed. ”Actually, that would be lovely…. Thank you,” she said after a minute of hesitation. Just because Luna was 17 again, didn't mean she had to act like the stand off teenager she had been. Bloody hell, she was a 47 year old woman!

Luna turned to Andy after pouring herself a cuppa. Hopefully the American knew how to create a proper cup. She inhaled the sharp scent and sighed.

”Yes. I'd like to talk before the peanut gallery returns,” she joked. Oh gods and goddesses, did they even understand that reference here? Maybe she would have to get slang lessons from the children here. Maybe then her youngest would stop rolling her eyes at her mother every time Luna tried to sound relevant. She had pulled The Moon after all.

The card represented intuition and fear. About trusting your instincts and the interplay between consciousness and your shadow selves. And if Luna was correct in her instincts, she was back on this Earth for a reason. Perhaps to heal the child she had been when she was last here. To reconnect her humanity to her fae self, or to save her home.

Luna sipped her tea and outwardly groaned before taking another sip. ”You are now my new favourite,” she informed Chase.

”What would be easier for you?” Luna asked, returning to her conversation with Andy. She was simply glad Andy wanted to talk to her and was willing to do so, even if her overprotective and twitchy girlfriend lurked in the near distance.

Camp Lava Lake

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Ezekiel Kel

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Location: Camp Lava Lake
Skills:

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Zeke stumbled to a stop when Demi blocked his path. He tried to side-step his boyfriend but got nowhere. ”Buddy system? Fine. I’ll stick with Nancy.” Zeke knew he wasn’t being rational. He wanted to create some distance between himself and his twin before. Especially as their interests started to shift, they were supposed to go to university together and form a band. They couldn’t do that if Nancy were dead. If Zeke didn’t keep protecting his sister like he promised their mother.

”Can you move? Nancy needs something to eat and drink.”

Château de La Lune

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Rihannon Linx

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Location: Bar
Skills: N/A
Fit

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Wow. That came out of left field. Rhiannon looked at Ralph, noting the confusion on his face, before looking at Sam. Well, that worked out exceptionally well.

”So you hired his previous escorts? How did you find out about them in the first place?” Wait. Did that even matter to this investigation?

”Nevermind. Why do you think he killed someone? Lawrence is an ass with a temper. And a misogynist. Probably racist, too, but a murderer?” Of course, that would make him prime suspect number one. But Lena did say she wanted to get Lawrence out of the will. And Renee could have been written in if her plan to get to Richard had worked out.

Strange Academy: Journey into Mystery

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Location: Dungeons, Strange Academy
Grimore:
Skills:
Fit

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Once the head was packed up, Annika stood, brushing her hands on her legs. She turned back to the group, ready to leave with them as well. Annika watched Rohan with the magpies before she fell into step next to him.

”Making more bird friends?” she asked. She smiled, finding the birds' affinity for Rohan amusing. She fell silent, though, when Connie questioned Rohan about his earlier statement. It had something to do with the mask Rohan kept wearing. Annika slipped away, so Rohan and Connie could talk. She walked over to Cassie and smiled.

”Come on, let’s get out of here,” she said, leading the group out.

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Location: Library, Strange Academy
Grimore:
Skills:
Fit

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Pairs. Seven of them. Cal tried to focus, to rack his brain on whether there was any familiarity with the strange eyes that looked back at him. He looked down, reaching for the book again when hands gripped his head. Soothing circles moved from his temples, down to his jaw, and back again. Cal blinked and looked up at Nicky.

He hummed, thinking on his choices. Cal desperately wanted answers. For himself and Mikkail. For Nicky and Barty. But Nicky was being particularly attentive.

Cal smiled, his dark eyes softening. ”I’m alright. Dizzy and a little lightheaded. There’s definitely something mysterious about this journal. However, three of us have had adverse reactions to it. I’m not sure how we are going to solve this mystery.” Cal turned his head, taking the chance to capture Nicky’s hand and kiss his palm before releasing it. ”I saw eyes. Seven pairs of them.”

Translations

What colour(s) are the eyes? Did Cal recognize any of them?

Camp Lava Lake

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Ezekiel Kel

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Location: Camp Lava Lake
Skills:

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Zeke stood with his sister, ignoring the others aside from Demetri. He looked frequently between the two of them, listening to Demi’s reenactment of events and Nancy’s needs at the moment.

”Gracias a dios que estas bien! Yo debía estar aquí. Nunca te voy a dejar sola otra vez promientas que estamos aquí, ok? Debía de saber.” The words broke slightly while Zeke spoke. The change in language often helped to distract him from the situation at hand.

He took Nancy’s hand and tugged her along to the main cabin to get her something to drink and eat. He took Demi’s other hand, dragging him along as well. If he hadn’t been there…No. Ezekiel refused to think about that.

Translations

Spanish - Thank god you're okay. I should have been here. I'll never leave you alone again while we are here, okay? I should have known.

Avengers Academy: X of Swords ⚔️

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Location: California
Magic Items:

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Luna looked over at Andy when Gideon yelled that she was her girlfriend. Luna smiled brightly at Andy, completely disregarding the sword pointed at her. ”You have a girlfriend? That’s…Andy that’s amazing.” Glimpse didn’t exactly have time for Andy when she first came onto the scene, and Veil sort of took the girl under her own wing, but it was a relief to hear that Andy had really stepped into her own.

Luna turned back to look at the newcomer who stood between her and Gideon now. Gideon’s insults fell off Luna like a summer breeze. Honestly, she had been called worse. Besides, there was a small mirror dancing in front of her now. Everyone kept saying she looked like a teenager now. May as well see for herself. Luna snatched the mirror from the air and examined her face.

Shock. Disbelief. ”Are you fucking kidding me? Bloody hell…” Luna grumbled, while she pushed and prodded at her face. ’I’m the same age as my fucking kids.”

“For all my agents and priestesses, my captains Britain and my followers, their actions can be undone by the mere whim of a mortal child.”

The memory of Saturyne came on so quickly before it was gone again. Why now? Luna snapped the compact shut and looked at the children around her. Mortals in the eyes of the Otherworld. Whereas Luna was half. Could that be why…no.

”Look. I don’t know what the fucking hell is going on, alright? I don’t know why I’m younger. I have no idea why I’m here either. I would love to get back home, okay? But as for this current situation,” Luna stepped back and pulled the tarot cards out once more. She pulled Temperance back out and handed it to Andy. ”I got between you and your girlfriend because I didn’t know who she was, but she is on that card, and she shouldn’t be. But if you trust her, fine. I’m not the one doing the threatening. As for the rest of you, believe me or don’t. I couldn’t fucking care less. My home is under attack, and my Lady sent me here for reasons I honestly can’t remember. All I know is she stripped me of my title as Captain Britain. My birthright. And now I’m back on this bloody planet, and you keep throwing around Ser Nemo’s name. I don’t know what your business with him is, but he is due to be executed at my home, the Otherworld, for crimes against the TVA.” Luna crossed her arms, glaring at everyone except Andy.

She felt the deck of cards dig into her arm and pulled back. ”I won’t read your minds because the Underground hated when I did that. I can’t tell you what number you’re thinking of, but if you still know James, contact him. He was my only friend when I was here. He knows things about me, and I know things about him that others might not know from those days. Call him if you don’t believe me. But I need to go home. And I need your help to get there.”

Luna pulled another card, examining the only thing she had left from home. Well, only thing that she knew of.

Château de La Lune

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Rihannon Linx

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Location: Bar
Skills: N/A
Fit

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Rhiannon opened their mouth to push back on Lena when Sam cut in. Rhi focused on Sam, wondering why he was rambling so much until he delivered the punch line. Rhi snorted and covered her mouth. They did not see that coming from Sam. He seemed so…golden retriever-like.

”I really don’t think this event ended up going how anyone wanted. I mean, someone died, and someone’s missing. A distraction is a better use of all our time. Either that or we start snooping around the house or making more trouble for your grandmother out of boredom.”

Strange Academy: Journey into Mystery

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Location: Dungeons, Strange Academy
Grimore:
Skills:
Fit

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Annika stood as Cassie got up. She smiled at Jake’s eagerness to keep everyone safe. However, there was no way Annika was going to stay in a room with all of these people. Unless they were camping. She wasn’t completely sure she believed Cassi’s statement about being fine, but who was she to question it. Annika nodded, stepping aside to look back at the hole in the wall.

”I believe Frankie has the body. At least that’s what it sounded like. Should we take the head with us?” She looked over at the others, wondering how they felt about that plan, when she noticed Rohan’s plight with the magpies.

Annika was used to animals being more human-like from time to time. Her familiar was one of them. But she hadn’t seen magpies act like this before. She cocked her head to the side, like a curious cat, as they started to peck at Rohan’s mouth. Annika remembered the birds did seem to want them to come down here to look for the head. Perhaps they were trying to tell them something?

Annika stepped closer to the head, peering through the hole Cassi made. Something bulged around the mouth.

Curious.

Annika made a bigger hole in the paper wall and stepped through. Nochella, ever present when weirdness was afoot, guided her over to the head. The black cat seemed to melt around the head as Annika knelt down. After a brief outer examination, Annika pulled the corpse’s lips apart—revealing something that shouldn’t be there.

”Curious and curiousor,” she quoted. ”What do you suppose this means?” she asked whoever dared to look with her.

Between the lips of the head rested three dead beetles, each bearing a different head. One with the face of a dolphin, another with the face of a seagull, another with the face of a panda. All bearing a Mexican sugar skull design on their back.

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Location: Library, Strange Academy
Grimore:
Skills:
Fit

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Cal’s eyes tracked Nicky as he moved the hand Cal brushed to his lips to kiss. Cal felt flushed and quickly looked away. He cleared his throat, shifting in his seat to make a real effort in unlocking the mystery of Kramer.

The sound of Cal’s pen scribbling notes against paper faded into the background as Nick spoke. The faint smell of cigar smoke and the taste of strong brandy tickled the back of Cal’s throat as late-night memories of Haven circled through his mind. Memories where everyone else was sleeping, leaving three awake to talk about lives long gone. But those were the rare moments. The ones that passed quickly and weren’t spoken about again until too much drink loosened minds and memories once more.

The text Callaghan read on Kramer revealed that he was the father of the witch hunts. A German priest with a penchant for communicating, Kramer wrote the Malleus Malificarium and circulated it because he saw a perceived danger of magic. His evangelic-like being whipped his congregation into a frenzy against his supposed “enemies.” He created a movement that would culminate in hundreds of years of bloodshed, despite the Church's ultimate condemnation of his work many years later.

Cal switched his focus from writing to Nicky once the witch spoke his name. Cal set his pen down, marking his place in the text before he took the journal.

The sentences within were definitely those of a madman, but Cal couldn’t help but feel there was something there. Some secret, some obsession that Kramer had to tell the world. Cal felt a sudden kinship with the dead man, despite his questionable practices and narrow-mindedness.

As Cal continued to stare at the pages, searching for what Nicky saw, 14 eyes swam beneath the pages. They seemed to drift aimlessly until they noticed Cal watching, then focused on him.

”Were they eyes?” Cal asked. He was transfixed by the unique 14 eyes. Were they the disciples of Kramer? Or something other? He felt their curiosity, realization, and then despair pressing against his mind before a sudden wave of exhaustion overwhelmed him. Cal blinked rapidly, feeling wobbly and suddenly dropped the book. He shook his head in an effort to dispel the blackness that was creeping along the periphery of his vision.

Avengers Academy: X of Swords ⚔️

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Location: California
Magic Items:

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Luna blinked at the hyperactive child who moved through the entire emotional scale in less than five seconds. ”Chocolate is the last thing you need,” she declared before looking over at April. ”You keep talking about your father and proving myself. How the bloody hell am I supposed to do that when I don’t know who you are, what you are, or who your father is? I know Andy. I want to talk to Andy.” She crossed her arms, matching Percy’s energy.

Andy leaned in then to talk to Luna. She dropped her arms immediately, leaning in closer to Andy as well. Who suddenly didn’t seem to trust her now either. Fine. ”Wait, what? Ten years younger? Andy, I’m forty-seven. I know time is different for me since I’ve been away. But I am not a teenager,” she said, laughing. ”But you were there when we were running in the sewers. When Veil had you in that bubble of hers? Do you remember what I said to Veil? I asked her to pass on a message to James, and then I called on those SHEILD agents. I said: ‘Bloody hell you wankers are slow! You’re going to have to move faster if you want to catch me!’” Luna felt a familiar tightening of her chest from the bitter-sweet memories of leaving the Underground behind. Luna wasn’t going to lie and say she had been a great person then, but she had grown from that experience.

Luna glanced at the girl beside Andy. Wondering why they looked so familiar. Wait. The tarot card. The first card Luna had pulled was after feeling the deck in her pocket. Luna stepped closer again, in an effort to cover Andy. She was about to ask who they were when they drew a sword on her.

“Try me, I'd love to fight you.”

Luna grinned, never one to back down from a fight. ”And I’d love to know why you're pictured on my lady's tarot card. Who are you?” Luna asked, narrowing her eyes.

Camp Lava Lake

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Ezekiel Kel

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Location: Camp Lava Lake
Skills:

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Ezekiel shook his head, still smiling slightly from Aster and his bizarre behaviour. Zeke could honestly say he had never met anyone like Aster before. He turned to get back to work when he heard the scream. Zeke dropped the fishing pole and just started running. No, no, no. Demi screamed for Zeke again, and he pushed himself faster.

Zeke made it to Demi and his sister as Nancy was coming too. Zeke slid to the ground, his eyes wild.

”Nanc? Nancy, are you okay? I’m here. How long was she seizing?” Zeke asked Demi, looking at him quickly before he continued his assessment of his sister.