Kirah

Camp Lava Lake

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10:00 AM - Friday, June 13th 1980 - Lava Lake, BC, Canada

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@KazAlkemi@Achronum@kittyluna45@Morose@Trainerblue192

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Emily

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Location: Camp Lava Lake Dining room
Skills:

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“There is some paper in the office. Just get me the lists at dinner. If you want a broom, there should be one somewhere around here. If not, I’ll pick one up. I am definitely not getting you one that is gold-plated or whatever. You’ll get a normal broom from the general store. If whatever you want is specialized enough, I might not be able to bring it with me tomorrow.” Dobbs was looking irritated, and went back to focusing on his food. He did snort at the water sports comment, which Em noticed and raised an eyebrow about, but she didn’t call attention to it.

Em then gestured to the middle of the table, where the paper and pencil she had placed there earlier still sat. So far is a short list of trail markers and coffee.

"Aster, my friend, I know it is but a lowly piece of paper, but I have started a list.” She turned her attention to Demi. Em didn’t know him except for the bit of time they spent learning how to use the radio. "If we are going for gods, I claim Dionysus.” Em sipped her water. She saw how Nancy recoiled at the water sports comments. "He does not mean that literally... Well, Aster doesn’t. I don’t know if he does or not.”

Dobbs finished his breakfast, cleared his place, and waved to the group as he left the building, back out to the roof of one of the cabins. As soon as Dobbs was gone, Em shifted and sat up a little more; she had been leaning into Marco.

"I’ve got a bit of my homemade wine with me. If anyone is interested, tonight after he leaves. I don’t have enough for too many nights, so we have to be frugal if we want to have some after the kids show up. I also doubt I’d have enough to share with other people more than our little group. Anyone down?”

Avengers Academy: X of Swords ⚔️

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Ben had enough of a presence of mind to let go of Chase when Danni grabbed him. He transferred his clinging to Danni. He still couldn’t breathe. Danni picked him up and he closed his eyes accepting that Danni had him. He trusted Danni. He gasped for air and buried himself into Danni’s embrace. Tears poured out of his clamped shut eyes. There was a rushing in his ears that could have been his blood pounding or air.

Danni took in heavy gulps, tension bleeding out as he focused on keeping them aloft. He still trembled with the residual emotions from down below, but being somewhere he could see everything and everyone and get away from it all helped. His heart broke for the boy in his arms and wished he could do more than just hold him, but a drop from this height would be infinitely worse than a few tears Danni couldn't wipe away. “Just let it all out, Bennie boi. I gotchu up ‘ere. Just you and me and t'e open sky. No nasty walls, no little boxes, no nestin’ dolls. You're gunna be alright.”

Ben shuddered in relief, but the panic that had washed over him still held him. Ben didn’t remember being a kid trapped in an elevator, but he did remember the cocoon. He remembered screaming for his parents, who should have been inches away. His mother had been right there. He didn’t know how long he was there. Even now. It had been unclear. His voice had gone so raw he couldn’t speak for almost a week after. His uncle was already in London when he had been released. The debris had been cleared. His parents' bodies were removed, processed and waiting to be placed on the mantel.

Ben shook. He sobbed. He couldn’t breathe.

But he knew Danni had him. Ben couldn’t quite process it, but it felt like Danni was holding him bridal style. The tension in his body slowly started to dissipate. He needed to move. Danni told him they were out of the little ice wall space. He drew his first full breath and opened his eyes.

Danni gave Ben as much time as he needed, hovering in the air and offering quiet reassurances as Ben cried out his terror. Danni rocked back and forth gently and as Ben wound down, Danni offered Ben a watery smile as he opened his eyes. “‘eeeeey, t'ere. Figured we bot’ need a little ‘ang time. Get it, ‘cause we're ‘angin’ out in the sky? So we're just ‘an'in’.” Danni giggled at his lame joke. “So uh, t'at was real intense. You gunna be okay? You're not like physically ‘urt right? I didn't see anyt'in’ ‘it ya or anyt'in’. Ya don't need t'e nurse, yeah? Nod six times for yes and twelve for no. Nah, jk don't do t'at. If ya ‘ave a ‘ead injury t'en that'll make it worse!” Danni plopped his head on Ben's, neck awkwardly twisted but Danni wanted to be able to give Ben a little more contact (and get a little comfort for himself, he wasn't a saint).

Ben blinked, looked around and saw how high they were up off the ground. He was suddenly very glad he wasn’t also afraid of heights. “Bloody hell!” Ben gasped, holding onto Danni a little tighter.

“Uh, yeah I’m fine. Physically. I mean. I fuck. I am so sorry. I lost it there. Sorry,” Ben stammered out. “Are you okay? You don’t like small spaces either. We can land if you need to. Thank you. I couldn’t have stayed there. There were too many people, and the exit was impossible to get to, and the walls were steep and solid. I couldn’t get out. I...” Ben gasped for some air as he sensed he was about to spiral again. Tremors spasmed in his hands.

Danni laughed, throwing his head back and let the sound carry. “Ben, ‘eeeey, stay wit’ me, my guy. Focus on now. There's no walls, no people - just you and me and endless space. We're gunna stay up ‘ere til you're comfy gettin’ ack down, aight? I can do t'is all day.” Danni giggled, doing a purposely terrible impression of Eli in the Contest. “Aren'tcha just a t'oughtful little bug. I’m All good, all good. Rillie left it wit'out a ceilin’ so I ‘ad an easy escape route, ya know? Poissan-Pas drilled us in t'is stuff ‘fore he… Over and over and over. Escape drills, survival drills, any situation ‘e t'ought we might freeze in and t'at's probs pretty luck ‘cause ot'erwise, we'd bot’ be not ‘ere! But we're ‘ere and t'at was a whoooooole mess.” Danni laughed again until it turned into a sob.

“And it was all my fault - I didn't really t'ink when I told everyone where I was! I ‘ad a whole plan ta introduce t'em toget'er and it woulda been cute and t'em wholesome and t'in's woulda been better. I just wanted ta ‘angout iwt’ everyone; I was just so excited ta be back toget'er t'at I didn't even t'ink and now Spicy's upsetti, Dee's upsetti, Chase is upsetti, you're upsetti - talk ‘bout splash damage. Who needs fire whenever ya got emotional blunders for 600, Bob? Danni squeezed Ben a little closer ta him. “I'm sorry I messed all t'is up. Just wanted t'em ta make up ‘cause Spicy clearly needed ta move on from t'at and Chasey clearly wanted ‘ia friend back and I love friends!”

Ben shook and pulled himself into a smaller ball in Danni’s arms. After a couple of moments he was able to relax again. “Bloody hell. I’ve never had it this bad before.” But that wasn’t true, not really, Ben’s time in the Terrigensis cocoon was a blur of panic. There had been no escape then, not until he was safe at his grandparents house. He squeezed his eyes shut tight, trying to catch his breath. He focused on what Danni had said, trying to parse through it all. Using him as an anchor.

“You couldn’t have known it would happen like that,” he finally managed to say. His voice still shaky. “I promised you I’d hang out with you today, long before I was with Chase. Why didn’t you guys warn me? I should have known. I mean he mentioned that your friends wouldn’t like him. I should have asked why. But I didn’t realize it would be like that. I didn’t know. I knew he had a past with someone, but I didn’t know it was my damn roommate. Fuck this year is going to be a mess.” Ben sighed.

”Thank you for wanting to fix it. He needs him.” It stung to say that. Ben didn’t know everything that happened between Percy and Chase. But he had seen how much pain was surrounding those memories. ”He missed him. I don’t think I’m totally excited about realizing how much I probably remind him of Percy. I feel like a replacement.” Ben’s heart ached. Would Chase make up with Percy and leave him? Could Ben keep himself from blaming Danni?

“Idk, ‘e told me not ta tell ya and like, it’s not really my place ta tell ya? I can show ya t’en texts if ya want, side messaged ‘im durin’ your trip. ‘E was up reaaaaal late one night; I ‘ad ta like, set an alarm to wake up and every’in’. Kinda grilled ‘im and asked ‘im what t’e difference tween y’all was, tbh. ‘Cause I see you, t’is absolutely adorable guy and a little secluded and not big on lots o’ attention, and t’en ya see Spicy and it’s kinda like mhm mhm mhm ya know? Danni sighed. “‘ey, ‘ey, you aren’t a replacement. Sauna boi is def inta you and tbh, Dee would wipe t’e floor wit’ ‘is butt if ‘e even so much as looked at Spicy wit’ too much of anyt’in’ ot’er t’an grovellin’. Like, I t’ink t’at boi is low key whipped for you so I wouldn’t worry ‘bout t’at anyway. ‘e just wants ‘is friend back and ta make amends for bullyin’ ‘im. And if ‘e does leave ya, just come runnin’ ta me and I’ll set aaaaaaall ‘is skateboards on fire!”

Ben felt himself get warm in the face again as Danni called him adorable. But that was just Danni. He was friendly like that. That was okay. He could deal with that. Hopefully. Especially since it felt hypocritical to be upset about Percy if he thought about Danni.

“Thank you, yeah, you’re right.” Ben smiled thinking about Chase. He almost said that Chase never slept, but knew that wasn’t something Chase necessarily wanted to spread around.

“I don’t think it is worth burning all his skateboards if we did break up. We haven’t even been dating all that long. It’d suck, big time, but not burn his skateboards suck. Well, maybe one of them.” Ben didn’t know what he would do if Chase and him did break up though. He had been happy for the first time in ages with Chase. A fog had been lifted from around him. He still grieved. Still missed his parents. God did he miss them. But at least now it felt like there was a future. There was something worth living for. If they broke up... Especially if it was for Chase to leave him for Percy... for Emrys. He’d rather be in the damn cocoon again, at least then his suffering would be for a reason.

Ben sighed and shifted, he knew they were high up, but he hadn’t really had a chance to look around. He took a moment to do that now. “Damn you can just fly huh. I can talk to bugs, I can’t get myself out of a room with an exit. It was probably a good thing I didn’t call a bunch of bugs over though. No one likes to be swarmed. This is a good view, but we can land now. I don’t know, show me that tree you were talking about.”

“Yee! I love flyin’. Its so freein’, tbh.” Danni lowered them slowly, spying Chase slipping out from the shadows down on the ground. That meant it was time to handle his own issue. “I gotta go check on Spicy and t'en we can all go check out t'e tree! Its suuuper spooky but, uh, I gotta go get yelled at and Sauna boi probs needs a little live right now too.” Danni lowered them down next to Chase, gently put Ben on the ground, ruffled his hair, and beamed at Chase. “Took good care o’ ‘im like I said I would! ‘ave fun! We're checkin’ out t'e tree after t'iiiiiiis!” Danni blasted back into the air, heading for Percy.

Ben stood, his legs unsteady, but he stayed upright. “Thank you, Danni. See you in a bit,” he told Danni before he took off. Ben looked at Chase, his heart pounding, not from the same fear as earlier. He flexed, and shifted, not sure what to say. Not sure how to start this conversation. His face was still wet with the tears he had shed.

Château de La Lune

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3:00 PM - Friday, July 18th, 2025 - Château de La Lune, France

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@PatientBean@TheMaster99@KazAlkemi@Trainerblue192@kittyluna45@KTostada

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La Lune Family

Elenore La Lune
Richard La Lune
Agatha La Lune
George La Lune
Beatrice La Lune
Lawrence La Lune
Nathan La Lune
Elizabeth La Lune
Gabrielle La Lune
Jeanne La Lune
Lena La Lune

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Elenore stood stiffly from what she had been doing, looking at the pair who had entered the ballroom. “Ah, hello Mz. Cromwell, Mr. Wines, good afternoon.” Elenore smiles at them. “If I were to be honest with you I am worried about tonight and tomorrow. The pall of all that has happened may have ruined what should be a grand celebration,” she sighs lightly, gesturing around the room.

“I am doing my best to make this special event. I do not want this tragedy to define the showcase of your talents. Thank you for asking. I am almost finished here. If you would still be interested in helping, you can take these,” she gestured to the bouquets of flowers. “And place one on each of the tables around the room. I would appreciate it.”

Elenore seems satisfied with that, but as she turns to go back to what she was doing she pauses, and then looks back at the pair of them, “Actually, there is one other thing you two could do for me if you’re willing?”

As Elenore asks, a bell can be heard coming from the dining area. “That’ll be lunch. Go ahead and get something to eat. Come back and I will ask for my favor.” Unfortunately for Millicent she still cannot get a good read on Elenore. The woman is too poised, she has obviously spent hours on being graceful under pressure.

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Ralph

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Location: Château de La Lune
Skills: N/A

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“Thank you, I’d take credit, but it was my father-in-law who designed a lot of the layout,” Richard said in response to Rhi complimenting the space. It was a good space. Though Richard did believe it could use an update.

“I am reading À la recherche du temps perdu by Marcel Proust. We have the entire collection of seven novels. It is a bit of a tragedy that it never got finished by Proust. However, there is enough intact of the last several books to make it worth the read. Of course, it is better to read it in French than English. That is how these things go. We unfortunately only have it in French, and considering the length you wouldn’t have time to read it even if it were in English. Maybe when you return home you can look for an English translation,” he suggested. His tone in general was a little dismissive.

Ralph looked at him a little annoyed, but quickly schooled his expression. It was a good thing Richard was primarily focusing on Rhi for his little explanation. Ralph was suddenly uncertain. Should they ask direct questions? Or more subtle ones? His heart rate rose and he felt like he was playing a game of Mafia and was about to be grilled. He hated those types of games.

”So,” Ralph cleared his throat, sitting. ”How have you been enjoying the diversion of the celebration?”

“Hmm, well, this year has certainly been more interesting than previous years. Though it isn’t the first year someone got punched. You wouldn’t believe how often that happens. It is almost an annual tradition. How about yourselves? Other than the dreadful business from this morning. Felix told us.”

Ralph froze a little. Unsure of Richards' motivations. Carefully he said, ”The food has been delicious. The company is good. Though I don’t feel like we’ve had much opportunity to mingle with your family.”

Richards scoffed, “Do not feel bad about that. The whole family is stuck in the past. The era of French wine is dying and they refuse to admit it.”

Avengers Academy: X of Swords ⚔️

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Location: School
Skills:
Magic Item: N/A
Fit check

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Danni talked first. Explaining things as he saw them happen. The sequence of events. It seemed simple from his perspective. Ben's ears got hot when Danni described him.

Danni thought he was cute.

”Sorry about that again,” he murmured as Danni said that he had blown him off. Ben hadn't wanted to. And he had promised 10 hang outs in exchange. He hoped that would be a good enough peace prize. “We started dating on the third,” Ben supplied. Not remembering that he hadn’t told Danni until the sixth.

He frowned as Danni said Chase had shoved Percy into lockers. He shot Chase a look, but Chase was sitting on the ground and he looked so broken. A slurry of memories went through Ben's mind.

Chase at the contest: “Personally I'm hoping short stack over there gets pummeled into the ground.”

Chase in the woods: “Emrys, he would say a dark wizard, he would think me a villain of darkness that cannot be brought to light.”

Chase on the side of the road breaking down as he told Ben everything that had happened to him. How he had gotten his powers.

Chase and him... praying.

Ben kissing him for the first time.

Ben asking Chase if this was serious or a fling.

Ben had been so afraid of being used.

Chase admitting he hadn't been sure he liked him until then, despite all the attention.

He shook a little. That could have been him. Shoved into a locker. Panic at the idea rose. Fear of that small of a space filling him.

Chase walking him through the panic that had risen in the shower.

Chase picking hotel rooms that had ADA compliant bathrooms after that.

Chase making sure he was okay.

Chase holding him. His gentleness. Making sure he had space around him in the car and in the shower, even if it was with his shadows when there wasn’t another option.

Chase growing, and saying to himself that his feelings mattered.

Chase fighting his demons and swimming.

Chase accepting help, and the drinks from Matt despite turning them down.

He could have been in Percy's place. Kissing the guy he liked. But Chase hadn't hurt him. He had helped him. Protected him. They had talked about the worst days of their lives. He had been so vulnerable with him and Chase hadn't hurt him. That told him what he needed to know. Chase did want to change, he wanted to be better. Ben adjusted himself so he stood between Chase and the others a bit more. If anyone did want to fight him they'd have to go through him.

The faces of the people arrayed there didn’t seem like the faces of people who were ready to attack. One of them even offered healing. The initial shock was over. Dorian’s face had become almost contrite, apologetic. Only Percy was still upset. Percy was miserable. Clinging to his boyfriend and barely able to get words out between sobs. Percy wanted to talk to Chase in private. He was crying and they needed closure. Ben offered his hand to Chase, to help pick him up.

“We'll talk later, I'll hold my opinions until you've told me everything,” Ben said, echoing their conversation on the side of the road when Chase told him about how he got his powers. But he had a soft smile on his face. Chase took his hand, and it was a good thing, it would be the only thing that kept Ben from using the people in the room to get up and over the walls.

Ice walls formed around them. April said something that was lost on him. He looked around, gripping onto Chase like a lifeline. He couldn’t breathe. There was an exit, but it was beyond the crowd of people. He tried to get through them. He couldn’t breathe. Walls. He felt like passing out. Fuck. There were too many people. Ben wanted out of there. He needed to not be in this small space with all these strangers. He didn’t know any of them. Only Danni and Chase. He turned, considering the walls, if he could scale them, he did parkour and he could get out that way. But the walls were made of ice, he couldn’t get his fingers from his free hand into them.

Ben couldn’t breathe. The world felt smaller and smaller, and he couldn’t get any air. Black dots started to fill his vision.

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Location: School
Skills: Enhanced Reflexes (Passive); Enhanced Durability
Magic item: N/A
Fit check, and Letterman jacket

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“Victoria!” Andy shouted. She didn’t know what Vicky had planned, but it couldn’t be good. There was no way it was worth killing the other team over. She caught what Gideon did out of the side of her eye and she smiled a little, shaking her head.

“Hey! Don’t be rude!” Andy yells at the other team. ”You don’t hear us calling you rude names. Stick to the snowballs.”

She noticed off to one side, where she was certain she had heard April earlier, that a wall of ice had formed. If that was April’s doing she had gotten good. Too bad she wasn’t helping with the snow ball fight. Andy ducked behind a fortification and sent April a text.

@April

Yo, idk if that is you over there, but uh... if you wanna throw around more snow, come over to the snowball field.

Then she picked up more snow and went back to throwing balls at the other team. She laughed. This was fun.

Strange Academy: Journey into Mystery

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Location: Primary Artificer Laboratory -> Professor Varn Croan’s Office
Grimoire:
Skills:

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Finley found themselves walking with Annika. They had a meeting with their advisor Croan, though they much more wished they could go to the dorm and spend time with Dysphoria. It was irritating to be told where to go and when, but they had signed up for that when agreeing to attend the school. And the school had its benefits. Such lovely benefits.

”I do not bite. Unless you ask,” Finley told Annika as she stood as far apart from them as was physically possible in the hallway.

Upon entering Croan’s office Finley sat quickly on one of the chairs, not quite flopping, but that was only because Finley had had an impressive training of looking like they were unbothered by anything.

”Hello Croan. Yes, we are in the same coven. I did a binding spell for our little group. We shall find our way back. Despite Annika’s blood being slightly resistant to such machinations. Not as resistant as Rohan’s, which I’m surprised even worked.”

Rohan... the strange cursed creature. Little love was lost between them. Rohan was nervous about Finley, any who knew the fae were. But none of their pleasant demeanor had worn him down over the years that they knew him. Constance had not tried to force the matter. She did not care how people interacted with each other as long as it was civil enough and the blood did not get on her. Finley remembered her face the moment she learned how their powers worked. No wonder she never joined them in any of the rooms at Haven.

Finley pulled a loaf of bread out of their bag and started eating it. The bread was not sliced, they did not put anything on it. They just ate directly from a nearly full loaf, this did not seem to be a new thing as the loaf had clear bite marks.

”Would you like some, Annika?” They offered.

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Location: Room 12 -> Prof. Ravoux’s Office
Grimoire:
Skills:

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Leaving room 12 had left Connie fuming. She was irritated at Croan. She was terrified. She was angry. There were a lot of feelings she was feeling. As she walked to Prof. Ravoux’s office she counted. She sorted through them. Placing them into discrete mental boxes. Not closing those boxes, but organizing them. It was a lot to sort through and she hadn’t finished by the time she arrived at Prof. Ravoux’s office.

Entering the cottage she felt some of the boiling emotions peel off of her. She paused, exited, and re-entered the room four times before she finally felt centered enough to follow Prof. Ravoux’s directions. Gently she placed her bag down near the entrance, sat down and made a face of mild disgust at the body of the rabbit.

”Do you have a towel or something that I can place on my lap?” The cold clipped tone that had been in her voice while in room 12 was gone now, replaced with her normal slightly detached tone. Connie couldn’t stand body fluids. Blood or any other, getting on her. She had considered once that maybe she had OCD, but had never really dug into it. As far as she was concerned it did not affect her life enough to be an issue. Except in moments like this. She also wished she had gloves, her hands shook a little at the idea of touching the dead thing.

Zéphyrine chuckled slightly, nodding as she pointed with her head towards the nest in the corner. “‘Elp yourself,” she offered. There were towels mixed in there with the various blankets. She had been doing this sort of work for far too long to care if a bit of blood or guts got on her - and given her nature as a shifter, it was more common for her to find a bit of dried brain matter on her heel than to not. “You want to talk about w’at’s on your mind, chère? ‘Arkness said t’ese sessions are meant for us to get to know eac’ ot’er as mentee and mentor, but I reckon we know eac’ ot’er plenty by now.”

Connie gathered a towel, finding the least crunchy one, and lay it out on her lap to start preparing the rabbit. ”I have quite a bit on my mind actually. I am working on a Mystery with Croan,” she said his name with a bit of venom in her tone. Connie took a deep breath and re-centered herself. Focusing for a moment on the task at hand.

”I shifted between my swift form and into human form. As I did, I saw something. That has never happened before. I do not have visions. But I saw his past. I saw him with his lord, and lines of people falling at his hands.”

Zéphyrine cocked her head to the side, curious. “A vision? Mm… Your magic or ‘is?” she inquired. Her own opinions on Croan were complex, but at the end of the day, he was one of them - he was part of her pack. “Visions can be as murky as a swamp. Many a witc’ has lost more t’an just sleep over t’em. And you know as well as I t’at t’is world ain’t easy for folks like us. Croan’s ‘ad ‘is own ‘ards’ips. Do you t’ink ‘e’s wicked?”

”Hmm, I can’t say if it was his or mine. It was his history. I don’t know if wicked is a word I would use. But he has little unclear intentions. The fact that he has been obsessed with this statue for so long and that unknown cohorts have lost their mind to it, but he continues to choose to let us go into it blind is frustrating. I am meticulous. I plan, I do not like to leap into things blindly.” The longer Connie spoke the more irritated her voice became. She stopped herself taking a deep breath, calming herself down again.

”I could have touched it and tried to turn the stone to flesh, but I won’t, not until I know more about it.” She shook her head. ”Unlike Jake, who just... licks things he doesn’t understand.”

She nodded sympathetically. There was a reason Zéphyrine did not lead a coven. Risking the lives of young witches, before they had even fully bloomed, it was too much to bear. No, she much preferred keeping them tucked away behind her skirts, practicing simple lessons where the price of failure was nothing she could not fix.

But that was not the point of the coven system.

“Do you know w’y we ‘ave you look into these mysteries?” she asked. “You’re old enoug’ now, mon amie, t’at you could ‘ave left t’e nest and struck out on your own, your own witc’. But you decided to stay. W’y? We taug’t you all your spells, your potions and incantations - t’e only t’ing left to teac’ is a lesson most don’t get a second c’ance at. ‘Ow to live - ‘ow to see a problem t’ats killed a t’ousand of your own and walk away to tell the tale. If you ain’t up for t’at, t’eres no s’ame in it. But t’is is w’at it means to live in t’is world as a witch’ - you gotta keep on leapin’ in blind. T’e day you can’t do t’at is t’e day you meet our Lady.”

Connie was quiet for a moment, thinking over what Ravoux said. She contemplated. If thousands of other witches had tried this, what made her better than them?

”But if I do leap in blind, it can kill me. Preparing for what the dangers are mean I am less likely to die. The previous cohorts had just as much training, maybe more. Yes, I’ve gone to this school a long time, many that knew me when I first came are long gone, moved on to other things. But I like learning. The environment here has always helped and fostered my skills.” And kept her safe from the outside world.

“I ain’t disagreein’ wit’ you. Your odds are better if you prepare. But t’e coven system ain’t about learnin’ t’e way you want - if you want a test to study for, ‘omework to fill out, t’en you’re in t’e wrong place. I can talk at you till I’m blue in t’e face and it won’t teac’ ya ‘ow to live when t’e w’ole world wants ya dead. Learn to function in c’aos. Or leave, go walk in t’e mortal world and take t’eir exams, take t’eir lessons. T’e pat’ only gets ‘arder from ‘ere. I’m sorry, chère, but it’s t’e trut’.”

Connie chewed on her lip. She had not spent much time outside of the French Quarter since she was a little kid. ”Should I just try to transform this statue? Turn it from stone back into the flesh it once was?” Connie wanted to do that. She had resisted the urge. But fear had held her back.

Avengers Academy: X of Swords ⚔️

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Location: School
Skills:
Magic Item: N/A
Fit check

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Chase had had a chat with Uncle Matt? Oh god of course he tried the safe sex talk with Chase too. He felt wildly embarrassed, and his ears were suddenly very hot. Chase pulled Ben through the shadows and things got insane very quickly.

Ben recognized several of the people from the Contest. This was basically all team Excelsior, Marlena, and someone he didn't recognize. Ben knew they were all friends with Danni but that didn't make him any less nervous. He felt a little like an interloper and hung back a bit, which was probably a good thing as Danni became a pillar of fire.

One of the guys pulled out a fire extinguisher, Ben made a mental note that he might want to keep one of those too, and put Danni out. He then stepped back and stood between Chase and a younger looking guy. He looked pissed... at Chase. Was it because of the fire thing?

Ben saw how the fire extinguisher guy blocked the younger guy. And more importantly his angle showed him the younger guy's face. He was scared... of Chase? And not because of the fire.

His stomach rolled, they knew Chase and didn't like him. That was what Chase meant. Danni seemed to think it wouldn't be an issue but it was.

Chase had gone over to the hot chocolate stand and was stacking an absurd amount of things into and on his cup. He apparently didn't notice that his jacket sleeve was on fire.

Cascade, Danni's sister, tried to do something to put Chase out but was failing. Ben stepped forward and grabbed Chase's arm shoving into a pile of snow. Hopefully Chase didn't spill any of his overloaded hot chocolate. His heart was pounding. He wished he was the teleporter and could leave whatever was happening because it was not going to be good. He looked between Chase and the others nervously.

The young guy confirmed what Ben was thinking. Something had happened between them. They knew each other. Chase knew Danni's friends wouldn't like him and he didn’t warn him. His stomach twisted more. This guy... he was Emrys. The one Chase would say would call him an evil wizard. A warning would have been nice.

”Uh, hi,” he cleared his throat. ”I’m Ben. Does anyone want to explain what is going on? What haven't you told me?” He really hoped someone would explain the history he was missing out on. The second question was directed at Chase, concern on his face.

What had happened? And more importantly why had Chase kept that from him? He knew this was a possibility and didn't tell him. Ben wouldn't call it a lie... he hadn't asked about why Chase thought Danni's friends wouldn't like him. And that was on him he supposed.

---

---

---

Location: School
Skills: Enhanced Reflexes (Passive); Enhanced Durability
Magic item: N/A
Fit check, and Letterman jacket

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---

Andy was laughing as she hit the snow pack and joined Victoria in the snow field. Victoria had peppered the opposing team with snow, it came down upon them like a tide. She made a snow ball.

Andy was on the beach of Genosha. Ahead of her The Green Lagoon. Blob, slid her a drink, and she felt like she needed it. She waved to him.

”Hey, Blob. How’s it going?” She picked up the drink and sipped it. It was ice cold. Perfect. Andy sighed. Relief flooded through her. Tension she had been carrying drifted away. She wasn’t scared. The troubles of Genosha were in the past.

She saw a group of students from Akademos, they were chatting animatedly. Andy knew them, they were part of the island defense team she had set up with Magneto. She started walking to join them.

Something about the sand felt wrong. She paused, looking at her feet. She wasn’t walking on the beach. It was snow. Why was there snow? And then she remembered.

Her heart broke a little as the world shifted and she was back at Margaret Carter Academy. She had never gotten a chance to set up the island defense team. And Genosha was gone, though repaired again. But the world she remembered had been destroyed.

She clenched her hand, the snow ball she had apparently been shoving in her face fell apart.

”I’m gonna kick your ass!” She yelled, and picked up more snow and started to throw snow balls at Xènia.

Avengers Academy: X of Swords ⚔️

---

---

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Location: School
Skills: Enhanced Reflexes (Passive); Enhanced Durability
Magic item: N/A
Fit check, and Letterman jacket

---

---

At the friendship bracelet station Andy set about making one for Gideon and America and herself. She still wasn’t 100% sure what the exact relationship status was between them all, it seemed to be a hinge situation, but she didn’t care since Gideon was fine with her kissing America. Gideon seemed pretty chill to share. Andy was thankful for that because she had been so repressed before now that she wanted to explore a lot. She had come to the realization she didn’t think she cared much for boys, or maybe that was because of who the options were.

As she put beads on the bracelet she was struggling. A lot. Her finger tips hurt and getting the knots tied seemed basically impossible. It was that or her hands were still shaking a little from the sort of fight(?) that she had had with Gideon just now. She lost three whole bracelets before she just gave up.

”Okay, never mind. I cannot do this. I’m about to flip the table,” she said, giving an apologetic look to the person in charge of the station. ”Any luck for you?”

Gideon grinned, expertly sliding beads onto string with rapid, practiced grace. She’d selected a series of black beads, alternating with tiny white skulls. She glanced at Andy, eyeballing the size of her wrist, before tying the knot and cutting the string. “Not to brag, but I made so many of these as a kid. Well, not as bracelets, but rosaries are kind of the same thing if you think about it. Here - for my umbral princess!” She slid the bracelet onto Andy’s wrist, before bringing her hand to her lips and kissing it.

”Thank you,” Andy said, a slight blush on her cheeks. "I definitely heard April screaming over there,” Andy pointed in the direction of the hot chocolate stand. “Which probably means a bunch of the others are. Or, I could really use a way to get some anger to bleed off if you wanna go demolish those guys doing the snow ball fight?”

“Babes, worm of my eye, apple of my coffin, love of my death - I absolutely want to go fight those fucking losers. We can catch up with the soap opera squad later.”

”Sweet,” Andy stood up and left her failed bracelets behind. She walked with Gideon to the snow ball fight field. She filed away the comment about rosaries. After their earlier conversation Andy wasn’t going to push it.

”Hey, Victoria! We’re joining,” Andy yelled, hopping over the low fence to join Victoria and demolishing the other students.

“LET’S FUCKING KILL THESE GUYS!!!” Gideon screamed like a maniac, as she started scooping up snow as fast as she could.

Avengers Academy: X of Swords ⚔️

---

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Location: School
Skills:
Magic Item: N/A
Fit check

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@The Round Table

[attachment - photo of terrarium set up in the dorm]
Amélie! <3
I finally get to meet her!
OMW

Ben had gotten Danni’s message, and changed his path to head for the hot chocolate station. Not long after that Chase had messaged him and he let Chase know where he was going. Before Ben got to the hot chocolate station Chase came up and picked him up. At first he yelped, but that turned into a laugh once he realized who it was.

”Ah, put me down,” he protested. He put the crown on his head, grinning. ”I missed you. Sorry about my Uncle. He was big mad.” He kissed Chase.

”Want to go meet up with Danni?” He gestured in the direction he had been going to meet up with Danni at the hot chocolate stand. He didn’t want to wait long, if he knew Danni he’d see something shiny and wander off and forget to say anything.

Ben hoped Chase did. He had promised Danni he would hang out with him. Ben hadn’t addressed the fact that Chase was nervous about hanging out with Danni’s friends. He wasn’t sure how to approach the subject. In the group text Chase had expressly said that Danni’s siblings and friends wouldn’t like him. Ben didn’t know why that would be the case.

Camp Lava Lake

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9:45 AM - Friday, June 13th 1980 - Lava Lake trail, BC, Canada

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@KazAlkemi@Achronum@kittyluna45@Morose@Trainerblue192

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Emily

---

Location: Camp Lava Lake Trail
Skills:

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---

Em squeezed Marco’s leg under the table, she smiled warmly at him. She didn’t care what the cops thought. Not one bit. This was her Marco, she’d follow him to the end of the world.

Emily turned her attention to Demi as he claimed an allergy to eggs. She watched him as he shoved a bite of quiche into his mouth. He was either incredibly stupid or messing with them. They’d find out soon enough.

”Well, let us know how that works out for you,” she tells him a raised eyebrow. ”Alright, Aster, you’ve got general cleaning on the lock I suppose. I want to do some shrub cleaning, trail marking, and general maintenance that has been lacking. There are a lot of deer trails around here. I want to make sure the kids who show up don’t end up in an animal den, or a patch of poison ivy.

Dobbs are there yard maintenance tools at least.”

“Yeah, there is a shed by the water with anything you might need in that type of way,” he said around a bite of food. He nodded approvingly at Marco. The food was good. He’d hold up his end of the bargain and bring whatever he ordered special. “Once the kids get here, can’t keep up that deal, unfortunately. There will be other staff coming in.”

”So, we are only alone for the week?” That was a bit of a relief. Though, in a way Em wished it was more time alone. She’d be fine working with the kids. But in a way getting to know the others was sort of fun.

Avengers Academy: X of Swords ⚔️

---

---

---

Location: School
Skills: Enhanced Reflexes (Passive); Enhanced Durability
Magic item: N/A
Fit check, and Letterman jacket

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---

The day before school

---

The day before school, found Andy packing up her bag. She had more clothes and things than she had ever had before in her life. She ran her fingers over the duffle bag. Even this was new. Her clothes were new. She had so much stuff. Andy carefully packed her school bag. She put Jamie’s deck of cards in there. It felt good to have that again. She rubbed her hand over the spot where it pressed against the backpack’s fabric.

For all the new things she had, she had also found so much she had thought lost forever. She had been texting, and on calls with members of the MU, and in some cases talking to them face-to-face. Having four of them living next door helped a lot with that latter one. So much had changed in just the last month. And going farther back even more had changed. Andy felt like it had been a bit of a whirlwind.

Andy paused on the sea glass mosaic that Sabine had given her. She smiled, appreciating it. Andy appreciated all the gifts her friends had given her. The strange rock that Leah had made, the coffee from Vicky, the necklace from Percy. Her life was so full. Andy held back tears that burned at her eyes. Her life was so full and she was happy. Looking at the mosaic she wondered how long it would last. Her heart twisted. Fear pulsed through her.

Damn. She had made it through the whole break without feeling like the world would pull the rug out from under her at any moment. Part of Andy figured that was because she had had something so terrible happen right before break started that the universe thought she deserved a break. It had been since Thanksgiving that she had been in a near death experience. Something she wouldn’t be able to survive if it happened again.

She started pacing. Slowly Andy’s hands traced where old scars would be. Since the final battle of Genosha she hadn’t had any physical scars. They all had gone away, including her piercings, which she had replaced as soon as she had the chance. She ran her thumb over the crook of her elbow. The oldest scar had been there.

Back before she had powers she had been playing tag, and climbed on... something. She frowned. What had it been? Andy could sort of picture it in her head, but couldn’t put a name to it. There had been something sharp on it and her arm had gotten cut up. She hadn’t gone to the ER and hadn’t gotten stitches, but she probably should have. The scar had been vicious looking.

After that her scars had all been little incidental things. A broken nose, her fists, both from fighting. That had all been healed. Wiped away as if none of it had happened. Now she wasn’t sure if she could scar. She had fallen from a height that should have killed her. She had taken swipes from Gideon’s sword during practice, and still nothing. No external sign of anything that had happened to her. It was all erased.

From her school bag, Andy removed the deck of cards, she pulled the cards out of the worn box. The deck had once been gorgeous, but now it was so worn it wouldn’t be good for a game of anything. She knew each card and how they felt, despite it having been months since she had had them in her hands. It was soothing. She shuffled the deck over and over, playing with the cards, using the magician tricks that Jammie had taught her.

This was proof. Proof that Jammie and Ash had lived. Proof that she had lived with them and learned at their sides. Learned how to fight, learned how to do magic card tricks, and learned how to love and be loved. She gave up fighting her tears. She sat down on the floor and cried.

Andy cried for the life she had had. Cried for those lost to her forever. Cried at what could have been. She cried long enough that she wasn’t sure how long it took, but the daylight was dimmed as the sun set. After washing her face and getting a glass of water, she hugged Magento and went back to packing. She felt better, still scared of the future, but better.

Later Gideon came over and they hung out watching movies together. Andy giving elaborate commentary about the history of the films. Andy talked about her feelings from the day. About how scared she was, even now and still. How she felt like part of her past had been erased and taken from her when her scars had been healed after the Battle of Genosha. But she had hope in what was remembered. She also talked about something she had only spoken with Magneto about after he had told her what happened to Genosha after she had left. She talked about how she had struggled with coming to terms with claiming Genoshan and how much harder that was after learning about what happened after she left. How a piece of her was blaming her for it, if she hadn’t left, maybe she could have helped.

Andy told all of this to Gideon, never expecting her to return the sharing. But hoping that by doing it like this, sharing her emotions, it would help teach Gideon how to do that. They crashed out kind of late that night.

---

The first day of school

---

Andy and Gideon hitched a ride to L.A. with the K-G Household. Casper gave her a small bag full of sexual health items. She went bright red, her ears in particular. In the bag was also a cookie from Ben. Both were sweet gestures and Andy thanked them embarrassed.

Magneto had joined them. This was the first time she was on campus with him. She was happy he decided to go too. It felt more personal than a goodbye hug at home. She would have been fine with that, but that he came with her felt so good.

She noticed the ice skating and friendship bracelets. As she looked around she planned to unpack her skates, and check out the rink, she also decided to make friendship bracelets for Gideon and America.

Once she had her dorm assignment she had parted ways with them. Hell yeah! Andy was now rooming with Gideon. She hadn’t even gotten that lucky with Zari. She was a little surprised, but with how many people had left the Academy she wasn’t surprised at the new room assignments.

She partially unpacked her bag, setting the mosaic on her nightstand. When she finished that she asked Gideon, ”I’ll finish unpacking later. Ready to head down to the carnival? If they have the sword club thing set up again, wanna spar?”

Andy made sure she had the ice skates from Sabine with her, she was not going to give up the opportunity to be on the ice again. The fact that Sabine had gotten her a pass for the ice rink nearby had been super sweet too. She planned to take advantage of that. Part of her thought about trying to combine sword fighting and ice skating. She’d discover Hockey soon enough and that would be basically the same thing.

Before leaving the room she considered which jacket to grab. She touched the one from Ash gently, but ended up taking the letterman style one. The others might be wearing theirs. There was something symbolic about not wearing the jacket with metal studded spikes. Andy did consider that as she and Gideon headed down to the carnival.

Gideon had already finished unpacking - she didn’t have much in the way of possessions, everything she owned fitting into a duffel bag that she had dumped unceremoniously on the bed, before her fingers twitched, her body stiffened, and she changed her course, neatly unpacking it and putting everything in its place with military precision. Her week’s worth of clothes were folded and placed in the dresser, her sword maintenance kit placed in the drawers of the desk, her bed made with sheets tucked in appropriately, and the sword placed down on top of it - before she hesitated once more, and slung it over her back. She didn’t like going places without it. It felt like a part of herself was missing, like she’d left behind a limb.

She did a wolf whistle, her eyebrows wiggling as she checked out Andy. “Hot damn, you look like an asshole - but in the hottest way possible,” she praised, tempted to keep Andy all to herself for a little while longer. But Gideon loved the carnival. She loved all the physical contests, all the ways to test her strength. “Hell yeah, man!! We’re doing that! I’m going to text everyone I know and challenge them to a duel. Have ourselves a sword tournament.”

Andy winked and flicked her collar, ”You love to see it.” Andy bounced on the balls of her feet a little. ”Ohh, yes!”

Andy had noticed the strange shift in demeanor. It wasn’t simple, it was a weird shift. As they walked out of the dorms Andy had to ask, ”Did you go to a military school or something?”

“Nope!” Gideon tilted her head, a little confused as to why Andy had asked. “Did you? I do gotta say, I love a gal in uniform - so if you have pics of you in your ROTC blues, I wanna see.”

”No, I went to... A really terrible school. If I went to one. That’s not why I was asking. You did a weird thing. At first you threw your bag down, and then you went all military precision on setting up. I didn’t expect you to unpack yet. We have time for that later when we have the Carnival to go to.”

“Oh, but if I have a messy bed, I’ll have the shit beaten out of me by Sis- sorry, never mind, ignore that I said that. Just a brain misfire. Just random words. Do you think they’ll have any good food? The food trucks were killer last time!”

”You have a sister?” Andy asked without thinking about it. She had been trying to not pry on Gideon’s life, and let her come to her when she was ready. ”I only knew about your brother.”

“No?” Gideon looked genuinely confused. “Just me and my bro. Well. Our dad kinda fucked his way around, so maybe I do, idk.”

”Then who or why is someone beating you for having a messy bed? That’s wild.”

Gideon pretended she didn’t hear Andy, as she pressed the button for the elevator down from the sixth floor.

”Gideon, wait, what is going on?” Andy asked, her voice heavy with concern. Shooting way past her promise to not press.

“We’re going to the festival, duh. I could see the snow they’ve got set up from the room, I’m going to kick your ass in a snowball fight, just you wait.”

Andy stood there confused, but closed her mouth. She wanted to help Gideon, damn, why wouldn’t she let her? ”Okay, we’ll see about that,” she tried to say teasingly, but knew her voice fell a little flat.

They took the elevator down and were soon out among their schoolmates. Andy looked around, unsure what to do first, or who to speak to. She pushed the panicky feeling of impending doom away, by taking Gideon’s hand and heading for the friendship bracelet stand.