Femtite looks down at the hoofprints in the snow.
“You said timelines are my thing. So maybe I can get a read on what already passed from a literal deep-dive into the evidence. It wouldn’t be the first time. And also, there is nothing familiar about this to me, which means my query won’t be biased.”
She wants to keep it that way, but before she acts, she lets Percy know: “This use of my power could take a few minutes, an hour, or hours-plural. If you’re not here when I ‘return,’ I’ll send a text.”
She doesn’t say anything more. She is a spark in a centaur’s hoofprint—then she is nothing!
Caio nods as Connie asks for him to watch the new girl and as Skyler leaves to talk to Connie, he takes the moment to do so.
Caught by surprise by her jump, Caio grabs her legs to hold her, squeezing her butt in the process as payback. "A bit... got anything from her auras?"
"Tasha" doesn't react much when she learns that Grace was Steel Guardian, not having known the person inside the suit of armor. However, the cat mutation had her surprised and sinking in just how much she had missed.
She dangles a lanyard in front of Shin's face. "Just the school ID. I'll have to wait for a driver's license. Which sucks, because I miss my Ferrari.
"Vic's undercover too. Not sure how much I should tell you about all this. It's part of a 'fresh start' package. Not sure how many agencies are involved."
She spins to face Shin directly. "So now I'm Tasha, just moved here from Portland."
Caio's surreptitious observations of the girl with the purple-tipped hair and mismatched eyes reveal that she is apparently outgoing and charming. She seems to be ingratiating herself well with several students known to be rather popular.
She seems to be trying to meet people in the hopes of joining a social circle.
Skyler whispers in his ear, "She's not human. Well, she's kinda human. Like Maeve is pretending to be, or Isaiah. Did you ever meet him?" She goes back to nuzzling Caio's neck.
Femtite flings herself into the subatomic spaces looking for clues about her current situation. She bounces between the unstructures hoping to catch a glimpse of magical threads or timeline convergences that would give her an insight into the mysterious apparitions.
She feels soft tugs of magic, not full-line tethers of obligation like a faerie geas, but a sprinkling dust of spent magic. In the substanceless void, the magical motes are as ephemeral as imagination.
In the subatomic, Femtite gathers no new information on the centaurs. Time threads spin around her but fail to branch into pathways that would lead her to better understanding.
She drifts through the spaces between atoms, seeing how the prominent timelines converge into snarls, and instead of branching in different directions, they now come together in a tangle of lives and futures once thought denied but now thick with possibility. Standing upon a circle with sigils carved deep into the unstructures, Femtite sees Chastity surrounded by a dark cloud rising up from the seal. The black smoke coalesces into two figures, each pulling her into two different directions as she screams soundlessly.
Then, standing on a separate seal, Femtite sees Rain holding his sword, looking like he can't decide which shadowy figure he has to stab! Or is it Chastity that he's swinging at?
He raises his sword, but just before the blow is struck Femtite snaps out of her vision!
"You know I can't give you those kinds of details," Mr. Barr sighs in well-worn frustration. "The new students are... let's see... Natasha Rembert and... Faye Miller. There. You can use that to break the ice, and ask them yourself where they're from. How normal people have conversations. All right?"
Femtite appears, sitting in the snow, steam rising as she melts a circle around her. Molten gold streams down her cheeks. Her aura is ghost white.
“Chastity.”
It takes several seconds for her to get more words out.
“I don’t understand… does this have anything to do with her? Her church used magic to summon those imps at the Halloween Dance. DD told me—she rescued Chas. I just don’t know if this is related to her, or…” Femtite’s eyes are wide, unblinking, haunted. “It was so dark. And I don’t know what to do with this information.”
She doesn’t know how to describe it either. And she doesn’t think it would be helpful to use her words.
“I can show you. Just… not here.”
At Maeve's touch Chastity starts to lean toward her, but quickly straightens her back.
The black smoke coalesces into two figures, each pulling her into two different directions…
Maeve’s terrifying vision replays in her head as she tosses her friend-group’s trash into the bin. Chastity’s odd posture change seems to be related to the vision, but whether the vision is literal or figurative, or the correlation real or imagined, there’s nothing to do at the moment but be a friend to her.
Girlfriend! Don’t let the platonic act mess with your head. But it is messing with her head. The Act seems too overly cautious.
It’s not like there’s some kid at school spying on us, she thinks to herself as she makes a wide berth around a boy-crazy popular girl and her worshippers.
Shin nods, glad to hear that Victoria was doing well. He knows that he's got to break some of the news soon, but he doesn't want to get into the awfulness so soon. Better to ease into it, right?
"Well. Got to ask a couple things of 'Tasha', if she's inclined to answer me. One, does she plan on letting Alden do a photoshoot with her? Two...I've been told that I need to see this film called Star Wars? There's a little cinema a couple blocks from campus that's showing the movies. I think I'd like to go, but it's better watching a film with someone than alone."
Femtite was thinking of going to her dorm. “I have a stash of throw-away cameras in my dorm, among other devices. I was thinking of showing you the memory, but…”
A Dungeon…
“…I can just tell you for now. Rain was in the vision too. Chastity was on one seal—a circle with sigils—and black smoke became two creatures trying to pull her in two directions. Rain was on another seal, and looked as if he wasn’t sure which creature to strike with his sword.” She’s pretty sure he wouldn’t have deliberately struck Chastity, regardless of what the vision appeared to depict. “The vision ended with him taking a swing!” Was Chas chained? Could he have aimed for the seal itself? If the final blow was aimed at the center, there’s a reason.
“If you want to go into the dungeon…” Like the game? But it’s plural dungeons. And dragons plur— “…maybe what we find will add context to the vision.” Bug-Eye, can you record this. And especially look for any circles of sigils. She hopes not to find creatures made of black smoke in there!
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"Huh, well that really doesn't add anything to the centaur situation, but maybe something to watch out for going forward. Chastity might also be an insert for someone else, an innocent of sorts caught between two conflicting sides. I dunno I've never been especially good at deciphering visions."
Alright we're headed over to the dungeon in the subway, gonna hopefully clear it out before anyone wanders down there and gets hurt. Femtite's with me, and we may have something to share with the group when we get back to Unity. I'll keep you up to date as we can.
With that squared away Indy looked to Femtite, "Alright ready to head over?"
Femtite is as ready as she can be. “Let’s do this!”
On the way, she tells Percy about an idea she has. “In my vision, I saw motes of spent magic, like fairy dust losing its golden glow. Maybe this spent magic exists in the subway dungeon, and at least one of us has a means to detect it.”
Hastily-placed construction barriers block the entrance to the subway tunnel in question, along with strongly worded signs telling commuters that that particular subway stop is closed temporarily and they are to use the next junction.
A police officer is on hand to make sure the curious doesn't jump the barriers and get into potential metaphysical trouble. He reacts with surprise at the arrival of a dragon, immediately hitting his radio on his lapel to call in the sighting.
"Hold up there," he says authoritatively, hand resting on his taser. He looks between Indarius and Femtite, more to the Pixite princess to see if she has control over the dragon that's approaching. Traffic slows down on the road and the crowd on the sidewalks start pointing and backing away.
What do you do?
"Tasha" smiles at the pair of questions. "Well, I did say yes to the photo shoot. But it's for a school project, so I get to keep my clothes on, if that is what's bothering you.
"And, I've never seen Star Wars either. So, sure. If you were asking me to go with you, yes. I'd love to."
Femtite politely curtsies to the policeman. “Greetings Officer, I am Princess Femtite of the Lavender Spire, Envoy to the Council of Queens. This is my teammate, Indarius of First Class—a team of Adolescent Supers-in-Training, affiliated with The Alliance, as you are surely aware.
“Indy and I have diverse extrasensory abilities, and thus we are here to investigate the strangeness beyond your barriers.” Seeing the officer is a guardsman with the authority to say no, she acknowledges this: “With your permission of course, Officer.” Not expecting an automatic yes, she stands respectfully at attention.
Shin's happy. It's a brief moment, but he can hold onto it. At least until he gets into the more serious business.
"Then it's a date. There is...well, I wanted to talk about pleasant things before unpleasant things..."
He leads her to a bench on the quad, sitting down with her in their bubble of privacy. "...we figured out who was responsible for the destruction of the Sentinels. It was Heartache. The Heartache, of the Instigators. I think Kylie had been warning us that night but we were all already compromised by her."
He lets her take that in for a few moments before continuing. "I'm sorry. I should have realized it sooner. I hope that you can forgive me for not putting the dots together before now. I would still be grasping at straws if I hadn't consulted Whippoorwill and Conflux."
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Indarius speaks up after Femtite having stopped only shortly after the officer told them to, since moving mass tends to stay in motion.
"I also wanted to see about clearing this out so it's not a danger to the locals. Or to see if the inhabitants were capable of communication so we could resolve things peacefully. I'm sure the city would like having all of it's subway junctions running at full capacity."
He looks around at the crowds, "Of course if you've got things under control and First-Class isn't needed then we can just as easily go. Just attempting a preemptive approach to the recent happenings of Halcyon."
The officer relaxes when it appears the two heroes are not part of the strangeness he's guarding. Still, he shakes his head. "No can do, Miss. Um, Sir. No one's allowed past, and that's coming from the Alliance lady who's already down there." He jerks his head in the direction of the subway entrance. "You'll have to ask her if you can help."
Just then, Feya Firestorm appears in a burst of reddish smoke. She seems to have figured out a workaround from her powers being weakened, since she exudes power. "Indarius. What are you doing here?" she asks, sounding worried.
Valerie tilts her head and looks at Shin out of the corner of her eye. "Okay, are you saying 'date' because it's a thing we're doing, or are you saying 'date' date?"
When he brings up Heartache from the Instigators being the most likely cause of the Sentinels' breakup, her mood blackens, literally. "You mean Marie? Why would she-- nervermind. Of course she would."
She falls silent, though Shin's skin prickles as he can feel his proximity to her energy-draining aura. Her eyes grow black. "Oh, she's going down," Siphon says in a deadly voice.
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"Feya? Hah, probably the same as you." He chortles, "We came to investigate the supposed dungeon and see if it had any connection to the centaur spottings at Ditko park."
He focused his attention on Feya, ignoring the crowded streets. "Care to share what you found, maybe me and Femtite here can help?"
Shin reaches out and holds her hand, giving it a squeeze. "Careful. My baffler keeps people from eavesdropping but they can still see us," He warns her. "I'd people not start asking questions about why the new girl's eyes go black."
He pulls closer to her to shield her from view while she settles down. "We're looking for her, and the Instigators. They've gone to ground, or are no longer in Halcyon. When we do find them, you'll know. I want you there when I take her down."
He pushed aside questions of how he planned to do that from his mind. "...also, it's a date date only if you want it to be. I just want to connect with you better and see where it takes us."
Feya's feet lightly touch the ground and she steps toward Indy and Femtite, deliberately placing herself between them and the subway entrance. "There is a connection, but this and the centaurs are two different manifestations. There is a potent amount of magic within that tunnel, almost enough to open a gateway. I'm trying to draw off that power and keep it shut. If you get too close, Indarius, you could accidentally give it the power to fling it wide open."
She takes another step. "I cannot allow you to get any closer."
Siphon flinches when Shin takes her hand, and he feels the briefest of the jolt that tells him she might have got a little of his life force before she locked down her power.
It's enough to calm her down, however, and her deadly aura fades. She listens, fuming, as he outlines the plan. "Of course you don't know where she is. Figures." She takes a deep breath. "I can ask around. You might be able to call Whippoorwill up on a whim, but I have my own people. Well, I used to. But they still owe me."
She goes quiet again as she clearly is formulating her own plans. She only stops when Shin clarifies his intentions about their date. Tasha stares at him flatly after he explains. "Fine."
She stands up and dusts off the seat of her pants. "Just let me know when you want to go."
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Indarius looks surprised by the straight up refusal by his former mentor.
"Oh? I.." His wings pull in tight to his body, "I see. Well it's a good thing you were here to warn us then, wouldn't want to cause any further incidents. I take it that's how you've gotten back to being able to use your own powers? I haven't exactly talked to you much since the bridge."
He looks down at his lifted clawed foot-hand, "Even after, well this." Leaning down to her he talks a little quieter, "Is there anything you can tell us about it though so that we might help in other ways?"
Femtite is pretty sure Percy isn’t about to defy the Alliance’s top Magical Woman. She asks her, “Do you mind if I go inside, Miss Firestorm? I received an interesting-yet-terrifying vision in the subatomic unstructures within a centaur’s hoofprint. Perhaps I could gain additional insight in here.
“I mean only if you permit, of course.” She does not expect a yes, so she relaxes her posture, floating with one leg crossed over the other, hands passively rested on her lap.
"If you want to call in those favors, I would appreciate it." Shin's lets go of her hand as she stands up, getting up with her. "...and I expected sort of a witty response of 'isn't that what a date is' and then I reply 'well I guess then it's a date', but I don't get those Fred and Ginger moments after telling you about the woman who wrecked our lives."
He pauses. "...right, this is why I need to watch more recent movies, because my pop culture references are severely dated. Saturday good for you?"
"Or if you take lunch." Connie smiles brightly at Feya, popping up from nearby. "Aside from your permission that's our main way in there." Turning to Femtite and Percy she asks in an aside, "Were the centaurs anything? It sounded like you were going to start with the centaurs."
***
"Would have been very slightly easier if you did. But fine, going and talking to them is exactly what I-" Connie brightens and waves as a student aide walks in with a stack of forms. "Heyyyy Lawrence! See? I know how to have conversations like a normal person. I also know how not to be rude as shit. You still having car trouble? Do you think it might be fun to give the new students a little tour?" Lawrence smiles back just as brightly, but probably with more sincerity. He is cute. Too short though.
"Eyyy Connie. You didn't hear? I'm driving along and suddenly there's this horrible grinding noise, and it turns out- Wait do you know what a transmission is?"
"Yeah about three grand. So no tour?"
"Not without someone giving my car some serious love."
"Miracles happen every day Mr. Fennel. You could get lucky..."
“Oh, Connie,” Femtite gives her a friendly wave. “You surprised me so much I almost said ‘yowza.’”
In reply to her aside: “Maybe something… the magical notes were weak by the time we arrived. I jumped in a hoofprint and got a weird vision with Chastity and Rain in it. I want to record my memory and see what you and the rest of the team can glean from actually seeing it—particularly, the sigils around the two seals.”
To Feya, “Oh! And you can read magical sigils too! That’s actually why I’m wondering if you’d let little non-magical me go in there, get another vision. But even if the answer is no, I would still gladly show you my hoofprint vision.”
—which she can’t do immediately. “I mean, after I get a throw-away cam, transform it into a memory recor…you get the idea. The tech I need to display it is at my dorm.”
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Indy looks to Connie, "Oh nothing that I was able to detect, the last aetherial or dimensional tear I could sense was way long ago. Probably hasn't had an issue in the last year or two I'd say. So other weird stuff was going on with that." He then takes a seat since standing the entire time on the sidewalk wasn't exactly uncomfortable, but he worried that standing fully might give the wrong impression to passerbys.
Feya frowns as she looks over the extent of Indarius's changes. "I'm sorry. This is hardly the time or place to discuss the extent of your transformation, but I need you to understand--" She's cut off by Conflux's sudden arrival.
The Alliance sorceress sighs as the young heroes press her about going in to have a look. "I cannot allow you to go further. If you received a concerning vision by the mere hoofprints of the centaur apparition, I cannot fathom what you may see inside this active effect! Far better for me to drain it of its potency, and then we can concern ourselves with its origins."
The mention of sigils, Feya waves Femtite to the officer. "Why don't you borrow a notepad from Officer Hines and try sketching what you saw? I've little time and less patience for you to venture back to your dormitory."
Siphon's mood lifts ever so slightly. "Yeah, kinda the wrong time for cute banter, whoever you were referencing there." She shrugs. "Yeah, Saturday's good."
There's an awkward pause while both former teammates consider what to say next. Valerie beats him to it. "It's a date, then."
Towards the end of the day, Caio receives a text on his phone.
???: This is Imagerie. Yes, really. Could use your help connecting with a certain angry girl. Could U spare an hour or two after school? I'll have someone pick U up
"Would have been very slightly easier if you did. But fine, going and talking to them is exactly what I-" Connie brightens and waves as a student aide walks in with a stack of forms. "Heyyyy Lawrence! See? I know how to have conversations like a normal person. I also know how not to be rude as shit. You still having car trouble? Do you think it might be fun to give the new students a little tour?" Lawrence smiles back just as brightly, but probably with more sincerity. He is cute. Too short though.
"Eyyy Connie. You didn't hear? I'm driving along and suddenly there's this horrible grinding noise, and it turns out- Wait do you know what a transmission is?"
"Yeah about three grand. So no tour?"
"Not without someone giving my car some serious love."
"Miracles happen every day Mr. Fennel. You could get lucky..."
A transaction is made and quid-pro-quos are exchanged once the conversation gets out of Mr. Barr's earshot.
Connie is able to get a fairly thorough but one-time-only glance at the info screens of Halcyon Prep's two latest enrollees.
Natasha Rembert's transfer paperwork from Portland, Oregon is impeccable. Her existence in the Portland School District is complete from her enrollment in Abernathy Elementary School, through Oliver Middle School, to her first two years at Lincoln High School (which incidentally has such notable alumni as Mel Blanc and Matt Groening).
Faye Miller's information shows that she had been attending Halcyon Prep since her freshman year, left shortly into her junior year, and is now back as a senior. The information does not account for the gap; only that she had been withdrawn, and her account has been recently reactivated.
Femtite has no intention to press further. She nods at the suggestion, politely asks to borrow the notepad, and pictures the sigils in her mind.
She takes her time, making sure every stroke is accurate. One seal is labeled “Chastity’s Seal,” and the other, “Rain’s Seal.” She draws each in its relative position to the other.
When she shows Feya, Percy and Connie her drawing, she tells of her vision. “The black smoke rose from Chas’ seal, became two figures, and each grabbed her arm, pulling her in different directions. At first I took this to be symbolic of Chastity’s personal struggle, and that my vision was tainted by my own distracting thoughts. But then why would Rain be th—?”
She deflates a little, fearing she just blurted the answer.
“Unless, of course, my vision was tainted by two distracting thoughts.”
Before she even has her answer, her cheeks are flushing with embarrassment. The paper is illuminated by her pinkish-red cheeks.
“Please tell me what the sigils mean,” she practically begs.
Connie looks thoughtful as Feya brushes them off. "Hmm... Hey Dragontales, you do anything to make her not want to bring you in for a ride-along? I don't know any reason to think she doesn't know her business, but you and her are like... vaguely tight, right?" She looks to Feya. "I'm also curious which reasons you don't want me or Femtite in there, but there the potentials are a lot clearer cut..."
She half-shrugs and looks at Femtite's artistry. "Rain one is easy. That's the sigil of the being generally identified as Matariel. It's actually a symbolic hypocorism of his true name if you want to get technical. The one for Chuckles is..." She purses her lips. "I think I want to confirm before I say. I don't know what it is, but there are elements that... Yeah I should hit the books before I say."
***
"God they could actually be training a chosen one monster hunter with great hair in here and I would never have noticed. Why are school libraries always so shit compared to public ones? Oh hi! I need to see the old yearbooks."
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“Is the word you’re looking for ‘Angel?’” Femtite doesn’t know why Connie has a hard time with that word, but when it comes to Chastity’s sigil, there is no word. “Are the books you’re looking for a thesaurus and an English-Sigil Dictionary?”
For someone cracking dumb jokes, Femtite looks pretty worried. Not on the verge of panic, but definitely not hiding her concern well, if she’s even trying to.
“Okay, welllll, sooooo… you’ll hit the books, but then tell me, right? I mean, always being the last to know’s cool when it’s, y’know, stuff not deeply personal. Haha? Smoke monsters ripping my girlfriend’s arms off, I take personally. Y’know? There’s no I in Team, but there’s two I’s in Communication. And two I’s make a We, at least how Nintendo spells it.”
She wonders if Feya or Percy can give her a hint as she holds up the paper and points to the sigil next to Chastity’s name with wide, mismatched eyes.
"Yeah. I'll tell you. And calling things 'angels' makes it easier to use shortcuts of judgment that can be very dangerous. I was avoiding saying that that entity 'is' Matariel though, not saying the word angel. This time."
And I tell you- Well I tell you plenty.
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Indy nods to Conflux giving him yet another dragon-based nickname, "Yeah super sleuth, Feya believes that since I'm basically a walking magical nexus my presence near the epicenter of the aetherial tear might well." He tilts his head and without lips makes a very functional ripping sound that definitely casts undertones that make it sound specifically like aluminum foil.
"So I'm inclined to let her take the lead on this one." Shifting his gaze back to Feya he inclines his head again he awaits a response to his earlier questions.
Femtite agrees, “Shortcuts to judgment are dangerous and problematic, yes, preconceived notions included. I’m trying very hard to ignore some very strong opinions of my own to avoid misinterpreting my own vision. It appears to be a warning, and Chastity and Rain could be symbolic as Indy suggested—or it may be literally the two of them.
“Connie, if the sigils neatly translate into a word or phrase, I would like to write down the exact word or phrase.” Femtite can’t understand what it is Connie knows—or doesn’t know—that justifies hitting the books without giving any information first.
She tries to get a read…
✴️✴️✴️✴️▶️
…but regardless, Connie holds the power. Annoying her isn’t going to expedite this. So rather than press on the information she actually wants, Femtite simply asks for clarification while holding the pen to the pad.
The pen is under Rain’s sigil.
“Do I write ‘Angel’ here as the direct translation, or should I use a different word or phrase?”
"Really?" He asks, sighing. "Why can't things ever be simple?"
Caio doesn't want to directly approach the new student, but also doesn't want to stalk her indefinitely. He looks around for a place where to put himself in a way that the new girl will have to walk by. With some luck they would catch her attention.
Meanwhile, the mention of Isiah reminds him about the file he found mentioning Skyler might have been hitting on him. A sliver of irrational jealousy creeps inside him, but he shoos it away. "Never met him. Know he was with Shin's former group, but that is it."
-----
Caio saves Imagerie's contact as he replies. "Sure thing. I'll send you my location when I'm free."
He tells Skyler about Imagerie's call, so they'll have to postpone their regular visit. He sends Imagerie his location when he is ready.
I am sick to f@&~ing death of her slipping little jabs in over and over. Whatever.
But her only expression is confusion. "No...'Angel' would be a terrible and easily dangerously inaccurate translation. Matariel is what you should write." The confusion turns serious. "And Femtite, I don't want anything to happen to Chastity. When I know I will tell you, or if I'm badly wrong and I can't, I will do my very best to tell you why."
"Indy, you cool forwarding whatever you suss out about the tear if it is a tear? I'm gonna go do some reading."
“Oh.” So the sigils are names?
She writes ‘Matriel’ on the pad, and just in case, she telepathically has Bug-Eye snap a photo. Make sure none of the team is in the photo. I don’t want them recorded unless I have their permission, and even once I have it, we only keep footage that makes the team and every individual member look good.
What Connie says about Chastity makes her sound like she’s being cautious. Pragmatic. Femtite’s aura was like a candleflame in a cold wind. Now her golden glow is relatively stable. “Thank you for hitting the books,” she says. “I didn’t mean to come off as ungrateful. I’m just… worried. I keep thinking I’ve got this power all figured out. Then I get a sigil I can’t read, it turns out to be a name tag for the spirit with Rain.
“So then the other sigil must be the spirit that’s with Chasity. The creature made of black smoke.” She knows Connie doesn’t want to say. “Sorry Connie… I know you want to get the information. I know you want me to be patient and you’re doing this your way for the right reasons… I can’t—”
—can’t what? Can’t shut off the alarm bells in your head? Can’t tell her why they ring for Chastity, or why they stopped ringing for her? She can’t give you information she doesn’t have! She’s helping you! Stop acting like a genetically-engineered, overprotective FREAK and show some gratitude!
“—ask you to do more than that.” She composes herself, for decorum’s sake. “Yes. You’ll tell me. That’s fine, thank you.”
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Indarius seems to catch that the connotations behind angel are being lost on Femtite probably so he looks to her to explain.
"I think what Conflux means to say is that the term angel has some pretty hefty meaning for humans, so labeling Matariel as one brings with it a certain kind of... narrative weight that might spur other people on to be a bit more zealous about Rain and Matariel's actions. Like that guy who was really against DeeDee because she was a devil. Angel is also quite ambiguous of a term so it's best to not get mixed up with any other entities. Does that make more sense?"
He glances to Connie, "I'll share whatever Feya tells us, but I don't want to go in and disrupt anything myself. I'd rather it not somehow get worse." Focusing back on Feya he wraps up, "I hope we'll be informed if things do get worse though?"
"F*#% no - it doesn't mean that there's a spirit that's with Chastity. There's a seductive simplicity in assuming parallels and symmetry, but there are other things signified by sigils, which are not nametags, that are not discrete entities. Don't let it chew on you; getting stuck on one thought is real bad, and it won't help with whatever we find.
"...Oh speaking of bad thoughts. Do whatever prep you can for telepathy stuff. Team meeting coming soon with the rest, but that's the topline."
Percy’s explanation makes Femtite wonder if ‘that guy’ Reverend Reibold is using any kind of magic on his ‘flock.’ She also considers what Connie said about ‘bad thoughts.’
Don't let it chew on you…
The black smoke monsters are—
…stuck on one thought…
—like Chastity’s Ugly Thoughts! The black cloud that tormented her subconscious is—
…real bad…
—in my vision, but split into two entities: her mother and—
…it won’t help…
—me.
Her aura pales.
“Another psychic fiend network? Lovely. Yes, I think preparing ahead of time would be nice. Indy, do you still need my assistance?”
Feya takes a glance at the note with the sigils. "I believe they're both glyphs denoting certain entities. Conflux is correct; a little research should provide you with the identity of the second one. However, I do not see how this could be related to the magical effect behind me. Given the tenor of your voice, it might be that the vision was induced by your concern for this Chastity than anything to do with this mystery."
She turns back to Percy. "Indarius, these magical phenomena will probably continue until we've identified their source. I understand your wish to help, but right now your ability to amplify their effects will be a liability. So do take precautions."
Caio positions himself and Skyler to where they'll be spotted by the purple-tipped new girl. He's able to pick up snippets of her conversation:
"I know! It's so good to be back. Yes! I missed you too!"
"She didn't!! Ne'veah and Grace are cat people?!? That's soo messed up!"
"Heeyyy girl!! Back in Halcyon!! You know it! Does Mr. E still dye his hair? HA!"
Skyler whispers in Caio's ear. "Oh, I remember her now! Different aura, but same face. Well, her eyes are different, too."
Just then, the new girl begins heading their way and she pauses with recognition in her eyes. "Hey! Um... Sarah?"
"Skyler."
"Skyler! Right! Sorry about that. Who's this?" She looks Caio up and down appreciatively.
Skyler clings to him, the new girl's appraisal causing her to hold him tighter. "My boyfriend, Caio. Caio, this is Becca."
"I'm going by Faye now," the purple-haired girl corrects. "Part of my reinvention of myself. 'Rebecca' was just, so, ugh."
"I can see it. Faye's cool," Skyler says.
Faye's smile grows wider, then she turns back to Caio. "Don't remember seeing you before. Recent transfer?"
* * *
A sleek black sedan, still somehow shiny even though most vehicles are splashed with salt and grime from the winter snows and treated roads, arrives to pick Caio up. It drives him to the interstate and then outside of Halcyon City, where it picks up serious speed. After roughly a half hour, he comes upon a fortified compound and is taken through a checkpoint manned by armed guards.
The sedan drops him off in front of a large, heavily reinforced door that opens with a hiss. Just inside is Imagerie with a couple additional guards on either side of her. "Thanks for coming. I've been at an impasse with Scythe for a while. Since you made a connection with her back in Kirby Plaza, maybe she'll remember you."
Feya’s words seem to more or less confirm that the vision was tainted by distracting thoughts. Or is that the extent of my powers now, now that…?
At the very least, there isn’t a reason to get too worked up.
“Thank you, Miss Firestorm.” She turns to her teammates. “Unless I am needed, I think it best I go home and—” She actually almost blurts ‘swap bodies’ in front of the huge crowd. “—put on a spot of tea.”
☀️: As Envoy to the Council of Queens, I am in a unique position to experience visions on Earth.
☀️: Please inform the Council that, if it pleases them, I would like to meet with an experienced Seer who might be willing to guide me in regard to my power to glean insights deep within the subatomic unstructures.
Exploring the Halcyon Prep yearbooks from a few years ago, Connie finds pictures of a girl named Becca Miller that closely resemble Faye. She played the flute in orchestra and portrayed Mrs. Paroo in the Music Man. In her pictures, she did not have the purple tips or the mismatched eyes.
Connie's archive dive into the sigils of angelic and demonic beings finds a match. The sigil that Femtite apparently saw involving Chastity was that of Zepar, one of the fallen angels within the Key of Solomon that supposedly has the power to incite lust and can cause women to fall in love with men.
☀️: As Envoy to the Council of Queens, I am in a unique position to experience visions on Earth.
☀️: Please inform the Council that, if it pleases them, I would like to meet with an experienced Seer who might be willing to guide me in regard to my power to glean insights deep within the subatomic unstructures.
⚛: The interpretation of visions can be difficult. We can find a Seer who will provide guidance, but remember delving too deep within the unstructures can disrupt timelines or drive one mad with the possibilities of the future.
Femtite considers adding a promise to refrain from using her power until after her meeting with this Seer. But she doesn’t want to make a promise she’ll regret, or worse: break a promise.
When Mae returns to the table, she says with a pleasant smile, “I was going to go to the girls’ room, but if I go now, I’ll be late for class.”
She needs to let it all out, if can she even cry at all after several days of wearing that All-Is-Well expression in the interest of not making the current situation harder on Chasity. But if she understands her vision correctly, she isn’t solving the problem. She’s becoming a part of it!
And she isn’t sure what, exactly, Chas wants her to do. Does ‘don’t hold back’ mean watching Alien with Ngon, Gina and Raquel? She’s glad to have these wonderful friends, and when Chas isn’t around it’s the chance to know them better. But why must they be five at lunch, and only two or four outside of school?
She wonders if her facade is working so well that even Raquel and Gina can’t tell. Or is it obvious? She looks at them as she goes on about the bathroom—
”Next class, the teacher is male. He never says ‘no’ to a girl asking at the start of class.”
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Feya takes a glance at the note with the sigils. "I believe they're both glyphs denoting certain entities. Conflux is correct; a little research should provide you with the identity of the second one. However, I do not see how this could be related to the magical effect behind me. Given the tenor of your voice, it might be that the vision was induced by your concern for this Chastity than anything to do with this mystery."
She turns back to Percy. "Indarius, these magical phenomena will probably continue until we've identified their source. I understand your wish to help, but right now your ability to amplify their effects will be a liability. So do take precautions."
Indarius raises up in surprise, "Oh... that bad huh. Well, I'll um let's see."
He taps his lower jaw with a clawed finger for a bit, "I'll have to look into ways to maybe close them without just adding more aether to this side of the veil. But remember we're here and we've all dealt with magical stuff before. So if there's anyway we can help." Indarius's eyes flits over Feya's features. Before planting his feet and giving her a nod, "Well you know give me a message or anything. For now we should go figure out what information we have and see if it relates to what's going on. Bye."
Indarius turned to head away from the scene, "Please make way, gonna need a bit of room for a take off."
"Go on, I'll cover for you," Ngon tells Gina after she and Raquel confer about the need to emotionally support Maeve within the privacy of a girls' bathroom during classes.
Gina gives her bf a peck on the lips, then the two lead Maeve to the bathroom near the currently-empty band room since it was the least likely for others to come in to use and thus interrupt.
"Girl." Gina grabs Maeve's hands with a squeeze once they're safely inside.
"I will, Indarius," Feya replies. "Once I learn more, I will let you know."
Once in the sky, Indarius catches the cold wind swirling amongst the skyscrapers of Halcyon City and glides through the buildings still in the full grip of winter.
The cold has slowed down the usual amount of superhuman activity, so it's a rather quiet flight for him as he navigates through the glass and steel canyons of the city.
He's almost back to the district of the city containing the Halcyon Prep campus when he hears emergency sirens suddenly erupting close by! But accompanying them are... battle horns?
Quickly arriving on scene, the dragon swoops down over a traffic snarl on one of the expressway onramps, where a mass of green-skinned muscular beings wearing roughly-made armor and crude weapons like clubs and axes are bellowing battle cries!
The raiding army react in shock and awe at the arrival of a dragon, but before Indarius can do more than make his presence known, the army fades out of existence!!
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Touching down to deal with the situation Indarius moves to take assessment of the situation, but then it's just gone. Leaving him standing there baffled.
"What in the world... Halycon."
With an aggitated grunt he begins weaving a spell to try and detect the source. Then he recalls Feya saying to take precautions and he hesitates wondering if he'd just make it worse, but by time he thinks it through the spell is too early to cancel safely.
With Gina, and Ngon too, it simply developed naturally, like with most humans—and maybe most pixites, the kind who aren’t princesses and lead ordinary lives with ordinary friends. I have ordinary friends, it finally occurs to her! When did this happen?
She finds it impossible to talk and she doesn’t like the hiccup in her voice or the way her mouth contorts or that her tears don’t glow like normal tears. “I can’t…” She tries again. “I’m… sorry…” And again. “M-mm…” She doesn’t try.
And after a minute, speech becomes possible. “I’m failing her!” is all she gets out at first, followed by some unintelligible blubbering, then: “I don’t want to pressure her… it’s not her fault her mom kicked me out, and now our dates are limited to watching male athletes. But the fake smiles aren’t fooling anyone. You saw her lean in, then sit up straight.
“I thought we could wait it out, or I could apologize to her mother, or… I don’t know, I thought I’d be a bad girlfriend if I made a big deal out of this.” She shudders as more tears flow. “But it is a big deal. It’s hurting her, hurting me, hurting Us—and waiting it out won’t work, but I don’t know what will! And I don’t want to tell Chastity how much it hurts, because I don’t want her to feel bad about it! And..and..I didn’t mean to drag you two into—to—”
She tries to say more, but it hurts to talk, so Maeve puts all the effort she can into stifling her sobs.
The familiar feeling washes over Indy once more as he tries to find the source that caused an orc horde to appear randomly in Halcyon City. Magic is definitely present in the area, much stronger than when he came upon the park with the sighting of centaurs.
He could feel it -- it would only take a portion of his own essence and he could pull the mystical apparitions back into their quasi-reality. Though... that would probably be dangerous to the commuters trying to get home that evening.
Another option apparent to him is to follow the horde into whatever mystical realm they've disappeared to. It would be difficult, and his ability to return may be compromised by the effort, but he is fairly confident that he could do it.
"Tasha" is wearing black tights and heeled boots, with a heavy sweater and long stylish coat when she meets Shin for their date. In the spirit of the movie, her long hair is braided and coiled into buns on either side of her head. "So? Nerdy enough for you?" she asks as she turns her head to either side.
Gina pulls Maeve into a hug and Raquel joins her. They don't say anything for a few moments, allowing the group hug to provide its own catharsis.
Raquel grabs some tissue from the nearest stall, but Gina's faster with some tissue from her own purse. "You're already missing class, so just go ahead. Let it out," Gina says with a soothing voice, rubbing Maeve's back.
The pair stay close and supportive as Maeve works the crying out of her system. "Come on. Chas knows you're not failing her. She's doing the best she can. If anything, she's probably afraid she's failing you."
Gina nods in agreement. "Come on. You've got plenty of time. You have all your life to watch the AG channel with Chastity. Or Aliens. Or both! Now's bad, but think of the future, okay?"
"What she said," Raquel says. "Or, you know... f@$% Chastity's parents and their retro asses. F#$& 'em."
“That helps. Yes…” She dries her eyes, only for more tears to leak out. So she deals with them… and her nose. “Maybe I’m freaking out over nothing. And she’s definitely not failing me. I hope she doesn’t think that… I should… tell her that?”
Whether she should or not, Maeve definitely agrees she should stop tormenting herself and get back to class.
“You two are the best,” she says as she holds the door for Gina and Raquel.