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Realistic or Modern A Night Bleeds (Closed)

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Deep resentment boiled within Maylee at the chiding, condescending nature of Razial's voice, and the resentment only stacked when he performed a strange gesture that sapped some of the pain from her body like a cloth soaking up blood.

Not at that level? But what she was feeling... it was real. Was he implying she was too delicate, too weak to endure the pain? Panting, she glared up at him through clumps of hair sticking to her face with sweat. I can handle it. I can. But the tremors that had seized her body, the faintness that pulsed at the corners of her vision, were difficult to ignore, no matter how she tried. It was clear that a fatigue, a weakness had swept her body, and shame seethed in her veins at the familiar reminder that she wasn't strong enough.

Maylee watched with burning, focused eyes as Razial transformed the pain he had extracted from her into a little ball of energy and then into a fine red powder. A memory lit up in her mind—she had had to make use of magic powder, a precious and expensive resource, on some of her past hunts. Tossing a handful of white powder that burst into a dazzling flash of light. Hurriedly downing a green, bitter-tasting powder that staunched the bleeding in her wounds. She had known, in some way, that magic could be used as such, but she had never seen it turned to powder before her eyes as she did now.

Her posture was stiff and reluctant, but she held out her hand when prompted by Razial and watched him ingest the powder first to keep vigilant for any ill effects. When the odd little light-show in his mouth had abated, he seemed unperturbed, and so Maylee took in a breath to steel herself and then funneled the powder into her mouth.

The effect was immediate; as a child, she had sometimes eaten that sort of candy that danced and popped and sizzled on her tongue, and it felt now as if she had crammed in as many of those sour little rocks as her mouth could fit. Shockwaves spread through the roof of her mouth and up throughout her skull, and it momentarily felt as if her brain itself were vibrating, thrusting itself against the walls of its cage. When the effect had died down and she could again see straight, Maylee found that the trembling fatigue had left her body.

She rose from her knees to her feet, clenching her fists in a defiant stance aimed at Razial. "Why are you telling me to hold back?" she asked, sharp and impatient. "I already told you—I don't care if it's difficult. I don't care if it hurts. I can handle pain!"

Her teeth scraped together in frustration, but Maylee drew out a breath and forced herself to focus on the target Razial had pointed out. If he was underestimating her so, then she simply had to prove herself capable.

Eyes locked on the target, Maylee let a few steady breaths in and out, and then she allowed her eyes to drift shut. Holding her palms out in front of her, she imagined the target changing shape as Razial had directed—it pinched and grew to a tall, humanoid form, dark hair spilling over wide, feral eyes, hands hooked into claws where they spread at his sides. Blood dribbled from his chin, the tips of his fingers; it splotched the front of his shirt and soaked his once-white socks.

The monster she had sworn to destroy. That was why she had started on this path, why she had sought to fill herself with that same curse that had afflicted that werewolf, wasn't it? She had failed as a daughter, and so she had made herself a weapon instead.

I'll never, ever forgive you.

And yet, as Maylee loosed all of the grief and anger and hunger for vengeance within her with a shout, an image flashed through her mind of that same face, that same head of dark hair, those same golden-brown eyes fixed on her with a gentle, aching fondness.

When she opened her eyes, Maylee saw that the blaze of dark magic had glanced off the corner of the target, blackening it but leaving the center completely untouched. Her cheeks flushed in shame—was Razial right? Was she really at such a low level...?

No. Maylee shook her head and snapped her eyes shut again, furrowing her brow and drawing up an image of her mother to stand in front of the target. After all, what that uncanny vision of herself had said—that all of this had started with her—was right, wasn't it? Yan Song had set her up for failure from the outset, breaking her straight from the womb and then urging her to figure out how to repair her own splintered ribs.

Instead of healing, they had poked into her heart, and she had bled and bled and bled, and her mother had seen the mess and condemned it as weakness.

With another fervent shout, Maylee clenched her extended palms into fists and felt the stinging release of magic. Heart racing hopefully, she opened her eyes, only to see that the magic had diffused sloppily across the surface of the target. Shallow, unfocused damage.

The frustration within her was building, tangling with threads of despair and shame. Was this all she was doomed to be, forever chasing a goal she would never reach, forever falling on her knees before she managed to breach the finish line?

She had climbed higher than she had ever managed before, but again the Sisyphean boulder cracked to pieces, launching her back down the mountain with the weight of her failure.

Her eyes squeezed shut again, and Maylee pressed her fists over her eyes, trying to collect her shaky breath in her chest and force back the tears (of course) that pricked at the back of her eyes. Again the crying little girl. Again the weakling, the rabbit in a den of wolves.

Maylee thrust her palms out in front of her again, her eyes remaining shut, and she imagined pressing against a pane of glass, linking fingers with another girl on the opposite side. The girl looked much like her, but her hair was longer, tucked into a pair of braids more befitting a child than a warrior, and she was stuffed into an over-sized green coat that swallowed her. Three identical lines, thin slash marks from the claws of an animal, decorated her reddened cheek.

Her hands pressed against the imaginary glass curled back into fists, and every inch of Maylee trembled with the force of her anger at this girl who was not enough, who would never be enough.

Then she let it all out with a shout woven from a lifetime of pent-up resentment, and the blast that left her body sent her skidding back in recoil. When she opened her eyes, she saw a blackened, deep pinprick had lanced through the target, so concentrated that it had eaten its way through to the other side.

Exactly on the center.

( Tags: Out Of Words Out Of Words )​

maylee song.

hunter | werewolf

 
Last edited:
Maddox Ward (Leif Hjalkarssen)
Location: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ All around, it seems
Tags: Out Of Words Out Of Words ​



Back into another loophole it was. Fine, so be it. Except this one seemed to be lasting longer than it was supposed to, if he could say that. In fact, it seemed to be spinning out of control as the world around him sped up faster and faster to the point he couldn’t tell anything that was happening.

Shit. Maybe he should’ve started with the mirrors. As he tried to let go of the cursed picture, it seemed to be glued to his hand, or perhaps his hand wasn’t moving, just like the rest of his body. Though before he had time to mentally freak out, the world slowed down, back to normal all at once. Or at least normal speed.

What story was that one he was watching now? Another time loop? How long had that time loop thing been going on then, centuries? What the fuck. Had someone made up those scenes and forced them into his brain somehow? Because that sure as hell wasn’t his story. Nor Turid’s.

It did feel real, though. At least during that brief moment Turid planted a kiss on his cheek. Then fast forward again, back to the movie before he could react.

And so life went on like that, fast forward, play, fast forward, play. Rinse, repeat. Leif kept watching, wordless, unable to move. As the brief scenes played out, he was overwhelmed by mixed feelings, beyond confusion in itself.

With it’s ups and downs, like life’s supposed to be, what was being depicted was a normal life. Not a life he’d have defined as good back then, but Turid looked happy, and that was enough.

Some things were harder to watch than others, and he couldn’t even say he understood everything, as it all went by too fast. Though other things did make him smile, even though his lips probably didn’t move. Most times, it was in the few moments Turid approached him, acting as if he was actually there, part of that made up, but beautiful in it’s own way, life.

His father’s passing, the marriage, the children, it all went by way too quickly, even for Leif. Time did pass differently for him. It was the downside of eternity: everything else seemed to fly by, lives and stories started and ended in the blink of an eye. But that was way worse than what he was already (in a way) used to. It was good to watch her live a long and complete life, but at the same time, the thought of watching it’s upcoming ending was anguishing.

Perhaps thankfully, he watched no ending, and instead the focus seemed to have switched to Turid’s daughter. And then her daughter’s daughter. And so on and so forth. Centuries passed, and he was carried all around the world, always observing; Turid had been the only one to interact with him; He hung on to those glimpses into others’ lives, lives that could be real or not, in between that dizzying fast forwarding.

Leif had forgotten he was even holding that framed picture, and forgotten he couldn’t move. He was too immersed in whatever was happening around him, those split seconds that briefly told whole stories, until he heard it. Yan. Yan Song. That whole trip throughout time wasn’t so random after all, was it? He tried to move, to do what exactly he wasn’t sure, as a ghost was the best word for what he seemed to be in that scene.

And this time, he did manage to finally snap out of that frozen state. Only he wasn’t at the hospital anymore. The nurse, the newborn Yan Song and the happy parents were nowhere to be seen, and instead he stood again in his parents’ house. Dead silence filled the rooms, as if it’d been long abandoned, however the furniture was still there, as well kept as it was back when Turid was a toddler.

Leif was finally able to put down the picture, not after taking a close look at it: It showed Turid, about 7 years old, with Leif and his father on either side of her. Perfectly normal (ignoring the fact that pictures didn’t exist back then, but that was the least strange of it all lately). If the mention of Yan Song made things start to look like they connected, now he was back to square one, the sea of nonsense.

So it was nothing but maybe the craziest dream he ever had, one he’d likely forget most of after waking up, what happened to most dreams anyway. Just his brain mixing up a lot of badly processed information. He’d heard about Yan Song, Maylee's mother a few times, from Adrien, yes, though exactly what, he couldn’t recall. Why should he overthink it, anyway? From the looks of it, he was back at the beginning, soon to be tossed into another sort of illogical loop.

During that short break, though, he scanned the place for anything out of the ordinary, anything that told him he was still trapped in that hallucination of sorts. Yet he found nothing else. The familiar bear rug and the wolf head with blue eyes were gone, and with them everything else that resembled a useful clue. For once, he was actively looking for something strange, something that sparked up a memory, and he found nothing.

The sound of his own heartbeat was the only thing his ears picked up, speeding up as he felt more and more trapped. He could’ve called for someone, maybe they were there, and he just couldn’t hear them. Though calling them over would just drag him back into that theater play he’d been in. He needed fresh air, and a boost of determination led him towards the front door with long strides. If he opened it to another perfectly normal landscape, at least he’d be out of that house for once.
 

Hayley.png
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Tags: Out Of Words Out Of Words Vinegar Bees Vinegar Bees | Location: A whole other dimension.

Hayley gave her a brief nod and moved over to said-spot. From what she could tell, Alyce had felt the power that was nestled within her body. The power that had the Coven coming to her in the first place. There was a reason for it, but they decided it would be a good idea to put her in some kind of rank. Perhaps to test? Who knew. Magic always came with a price. The common rule among anyone who made deals with magic or played with it. The blonde claimed that Hayley was powerful and should be at higher ranking, as well as willing to go out of her way to find things worthy of her power. But all for what price? In her mind, Favors were burdens, things that bound you to another person for their own bidding whenever they seen fit. That meant she was going to have to allow this to happen once. Nothing more. She sees the potential that every strong magic user sees in me. It's a game that I'm dragged into nearly every time to do other's work. I'm going to have to start making my own game at this point.

Hayley thought to herself while the pair spoke a small bit before calling her name. "Okay." she simply said, watching her fingers move in the air, reciting an incantation. Something common among witches but the words were different. Different language. She began to feel the spell wash over her, giving her a tingling feeling within her fingers as she flexed them to shake it. Her eyes having a brief orange glow to them as if fire danced within them before vanishing. Phoenix's magic was strong, and every now and again it liked to show that power off a little bit. Usually reacting with her current emotions, current...Feelings. While standing and witnessing the situation, the wind began to pick up, though she remained unfazed by what was going on. Though things started to get worse by the second, the sky darkening, rain starting to pour upon them. A bonding spell this powerful? I feel like she's going overkill with a bond like this. Maybe she never wants it to break. Nor be forcibly removed... the bonding spells she learned as a child were nothing like this...

Alyce's voice grew louder and louder, thunder echoing within the room. Then before she knew it, a flash of lightning struck the ground. The blinding light and the loud noise catching her off guard as she took a slight step back. Suddenly everything was back to normal, clothes were dry, sun was out, as if it was all an illusion. That magic...That's stronger than any I've encountered. This was just a bonding process too...What else does she have underneath that belt of hers? there was far more than Hayley knew, and she wasn't sure how deep she wanted to go with this.​
 

Roje.png
1598648757680.png
Tags: Out Of Words Out Of Words Vinegar Bees Vinegar Bees Rhyme Rhyme | Location: The Abyss

Roje hated his fucking voice. Almost anything she would give just to rip his throat out. The last time she was irritated this badly was because of the Seelie Queen. The one that branded Dean and used that against him whenever she saw fit. She could remember it all like it was yesterday... Before her mind could even go that far, she heard Key talking about Indy and to move her to this place called the "Blue Lounge." eyes widen as she looked at the opening of the room that lead to her cell No. No no. They can't take her! Shit! Fuck! Not when she's right in my grasp. "You son of a mother fucking bitch, Key." she murmured in her cell, not even caring if he heard her. Then she heard something about a sample Great. Experimentation too. Fucking Fantastic. Fuck that's probably where Morg was taken to. That poor cat. I should have ran away with him when I still had the damn chance. she ignored her bells, her gut. The one thing that kept her alive all these years. How could she betray herself this way? This only seemed to irritate her more, causing some anger to rise within the pit of her stomach.


Roje moved from her spot on the wall and cracked her neck, rolled her shoulders and faced the door to her exit. "I'm sick and tired of this shit." she then kicked her door once "Winnie dammit I wish you'd just listen to one of us for two fucking seconds. Instead you feed into Key's bullshit!" another kick "Little Wendy bitch here, I want to show what Neverland really looks like." and another "Key, you're a fucking asshole that I want to absolutely destroy." and another "And show you what true hell really is when you mess." kick "With." kick "The wrong." kick "PEOPLE!" and her last kick had so much force to it, it was almost as if she channeled an inner strength she had bottled up within her. The prison door sent flying straight out of her room and into the opposite wall. With one step, she zoomed about the room, knocking out every little mage minion that was in the room, snapping necks, biting into them for a little bit of a power up, leaving none behind. All of them were evil mother fuckers for working with Key and his little bitch. Blood was definitely everywhere, decorating the walls, decorating Roje's no-longer-clean face.

The vampire was fed up and these guys were learning real fast on what an angry Vampire looks like. She approached Wendy and before she could do anything, Roje grabbed her and slammed her her head right into the nearby wall, watching her crumble to the ground "Oh look at that, Key. I wonder if she's still breathing." with a shrug, she dashed right into him, pinning him up against the wall, a hand on his throat while she slowly squeezed, wanting him to feel the pain "You wont need these anymore mr Matrix." taking her other hand, she ripped those glasses right off him, looking straight into them without fear "You think you had it good. Wanting to be on the bad guy side. But let me tell you this you dumb mother fucker." she slammed her hand right into his chest, her hand grasping the beating heart within but nor tugging or crushing. "Good always prevails. Trying to make this world a better place while you try to make it worse. I will not let you take my sister away. I will not let you hurt whoever else you have hidden in this damn Prison. I will find every single one and set them free."

Her hand began to tighten around his heart, watching as he struggled. "Oh? Does that hurt? Too fucking bad. It's about time you get a taste of your medicine. After all, your little Wendy Bitch had some." taking a look over her shoulder, she looked at the slump body of the woman, tsking at the sight "Thought she'd be a little, ya'know...stronger? Quite frail. Maybe another girl you took advantage of. Got some Stockholm syndrome going on or somethin' right?" she released his heart, ripping her hand back out as the hand on his throat tightened "Oh don't think I'm going to kill you yet, you ugly bastard. Between sicking your dog on me, locking up my sister, and sicking your dog on Banks, I think you deserve a little torture, don't you agree?" she licked her lips and threw him onto the ground, looking down at his pathetic and bleeding body. She may have been brutal now, but she cant get the images out of her head, of Banks, of Indy's face when they were revealed to be sisters, contracts, everything about this was evil. Roje wanted no part of it and so she was going to end it. If she didn't now, the Coven wouldn't stop coming for them.

With that, she stood over him and leaned down, jabbing her hand right back into his chest, grabbing that heart and slowly squeezing "It's about time you have a chat with the devil." she squeezed it some more before ripping it right from his chest, watching the life leave his body as she tossed the heart aside, looking at the other cells in which her sister, Winnie, and Banks were still in. Walking over to Winnie's cell, she grasped the bars and pulled over and over again, soon snapping the metal off and tossing it aside "You're free Winnie. Let me know what you want to do with that freedom." walking away, she went to Indy's cell, doing the same and moving in to give her sister a hug. "This is what I do to survive, Indy. I kill what I have to just to save who I can." she held her tightly, closing her eyes "If you truly are my sister, then you'll know we're fighters. Though you may see me as a monster."


Roje opened her eyes and when she had, she was back in the cell, voices coming back to her hearing, her cell closed just as it had been. Looking down at her hands there was no blood, the room didn't even reek of it. Her heart was racing and confusion started to write itself on her expression as she looked around and seen everything the same as it had been. What. The. Fuck. What did I just see? He poisoned that fucking blood I drank didn't he?! "I hope you're using protection, for your sake," said Indy, catching Roje's attention as she leaned her head against the bars, trying to listen to the best of her ability. "Tell Peter Pan my naked ass isn't going anywhere until I know the others will be alright." "Indy you know for damn sure that we wont be alright. It's fucking Key. The dumb fuck who does nothing but taunt us." she said, speaking up, though she seemed to still be breathless as if she ran a marathon. "You wont get any sign that we'll be okay unless you read the damn fine print on your contract. Even then. DON'T. FUCKING. SIGN. IT!" it was as if what happened was starting to catch up as her hands began to shake while holding onto the bars, trying to hold in whatever the fuck....​
 


While Coda had participated in blood contracts before, he hadn't gone so far as to bind his soul (or whatever it was Alyce was doing to him) to someone else, so he wasn't sure what to expect. His charge doing some sort of magical finger-dance seemed expected enough; the chanting in an ancient-sounding language he neither recognized nor understood was about equally congruent with what he associated with arcane rituals; but the dual voices were... well, unnerving. One of them was Alyce's whimsical, almost fairy-like voice, while the other was deep and guttural as if dredged up from the bowels of the underworld.

It was eerie, especially in how it reminded him of his mother: at times, Maria had been sweet, playful, affectionate; she called him her 'baby' and let him sit on her bed while she studied at her desk and teasingly mussed up his hair. Other times, though—when that strange, amorphous despair gripped her, when she locked his room from the outside with that key she always kept near, when his attempts to console her during her vague and stormy crying spells were rebuffed with a cold shoulder...

And then, as if his thoughts had been drawn out into the world around him, it began to rain; Coda glanced curiously around for a moment before remembering his task and locking his eyes on Alyce's. Don't get distracted. You know what you're here for. The wind whipping around them grew sharper, like the lash of a whip, and the density of the rain increased with the volume of Alyce's voice until she and the dual tongue beneath hers were shouting their oaths at him.

The wind rocked his body, blinded him when slick locks of hair began to stick to his eyes, but he held his ground, digging his feet into the stone pathway as fervently as he could. He would not be bowed by this. If this was a test to see whether he could handle what was to come, he planned to demolish it.

Still—even as he gritted his teeth and weathered the storm raging, for once, outside of his body instead of inside, his mind was racing, trying to pick apart the details for clues: the power of this storm—was this Alyce's doing alone, a tempest summoned by her immense store of power? Or was it a summoning act, a tapping into another power that she had forged some sort of contract with? Either way, the power radiating from her was immense, and Coda felt at once thrilled, envious, and ravenous.

And then, all at once, the storm was gone; panting, Coda looked around and then down at his clothes and saw no trace that anything had even been wet with rain to begin with.

Great, he thought bitterly. As if I don't doubt my perception of reality as it is.

His attention snapped quickly back to Alyce as she addressed him, wiping her hand clean with a handkerchief she pulled from her dress before reaching out for his hand. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously before obliging and allowing her to wipe his hand, suppressing a startled flinch at the strange, tingling sensation that began to stitch his flesh back together.

He didn't trust anything that healed. Wounds, as far as he knew, only healed so that the flesh could be torn anew. Love always came with a price tag.

Still, he tried not to let it show as he drew his hand back, stuffed it into the pocket of his pants, and then rolled his neck a bit on his shoulders, cracking it.

"Been through worse," he muttered.


coda.

half-demon

 

A NIGHT BLEEDS
A story by Out Of Words​




Out Of Words

Tags Edwin Thropian Thropian Evelyn Maeteris Maeteris | Location: Sleeping Room ​


Both Edwin and Evelyn couldn't help but look at the ceiling, blinking bleary eyed at the thing until the world started to fall into focus. The ceiling was rock and stone, carefully carved or shaped to be smooth and slightly curved. The sound of beeping was a constant background noise, along with the whirring of machines. What was absent, were the sounds of voices, of footsteps, of anything but Edwin and Evelyn laying on their beds, strapped down with a mask feeding them oxygen, possibly something more.

Somewhere near their heads, every couple of minutes, there was the sound of something mechanical. There were gears moving, small tinny noises, metal on metal. Fingers could move, but digits felt stiff, almost unfamiliar, as if they needed to remember what they were used for, what purpose they served, how to move in the most basic of ways.

Yet through all the unfamiliarity of it all, there was a sharp clarity of knowledge. A sliver of awareness piercing the brain, and it knew a few things. They were strapped down, they had a mask on their face, and an iv in one arm. Their bodies hadn't moved in some time, muscles were tight, dancing along the line of outright atrophy. They weren't alone in the room, but the others on either side seemed to be facing a similar predicament.

Maybe they had been in an accident, and were now in a hospital ward. Maybe the straps were for their own protection. Only what hospital has magical balls providing the illumination? Their heads weren't tied down, once their eyes focused and adjusted to no longer being shuttered and in the dark of whatever dream had taken hold, they could look around.

If they chose to look, to truly wake up, they would see more beds to either side, occupied with other figures, faces hidden by masks of their own. Beds were in circles upon circles, with their number higher than one could count on two hands. Some were occupied, some were empty, but every single one had at least one thing in common. A small spherical device rested at the head of each bed.

The spheres at beds with occupants whirred and moved every few moments, like some magical puzzle circle. The inside of the sphere glowed. On some beds the glow was green, some were amber, and still more colors. The light pulsed lightly, akin to the beating of a heart, and attached to the bottom was a transparent tube with something flowing downward where it disappeared into the floor.

A faint, tinkling of a voice could be heard, more in the head than something in the room, "If you want to be free, you should be quick to follow me. Be quiet so no one can hear, or they'll come near." That's when they would notice a golden light, a fairy orb, hovering nearby, waiting.

coded by natasha.
 

A NIGHT BLEEDS
A story by Out Of Words​




Wendy Sawyer

Tags: Winnie Vinegar Bees Vinegar Bees Britt-21 Britt-21 Rhyme Rhyme | Location: Coven HQ ​


Key gave a little snort, still watching Winnie and Banks, but more than capable of hearing Indy in the next cell over. "You're hardly in a position to demand anything. Suffice to say, if we wanted someone dead, your head would have exploded before we wasted money on you on the plane."

Wendy smirked a bit, her eyes traveling over Indy as she waited for the girl to get dressed, adding her two cents worth. "It's really quite simple, you can come with me and sign the contract, where you will be trained and given the opportunity to work your way up in the ranks of the Coven. Or..." She gave a small shrug of her shoulders. "You become... something else. Something that won't be nearly as free."

Wendy let that sink in as she called to Key. "If she chooses to stay here, can I come look closer at what my sister created?" She seemed quite interested in whatever Banks had become, just on the small bit she had seen so far.

"Of course, dear. But let's let Indigo make her choice first, yes?" And then he moved just a couple of steps to the side, letting him peer into the room holding Roje's cell. "Coda will be here soon, after he is done with the blood oath to his new charge. Oh, that reminds me.." He called a coven member over. "Do make sure his new room is equipped with a temporary containment cell, should he need to use it." Key smirked at Roje, before sliding back to the room with Winnie and Banks inside their cell.

"Winifred, do tell me what you saw before your lovely creature returned to... life?"
coded by natasha.
 

A NIGHT BLEEDS
A story by Out Of Words​




Razial Hale

Tags: Maylee Vinegar Bees Vinegar Bees | Location: Coven HQ​


"If you have more pain than you are prepared to control, the magic will instead control you, Bambi." He still had the patience to explain, though his tone was either getting bored, or growing irritated, neither was good. "It will burn you from the inside out, until you're nothing but magic, lost to the ether, forever."

"It's extremely important to learn your limits. You may think you can handle the pain, but handling and controlling are two different ends of the spectrum." He watched as she worked hard on hitting the target. He could see the forms she chose to make, as it was actually being shaped to her whim.

Razial, to his credit, did remain silent as Maylee struggled to focus her attack, and make it hone in on the target. He found it quite interested then, when it was an image of herself, that it hit home. There was a bit of a golf clap from him when she finally made the mark. "Such self loathing!" He let that sink in, until he was finished with his little clapping.

"It is a good tool, to fuel the fire, so to speak. However, you have to make sure the fire never burns brighter, or hotter, than you. Self loathing has its place, but.. when you accept the magic inside as a true part of your soul.." Hands lifted, wrists turned, palms flipped toward the ceiling as he sat back with a smarmy smile. "Then you can achieve levels of wonder, you couldn't fucking make up if you were Alice in fucking Wonderland."

Hands back to the top of his crossed legs. "So, tell me, Flower. Which do you prefer? You want to be a ball of woe is me, boo hoo." His hands had come up to twist under each eye, as if wiping tears away when he said boo hoo. "Or do you want to make the goddamn fucking world bow before you?"

One of the targets changed with a flick of one hand, taking on the shape and appearance of a certain beloved stuffed rabbit. "Obliterate the old you. Start fresh, build a new, better you. Harder, better, stronger, faster you. I can teach you so very, very much. And that is not a gross way of using very twice in one sentence." He smirked. "If you are truly willing to learn, I will teach you how to make the world bow before you, Maylee Song." His tone had dropped into a quiet whisper almost upon saying her name and not some little moniker.

coded by natasha.
 

A NIGHT BLEEDS
A story by Out Of Words​




Out Of Words

Tags Leif KodakWolf KodakWolf | Location: Somewhere ​


Leif couldn't help but look up at a ceiling, noting it was made of stone or rock. There were faint traces of black here and there, more noticeable once his eyes began to focus. Sounds of raindrops weren't too far away, but muffled slightly, like in another room, or around the corner.

He grew slowly aware of his own limbs, weighed down by a heavy woolen blanket. The pillow under his head was lump, it had seen better days, and the bed he lay on was as comfortable as a military cot. Light came from a small flickering orb on a shelf along the far wall, giving him something else to try and focus on while figuring out where, and possibly when, he was.

Wuffle wuffle.

The familiar sound came just moments before an even more familiar face peered down from the side. Sitting in a chair, a small smile spread across Chase's face. "Hey.. there you are." Blue eyes crinkled as his smile grew once he saw Leif moving, however slightly. "You'll have to take it slow, you've been uh.. asleep? Not really sure what to call it. But.. might take you a bit to get your muscle strength back. Or.. not. I uh.. don't know what it's like for a vampire."

They were in a small room, same stone as the ceiling. There wasn't much else in the room aside from a small bundle of blankets nearby on the floor. "So.. we need to keep quiet, we're being hidden right now. It's.. a wild ride and hell.." Wuffle wuffle. "Maybe you don't even remember. Just.. relax, no rush. We're safe here for now."

coded by natasha.
 
SILVER BLACKWOOD | tags: Out Of Words Out Of Words | location: Garden of Eden​

The low scraping of rock mixed with the weighted shuffling of the minotaur sounded in a tucked, artificially carved out corner of the once unmarred cave walls. Sage seemed to be creating something for them just by the sounds of his toiling bouncing off the walls. Flicking her ears, Silver took in all the noises and scents that greeted her newly discovered senses, taking this time to further grow accustomed to the body she could've only dreamed of being able to control. Out of all the things she could've transformed into, she just had to have conveniently taken on the skin of such a revered canine. Not only did wolves happen to be her most favored animal but she also looked just like the wolf she had been seeing in her dreams for so long. Pure white coat, amber-gold eyes that scorched with an intensity of awareness that it's mouth could never open to explain in proper words as to why they had a connection. The wolf had been it's own being in her dreams, but then at times she could recall when she herself had been the wolf. Her being a human never felt so far away as much as it did now and it continued to come as more of a relief the longer she remained this way. It felt right--almost too good to be true just like how the rest of this world had held secrets that the mundane could only seek to look over with skepticism or disregard.

Sage's booming excitement roused her from a light sleep spell as she now pried her eyes open to see him displaying a spherical object to them. It was almost like she were looking at a child holding up their science project that they'd gotten high marks for. Except he mentioned magic? It would make a lot of sense for such a force to be running rampant right under the noses of humans at this point. It shouldn't have come to such a surprise to her but these discoveries just continued to pile up at an accelerated pace she couldn't predict just yet, it seemed. It wasn't long before Sage was back to finessing the room he'd manifested up for them. His constant rummaging nearly lulled Silver back into another bout of sleep from the rhythm he paced at until his footsteps drew closer and he was collecting the stones that had kept them encased in his little circle.

The pressure from before had dissipated with the breaking of the stones' pattern and thus Silver snuck in a long stretch to ease her stiff muscles. She shook out her fur, now catching a glimpse of Sage's cozy creation in the distance once she stood to her full height again without the intense pressure of gravity to oppress her. Cushions sat lumpily beneath a few blankets that had been laid down for their comfort, crates lining the edges of the area with a singular body of light providing a soft illumination ambience to match the gentle airflow that came from that plant-fed globe he'd shown off to them before. His hospitality skills were impeccable. She couldn't help but feel a bit of warmth wash over her in realizing it was probably the nicest thing anyone had done for her. Hopefully someday she could thank the minotaur for all his hard work somehow.

A huff of amusement sounded when she watched Sage scoop up Rhevens in one fluid motion, appearing weightless in his bulky grasp. She was slow to follow them over to the corner despite the promise of restful slumber it offered, taking this time to explore the area a little. Her movements were careful as she stepped cautiously around flower pots as well as any particularly delicate foliage that sat on the now grassy earth she stood on. She hovered close to the mouse for a few heartbeats to take in it's scent a bit, her burning gaze examining it curiously before she huffed again, standing at the edge of the pool of water in the middle of the room. Her reflection danced wildly in the active waters but the image within it was very real. She really was a wolf. Sage is a minotaur; Rhevens is a skinwalker. This was all very real.
 


Winnie shivered as the voices washed over her in a nightmarish blur of sound: Indy, defiant and sardonic as ever; Roje, vulgar and distressingly loud; Wendy, sweetness laced with lethal poison; Key, cold and pitiless as a winter morning in her childhood home, rife with promises of new and fresh misery. Amid all of the noise, however, her sluggish brain finally managed to seize upon a detail that had slipped her conscious notice in the distress that had flooded every inch of awareness: she had not heard Morgan speak, or scream, or even so much as whimper.

Morgan, the delicate boy who had screamed in terror at the unearthly happenings on the airplane; Morgan, who had turned into a kitten that fell peacefully asleep in her arms, lending her the first hint of solace she had had in far too long. Vaguely, she had noticed the noise of a cell being opened, its inhabitant being shuffled about, and—

If Indy and Roje were still here, that meant it could only have been Morgan.

Dread and shame laced through her. You selfish little wretch, she berated herself, her hands now shaking where they clung still to Banks's arm, you aren't the only one suffering here. Can't you think of someone else, even just for a moment?

While the panic was beginning to permeate her system, Key approached her cell with a direct inquiry, and Winnie felt every muscle in her body go as rigid as rock. A tiny part of her yearned to defy him, even if only weakly so; if only she could be brave like Indy or Roje and refuse him an answer...

No. A lifetime of fear conditioning could not be undone so easily. And, moreover, the line between bravery and foolhardiness was murky; Roje, at least, had started out in a far better situation than she and Indy, but her constant need to be the loudest, most seen person in the room had landed her in a cell just like them. If that was any indication of how worse things could get—well, Winnie didn't want to sink further than the miserable state she was already in.

"I—" She tested out her voice, thin and pale, and then she cleared her throat in an attempt to summon some volume. "I... gave him my blood. He went still. Stiff. Just like a corpse. I thought he was... gone for good."

A lump of bile rose in her throat, and Winnie did her best to swallow it. "It took a few minutes, but then I started to hear this... fleshy noise. His wounds were healing, except... he couldn't grow a new arm... and his eyes had changed color." She glanced meekly up at Banks, who still had her fixed in his unnerving amber stare. Winnie thought of the kind-hearted, laid-back cop who had showed such concern for her, and painful guilt seized her heart. What had she done to him? How much of Banks was left in the wild-eyed man who now stood before her?

"Then... then he started spitting up. Blood, vomit... anything in his body, I think." A wobby wave of nausea squeezed her throat at the memory, and Winnie tried to swallow that, too. "And then... when that was done... he looked like he does now. That's... that's all I saw."

Her gaze flickered down to the floor, a battle raging behind her eyes: to do anything other than what she was asked, Winnie thought, was as good as defiance, and she couldn't stomach the thought of proving herself insubordinate to Key...

Not for herself, anyway.

Those years trapped within the walls of her childhood home had taught her how to yearn, how to resent, and how to be disappointed. Surely, she had thought, someone in the world—a teacher, or a classmate's parent, or a neighbor—could see the suffering written in her eyes. And, indeed, she had come to the undeniable conclusion that they could—many could—but that they had simply pretended not to. She tried to imagine their reasoning: at best, they felt it was not their place; at worst, they regarded her with nothing more than indifferent curiosity. She had been desperate for someone to intercede on her behalf, a selfless hero she built up in her mind, but her rescuer never came, and as time weathered her into the realization that they never would, a little piece of her began to hate everyone around her.

She knew how bitterly it stung, and if she could help it, even a little, she could not let Morgan be so thoroughly abandoned.

Just one time. Do something good for someone, for once.

Scraping together as much tepid courage as she could muster, Winnie looked up at Key, her brow furrowed in a meek imitation of determination. "I... I have a question, too," she murmured, soft but steady. "Morgan... where did he go? Are you going to hurt him?"


winnie sawyer.

psychic vampire

 


Self-loathing. There was a sort of condescending delight in the way Razial identified it, as if he were thoroughly entertained watching her struggle against herself, and Maylee bristled again in revulsion at the way he paraded her misery. If only she could be stoic, steel, cold and steady and refusing to shatter no matter the blows she was forced to parry.

But even steel, she supposed, had its melting point, and the fire Razial spoke of was sweeping her rapidly from head to toe. It had startled her, she had to admit, the pure fervor of her distaste for herself. She had never felt comfortable in her own skin—always doubting, always uncertain, always afraid to let her heart show through her skin—but to see firsthand how powerful a fuel it was, stronger even than her hatred for the brother or mother who had so coldly betrayed her...

In a way, there was a certain pathetic quality even to this, as if she were too afraid to direct the brunt of the anger pent-up within her toward an outward target. Hatred coursed through her, but she could not commit even to destroying the murderer of her parents, the executioner of her childhood innocence. If she hated herself the most, let the loathing burn strongest inside herself, then she would be the one to hurt the most, as if a piece of her still wondered whether she had the right to harm anyone else.

Maybe. Or maybe a cross-eyed cross-hair was simply a safer target; Maylee knew how to hurt herself, how to twist the knife in all the most baleful ways, and perhaps she feared that even the hottest fires of her rage would be too weak to burn anyone else.

Her teeth scraped together in resentful frustration, and then, as if to rub salt in the wound, Razial mercilessly mocked her inner turmoil, dismissing it with a delicate moniker and a contemptuous boo-hoo. Maylee trembled, her nails biting into the flesh of the hands she had clenched into fists. The most painful part of it, of course, was that he was right. She was a mockery, a self-absorbed spectacle of self-sabotage. Everything about her, the good and the bad, boiled down to pitiful insecurity: her naive quest to protect others, to be a hero, was merely a desperate product of a need to prove herself useful; and as for her quest for vengeance—how in the world did she expect to achieve anything resembling justice for her parents if she couldn't stop fighting herself long enough to stay on course?

Maylee was angry, suffused with a surfeit of the impotent stuff, and she spun on Razial in preparation to pointlessly lash out, but—

Every cell in her body froze at the sight of the target that now awaited her. A plump, fluffy rabbit, its powder-blue fur rubbed off in patches like mange, its ears flopping down to cover one reflective bead of an eye. How many times had she clutched this stuffed rabbit close to her face, peered into its sparkling dark eyes, and seen a curved, distorted image of herself?

Her heart began to race, and Maylee found it suddenly difficult to breathe as Razial challenged her with an ultimatum. Obliterate herself? Start anew? Make the world bow before her? And the way he used her name, for once, instead of an infantilizing moniker, as if he might consider taking her seriously under these new conditions...

But that's not what I want, Maylee thought, inwardly shaking her head. To make the world bow before her? That was the dream of a tyrant, a brute who sought to punish indiscriminately; Maylee was angry, sure, but it was reserved only for a select few: indeed, she hungered to bring her brother to his knees, but the world? No—she sought strength not merely to punish the wicked put to protect the weak.

Did it matter, though? Was there really a place in the world for her, or was she merely naively playing the part of a hero in an attempt to justify her further existence? She thought of the hunts she had endured in the past: sometimes, the victims had seemed relieved or even grateful, but more often than not, they simply regarded her with fear, a new monster arrived to usurp the previous one's power. No matter how she played at morality, her existence centered on violence: something to be feared from a distance, not embraced with love.

Maylee felt a twist of pain, and that vision of herself's previous words rang in her mind: Everyone is happier without you, Maylee. Everyone is better off.

Nobody needs you.

Her fists tightened. And that rabbit—what did that rabbit represent, really? It was pure sentiment, an attachment, a tether to the weak heart that had left her so woefully unprepared to save her parents. What Dad had said, that Winkle was a pet who would never die—it was true, perhaps, but only because it had never lived in the first place. Safety, security, but at the cost of agency. The only way not to hurt was to stay out of the fire.

The only way to what she wanted was through the fire.

Briefly, Maylee thought of Shia handing her the rabbit with a warm smile: I had a dragon.

Then she thought of the dragon who had killed her mother, depriving her of any chance for catharsis.

She was trembling but sure as she raised her hands in front of her, locking the rabbit in her sights. Stuffed animals were for little girls. Weapons were for warriors. And, between the two, it was clear which one she needed to grasp if she intended to avenge her parents.

Dad. Papa. If I have to become a monster for you, then so be it.

She clenched her fists and fired a bolt of painful, stinging magic with a shout, this one tinged by grief that outweighed its anger. Tears pricked at her eyes, and they began to fall as she watched Winkle erupt into a hundred pieces before her, bits of fur and stuffing flung about like viscera. Its shiny, weathered little eyes were nothing more than beads, she knew, and yet she still imagined she glimpsed an interplay of betrayal and rueful patience in their reflective surfaces.

Panting, Maylee lowered her hands, and then she brought them swiftly back up to swipe at her eyes before turning to Razial and once again armoring herself with fists.

"I'm tired of being weak," she said fiercely, "but let me make one thing clear. I am not your doll. I am not your flower petal. I will learn from you, but I will not be yours to use as you please."

The fire within her was burning in her eyes, and she hoped, perhaps futilely, that she might manage to burn something other than herself this time. "From now on, I bow to no one, and that includes you."

( Tags: Out Of Words Out Of Words )​

maylee song.

hunter | werewolf

 

A NIGHT BLEEDS
A story by Out Of Words​




Alyce Wright

Tags: Coda Vinegar Bees Vinegar Bees Hayley Britt-21 Britt-21 | Location: Coven HQ ​


Alyce clapped her hands and did a little hopping jump up and down a few times, obviously happy with how the blood oath turned out. "Oh I bet! I bet you have all sorts of interesting tales!" She reached out, laying a hand on his arm for a small squeeze before it fell away. She looked toward Hayley then, "Let's all return to my room, and we can talk about what you want to do here."

She held out one hand for Hayley to take, and fingers would interlace as she led the way back out of the forested garden, through the wooden doors, and down a corridor. She would swing their hands lightly as they walked, and she talked. "There's a lot of opportunity here, but it does depend on what you see yourself doing, magic wise. Do you want to teach others? Do you want to learn instead? Do you want to travel the world?"

They were moving in the direction of Coda's quarters, which made sense, as he would need to be near his charge. Alyce's was just on the other side, and it gave off strong magic as it was warded up the wazoo apparently. The door matched the wooden one of the room they just came from, but the inside was a little different.

The inside was made to look like a castle, whether through magic, or actual blood, sweat, and tears, one couldn't say. There was a fireplace, with a sitting area in front, luxurious rugs over a hardwood floor. And a four poster canopy bed with curtains on all sides, currently tied back.

Alyce's grin grew bigger as she settled on the foot of the bed, which looked like it could be a built in chest for storage. One hand gestured to the chairs in front of the fireplace. "Please, sit. Enjoy the little cakes and scones." On the table was a three tiered dish holding small bite sized cakes of many flavors and colors. Another had some scones, and there were teacups with an elegant teapot in the middle of it all.

"Now.. tell me.. oh, wait a moment. Kitty? Here, kitty, kitty, kitty." She clicked her tongue and patted the space beside her. At first, there wasn't anything, but soon a small jingling sound was heard from a doorway off to the right. The jingling came from a bell attached to the cat's collar, but not just any cat. The clouded leopard moved to occupy the space Alyce had indicated. Green eyes were angry, and its tail twitched mightily now and then, but it lay down with its head in Alyce's lap. "Good kitty. I should come up with a name for you soon. Hmm? Anyway.."

One hand pet the clouded leopard, while she looked to Hayley. "Now, do tell me dear. What do you want to do?"
coded by natasha.
 

A NIGHT BLEEDS
A story by Out Of Words​




Rhevens Coldwater

Tags Silver Silver- Silver- | Location: Gardens ​


Rhevens settled in on a pile of cushions and blankets, managing to find his voice enough to say, "Th-thank you, Sage." He wanted to ask more, but even that small bit left him in a coughing fit. Sage retrieved a couple bottles of water and set them on the crate inside their new room.

"Sage has food in crate. If get hungry. Not meat, but.. food. See if can get more meat later, but.. Sage has to go do things. So... have to shut you in room, so you stay safe, hidden. Don't make lot of noise, okay?" He looked worried for them, and double checked the oxygen sphere before moving to the door. "Mousie, you come in too. They look for you."

There was a bit of squeaking, and the mouse, dragging what was left of its cheese, took up a spot near the crate. "Good Mousie. Sage back later. Rest, get stronger. Bye bye." Sage waved one hand and then he was closing up the door. In moments, one couldn't tell there had even been a door there.

Rhevens managed to work himself into a sitting up position, though it was only because he was leaning against the wall. He sipped at the water before checking to make sure Silver's bowl had plenty of water in it. He managed to whisper, "What the fuck?"
coded by natasha.
 

A NIGHT BLEEDS
A story by Out Of Words​




Griffin Banks

Tags: Vinegar Bees Vinegar Bees Britt-21 Britt-21 Rhyme Rhyme | Location: Winnie's Cell ​


Banks never let go of Winnie's wrist, even when she sobbed and hugged his arm, begging him to not do that again. Those amber eyes watched her, the rest of his expression blank again, the phantom limb had disappeared the moment the coven member had been drained. He lay there, quiet and still, save for the small squeezing of his fingers every now and then.

Until the coven member outside the cell approached with something in his hands. It looked like a small watermelon scoop at the end of a stick. They wanted to get some of the dust left behind, but the moment the item pushed through the bars of the cell, Banks' reaction was immediate.

With a feral growl, Banks moved off the floor, finally letting go of Winnie's wrist. However, he only let go so he could push Winnie behind him. It wasn't a rough push at all, it was gentle, a stark contrast to the sound he gave toward the coven member. Banks surged toward the item trespassing into their space. Before the coven member could pull it back out, Banks ripped it away with a show of supernatural strength. He crushed it in his hand, leaving it on the pile of clothes and dust.

Key was watching all of this, and when Banks grabbed part of the bars, in an attempt to reach the coven member, Key barked out, "Get back here." As soon as the guy was several feet away from the bars, Banks quieted down, the threat no longer a threat, but he did move to stand between Winnie and the bars protectively.

Key tilted his head, studying Banks silently, before he gave the coven member a new order. "Let's observe for now. I'll call in a specialist to help determine what type of thing Winifred has spawned."

coded by natasha.
 

Indy had tried to learn chess, once. During a moment of rare parental guidance offered haphazardly by a wayward father.

He had sat her down, drawing squares on a folded cardboard box and supplementing checker pieces for queens and cigarette butts for pawns as he attempted to explain the rules. As the hours rolled past and Indy's back began to ache from sitting hunched over the table, her father mercilessly swiped each of her pieces off the board with a silent grimace. Every attempt to outsmart him was matched two-fold within minutes, ending with a mechanical resetting of the board that grew only more aggressive with the sting of every loss. It was early morning before their final game ended, her father plucking her last pawn from the board and raising it to his lips and lighting the last inch of tobacco left, muttering a quiet 'checkmate' around the curling smoke.

She hadn't reacted well. The pieces were sent scattering across the floor as Indy sent the board spinning toward the wall, her cheeks red with frustration and embarrassment as her father watched on in grim silence. She had felt the tears threatening, her nose stinging with their oncoming threat as she'd attempted to hide behind the curve of her clutched sleeve.

'Your problem,' he'd said, cigarette bobbing from his lips, 'is you react. You don't act. You think you can just, you know, fuckin' make some move and I'll react too. That's not how this game is played, you aren't playing chess--this isn't tag or some kid shit. You have to plan, you have to think ahead. Know your move six moves from the moment. Fuckin' think.'

He had stood then, kicking the forgotten pieces aside as he stared down at Indy, delivering his executing blow. 'But you don't think. You aren't the thinkin' type, and you aren't the chess type. It's a game of fuckin' strategy, and ya' aren't fuckin' fit for it, I suppose.'

It had been the reason she went into the PI business. Because she wanted to believe she could think, that a drunk bastard was barely worth the salt on his glass. Now, hearing her sister's screaming, her begging; listening to the sounds around her as the kid had been carted away, looking at the soft smirk on Wendy's face behind the newest set of iron bars in a growing series of imprisonments, her father's voice was ringing in her ear.

It seemed like a smart move, playing into their hand to betray them later. Sign whatever contract they had. But following Foster had seemed like a smart move. Pushing Coda. Stealing the phone.

All reactions, never actions.

"You're hardly in a position to demand anything. Suffice to say, if we wanted someone dead, your head would have exploded before we wasted money on you on the plane." He had a point.

"It's really quite simple, you can come with me and sign the contract, where you will be trained and given the opportunity to work your way up in the ranks of the Coven. Or... You become... something else. Something that won't be nearly as free." She wasn't wrong.

Hours ago, Indy would have argued there was nothing less free than a cat in a cage, yet Banks was a crawling, grueling testament to otherwise, wasn't he? Even as she considered this, she could hear the growing chaos in the other cell as even Key seemed uncertain with that particular turn of events.

She had nothing over them. Key and his posse had plucked every piece off her board. Even her freedom was wrenched away; not by the bars, but by the insertion of things to lose. A sister. A friend.

She wasn't used to having things to lose.

Indy turned away from Wendy, spreading the cloth over her chest as she closed her eyes. Slowly, she could feel the fabric grow, the smooth fabric becoming coarse over her skin. I'm sorry, Roje.

As she turned to Wendy, the loose white cotton shirt swayed across her shoulders, the thin cotton trousers wrapping around her calves. She could see the black curls of her hair in the corner of her gaze, sticking out against the white fabric like crow feathers in the snow.

I'm not the thinking type.

"After you, then." Indy stepped back, gesturing to the locked bars.
​
 

A NIGHT BLEEDS
A story by Out Of Words​




Wendy Sawyer

Tags: Indy Rhyme Rhyme | Location: Coven HQ ​


Wendy gave Indigo a small smile, gesturing to one of the four coven members standing there with her. "Open it." Two with the spells ready kept a close eye on Indy while Wendy waved her onward. She led the way, with two flanking Indy, and the two with spells behind them. "Please, follow me."

Wendy walked without glancing toward Key, but she did take a gander toward Banks as he stood protectively in front of her sister. Without commenting, she lead the group down a short corridor and to the room on the next left. She fidgeted with one of her rings as she explained what to expect. "Key has the contract, I'm not high enough yet to deal with such things." Emphasis on the yet.

She pressed the hand with the rings against a spot on the wall, and the stone door opened. Inside, the furniture was blue, and looked comfortable. Along the walls were shelves upon shelves, displaying various objects, books, trinkets and what not. The door they came in was the only way in and out.

Wendy gestured to one of the seats. "Please, have a seat. It shouldn't be too long. Would you like something to drink? Or eat?" Wendy was being a gracious host, and would find a drink or snack if Indy indicated she needed such.

However, there was a very low humming in the room, though it didn't seem to bother Wendy or the four coven members waiting near the door. It was deep in tone, and Indy could feel the vibration of it slowly growing more pronounced. When she could feel it through her whole body, that's when she started to hear the sounds of the ocean.

As if Indy herself was underwater, other sounds became muffled, still coherent, but muted by the water. And then the singing. Humming softly, the voice hauntingly beautiful, like a siren. And yet Wendy and the four didn't seem to hear it, only Indy.

coded by natasha.
 
Maddox Ward (Leif Hjalkarssen)
Location: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Tags: Chase Moon ( Out Of Words Out Of Words )​


Awake, finally. Possibly. At least that’s how waking up from a dream, or nightmare, was supposed to feel; whether he was waking up into yet another dream, remained to be seen. His heartbeat was still racing, and his face still wet, from sweat alone or also remnants of tears. Limbs felt heavy, as if he hadn’t shifted position in a long while, and that blanket sure felt heavier than it probably was.

He managed to look towards the only light source in the room, an orb that was most definitely magic, and the unconventional stone ceiling did speak favorably towards the dream hypothesis. That wasn’t where he last remembered having fallen asleep. Not many clues as to the when question, magic could mean any time period.

Though the familiar wuffles did interrupt his thinking, they didn’t immediately startle him, as his senses seemed to be still numbed out.
He watched with a confused expression as those familiar eyes peered down from the side and Chase started talking. That was who he last saw before passing out; point for reality, even score.

Even so, he wasn’t used to having his senses betray him to the point of not realizing someone had been sitting beside him the whole time. He propped himself up on his elbows, testing his muscles and taking a better look around the strange stone room they were in, before his gaze moved back to Chase as he pushed himself up to a sit and moved backwards with unnecessary urgency till he hit the rock wall behind him, reaching up to rub the back of his head with a grimace. Fuck. Talk about a wild ride. Well, that probably answered whether he needed time to get his muscle strength back or not; he sure didn’t feel like an athlete, but the stiff joints and painful muscles weren’t too disabling.

The pain did help his mind slow down though, as he tried to take Chase’s words into account without vomiting a hundred questions back. Between freaking out and relaxing… yes, relaxing sounded like a good idea. For once, he was with someone who wasn’t supposed to have died 1000 years ago. Speaking of that…

“What year is this?” his voice was dry, raspy, as if he hadn’t spoken in a long while. “What am I supposed to remember?” his voice almost faltered, and coughed a few times into his arm.
 

Hayley.png
1598731731145.png
Tags: Out Of Words Out Of Words Vinegar Bees Vinegar Bees | Location: Alyce's Bedroom

Hayley continued to be patient, wondering why she was acting this way. The power of her level mixed with her attitude... Alyce knew she was strong, on top of that, no doubt she knew she could kill anyone who crossed her or made her extremely angry. As soon as Alyce held her hand out, Hazel eyes shifted down to her hand and then back to the girl's face, unsure if she really wanted to take it. Well if I don't, I could offend her. I don't know her well enough to predict what possible outcome would approach. with that thought in mind, she grabbed her hand, allowing it to lace with the blonde's while she happily swung them lightly as a mother and child would do. The questions that she asked didn't necessarily catch her off guard, it's just they were questions that had nothing to do with what she had the impression she had from the beginning. The Coven always worked in ways that annoyed her to no end. Always playing secret service and hiding many secrets that no one but the highest circle knew of.

"I see myself doing many things, Alyce. Not one, but all. A trump card so to speak. Universal." she answered, though leaving her statement open rather than closing it. Soon enough they came up to another door, her hands tingling from the magic that radiated off of it. The amount of magic coming off of this room is making my own body react... maybe the magic that she was coming into contact with was stronger than her own. Which would make sense as to why she always felt tingly. Hayley knew there was magic within the place, but not to this extreme as far as she knew. Maybe she just wasn't looking through the right places? Upon walking into the room, it looked almost like a scene from a castle, her eyes looking over the furniture, the fireplace, and even the table that held a tea set and a 3 tier tower of small cakes and..scones? Right. Feels like I'm interacting with royalty. Maybe I am and this is another test or something. all these thoughts, and this was merely a shadow from this woman. She took time out of her days to allow her to follow around like a puppy.

Oh man that didn't settle right with her... "Thank you, Alyce." she said, moving to the chair and taking a seat in the chair that allowed Hayley to have full view of Alyce as she called in her cat. Crossing one leg over the other, she placed her hands on her knee and watched the not-housecat come into view. She has a Leopard? an exotic animal but quite beautiful. Before Hayley could get too distracted over the creature within the room, she answered her Mentor "What I'd like to do..." she repeated, taking a glance at the fire and narrowing her eyes slightly before she spoke "I'd like to do what I felt was promised to me." her attention turned toward her once again "I was hunted down for the power I possessed, but yet was dropped into the rankings I'm currently in right now." she moved her hands and leaned toward the table, grabbing a teacup, followed by the pot. "From what I've seen with my own eyes, there's flaws, inconsistencies, and definitely some behavioral issues with some members." she began to pour the tea into her cup.

There was one person in her mind, and that was Sage. The innocent Minotaur who had been treated nothing like a slave. With her, he's been learning things and she wanted to give him a better life with the things he enjoyed. Rather than dealing with the abuse of the coven. Putting the pot back down, she lifted the tea cup with the small plate underneath and lifted it a little toward her, offering the cup. Hayley and Coda may have been the guests, but it was polite to offer regardless. Speaking of, the half-demon hadn't been saying much, probably because he was more focused on listening this time rather than doing something else perhaps?​
 

A NIGHT BLEEDS
A story by Out Of Words​




Alyce Wright

Tags: Coda Vinegar Bees Vinegar Bees Hayley Britt-21 Britt-21 (via Discord) | Location: Coven HQ ​


Alyce smiled and nudged the leopard off her lap and to the side, as she moved to take the offered tea Hayley had poured for her. The leopard's tail thumped with irritation, and its ears were a little flat, but it lay down, head on its large front paws. Green eyes were alert, and observant.

"Thank you. Such manners. So many would benefit from even basic manners." She was essentially agreeing with what the woman just said. Alyce sipped her tea, moving to sit down in a chair with the two of them rather than take her place on the bed. The latter was raised slightly, so she had been looking down.

Taking one of the little cakes, "What did they promise you? What are your strengths? Or your discipline in magic?"

Once Alyce took her cup, Hayley went on ahead and poured herself a cup as well as Coda. He was able to take if he wished, if he did not, then that's fine too. For a brief moment, Hayley looked over at the cat, noticing how odd it was acting before turning her attention back to her mentor while taking her tea and sitting back in her seat "A high ranking position. One worth my power. As a child, I was known for my extreme tendencies with fire." before she grew more in control and more powerful. "Hence the name Phoenix." she took a sip from her own cup.

"Pyromancy, as one would call it." taking a glance at the fire, she nodded slightly toward it, the flames suddenly turning into galloping horses that only seemed to shift shortly after into a lion head that roared and suddenly disappeared "I have plenty of potential that some seem to underestimate."

Coda was quiet as he watched Alyce and Hayley discuss business. As always, he operated in extremes; when he spoke, it was often a loud and violent barrage of belligerence, but when speaking was unnecessary, he preferred to stay near-mute. Some people didn't know when to shut up, talking merely to hear the sound of their own voices, it seemed, and that sort irritated him to no end.

He coldly and stiffly glanced at Hayley when she offered him a cup of tea, and after a moment, she let it be and moved onto other matters. He wasn't here to have a tea party. He was here to be a guard.

Well—that was his job, anyway. As long as he was here, he planned to learn as much information as he could, too. Alyce had strange, exotic tastes in pets, for one, and Phoenix was a pyromancer, one of the few options he had suspected. He watched with narrowed eyes as she twisted the flames into the dynamic, lively shapes of animals. A neat magic trick, to be sure, but such things had little value to Coda. If Hayley had been assigned to Alyce, she must be capable of far more impressive feats of magic, and he was keen to find out what.

Alyce watched as well, she was more observant than most usually took note of. "Coda, you may eat or drink if you would like. The cakes are very tasty." She smiled at him over the rim of her teacup, but her attention was quickly turned to the fire display Hayley provided.

"Interesting. And what level of enhancement dust are you on? They did provide you with some, yes? I mean.. given your current rank, you'd have some I'm certain."

She sipped her tea before her eyebrows lifted and she addressed Coda. "Also, we need to make sure you're up to the correct enhancement level as well. Remind me later, please."

"Level four, yes. Been taking it daily, haven't missed a day." Hayley had no idea on how many levels there were, but if five was the highest, then she would definitely be getting the good shit if they bumped her up. "I usually make sure I never run low. Never know when I'd need it most." she bit the inside of her cheek and shifted in her chair, letting her fingers dangle slightly off the chair, tapping her pointer on her one hand. This was a move she doubted would get any attention but she was subtle to say the least "I would like to know what else you may have in store for me."

Coda frowned, thinking of the vial of dust Key had passed to him after their conversation in the back cabin of the airplane. Enhancement dust—this was the first he had heard of the coven using dust for that purpose specifically. So that was what that had been for? He hadn't gotten a chance to try it yet—suffice it to say he hadn't wanted to be in the middle of a magical equivalent of a coke high when he met with his charge—but he now found himself wishing he had taken a closer look at the vial. Had there been a number on it? How many levels were there? What level had Key thought him worthy of?

He kept these questions locked behind his teeth for now, though. Right now, it was best to keep his mouth shut and his senses wide open.

He nodded grimly at Alyce's prompting to remind her later and then glanced down at the tea-cakes with something like suspicion. He didn't trust things like that—small, pretty, sweet. Like that little freak vampire Winnie. Sweetness, in his mind, always concealed something rotten; those little cakes could rot his teeth out of his skull, and whenever he met someone who had a little too much sugar to them, he went on guard for the inevitable knife in the back.

His mother had been sweet, sometimes.

Between the cakes and the tea, Coda wasn't particularly eager for either, but the tea, at least, was unpretentious in its earthy bitterness. He picked up the cup Hayley had poured for him and took a small, noncommittal sip, realizing only after he swallowed how dry his mouth had gotten.

Alyce tilted her head with a bit of a nod. "Four, not bad. We can definitely bump you up though." She popped the cake in her mouth and chewed, her expression thoughtful.

Meanwhile, the leopard had definitely seen the hand drop to the side of the chair. There was a darting glance toward Alyce, before the feline slowly slunk off the edge of the bed. Didn't even make a sound as it padded slowly over to the hand, ears a bit low on its head.

It nudged the hand with a soft chuff, and waited for pets, or chastisement from Alyce. The latter didn't come, but Alyce was watching the leopard looking for pets. "Do you like animals?"

Hayley nodded to her mention on bumping her up on the dust. More progression is what she was looking for. When the Leopard found her hand, she began to gently scratch its head, petting it gently, her gaze shifting down and smiling softly at the creature "I do. Used to have a few pets back when I was a kid. As I grew older, I refrained from getting more pets, why? Not sure exactly." she then shifted her hand underneath the cat's chin, scratching it softly. Her eyes fell back on Alyce "I can say one thing, you have good taste in exotic animals."

The leopard chuffed and settled on its back haunches. The tail wasn't quite so aggravated now. Alyce gave a little smile, "Thank you. You know, if you wanted a pet, I think we have a few available. Not a clouded leopard, but.. what did I see? Hmm."

She held a finger up to her chin, tapping as she tried to recall. Then she smiled, eyes lighting up, like literally there was a small glowing surge for a brief moment. "I've got it. Just the one for you."

She set her teacup down, and fiddled with a different ring on the other hand. "Bring me Rune." She spoke into the ring, then settled back. "Kitty, you play nice when they bring in Hayley's new companion, yes?" She held out her hand, clicking her tongue.

The leopard's ears twitched, but he did move away from Hayley's to Alyce's. She stroked the fur on top of his head, but he wasn't chuffing or as relaxed as when Hayley was petting him.

"While we wait.. Tell me a few things you would like to see changed."

Hayley was glad that she was able to get a touch from the Leopard, being as observant as she was, she knew something was wrong. Being only a Pyromancer, she really couldn't figure it out on her own. But she took note of that. His behavior was almost similar to Sages, though Sage spoke more than the Leopard. "Oh?" she asked, raising her eyebrow and smiling, getting the name of this so-called "Pet" she was getting. It definitely peaked her interest "The lack of information within the archives." she stated, picking up her teacup once again "I went down there in search of a file for something I needed to research, but when I looked... Pages were missing. Things didn't quite line up." she took a sip.

"Perhaps it was on purpose, perhaps not. But being a woman of my ranking, I should have had all the information there. What if I needed everything? If it was life or death? I would have died if that was the case." she took another sip, her mind still clicking with the cogs "On my free time I do what I can to learn about everything there is to learn. But without proper files, I can't do that. It hinders me as a Leader, does it not?"

Alyce gave her a smile, "Well, if the information was set for a rank higher than your own, then the information would have been limited to your rank and lower. Once we have you assigned higher though, you might find more pages next time."

Alyce tapped on top of the leopards head, "Lay down there, kitty." And the leopard did so, with an irritated twitch of its tail. Alyce leaned forward and picked up her teacup, sipping again before she asked, "Curious, what file was it you were researching?

Hayley knew that the time would come where she'd want to know the file that she was taking a peek into "The Minotaur." she said "He was fixing my room up to my liking. Surely you've seen him." he did say he makes the rooms, so no doubt "I was curious about him, never met one in my life and thought I should look at the file." she was relaxed and gave a nonchalant shrug "Every new creature or person I'd come into contact with, I'd take a look at the file. To be a good leader, you must know your people, who you're working with."

Alyce was watching Hayley as she answered, her gaze shifting a little now and then, as if there was something behind her. "True, I'm not sure the ranking limitation on the files can be lifted. We just have to make sure you're in the right rank."

She gave a scrunching of her nose, and set the teacup down. Alyce curled her legs up in the chair, tucking them to one side as she smoothed out her dress. Very particular about keeping her dress nicely spread out and smooth.

"Is that what you want to do though? Lead? Lead what? Those underneath you? For what purpose would you lead them toward?" Before she could answer though, the door opened. A coven member stood there with a cloth wrapped bundle in his arms.

Alyce clapped her hands, and waved him closer. "Oh lovely. Was it asleep for a while this time?"

The coven member was nervous on the inside, and one could see it in his eyes, but he kept a calm façade pretty well. "Only a week, two at most I believe." He was going to hand it to her, but Alyce did a hand wave toward Hayley.

"Note it down, Rune is now Phoenix's companion. Yes?" She grinned big at Hayley. "Now, if it isn't to your liking, you let me know. We'll let this one rest, and maybe dig up a new one for you." Alyce was excited to see Hayley's reaction. "I thought this one would be.. fun. Considering your pyromancy."

Alyce bit her lip, watching Hayley closely, her eyes intent on every little nuance as the cloth wrapped bundle was placed into her lap.

Save by the door. A question she would not have to answer now, but wait for later. She shifted and looked behind her, seeing the Coven member who was holding the small bundle of cloth in his arms. Taking the time to put her cup down for the thousandth time so far, she allowed the member to place the bundle on her lap, giving her full reign to slowly touch the cloth. The creature was small, most likely a baby. "The name is Rune, an interesting name for a small creature." glancing at Alyce, she gave her a nod "I'm sure this one would be just fine."

Looking back at the small bundle, she began to move it in different ways to expose the creature within. Once she had, her face instantly went into that one expression that every person has when they see the purest and cutest baby animal "Oh. My. Goodness." her hands were delicate as she gently brushed her finger against its fur "Definitely is the opposite Element of my own. The cute face makes up for it." she then spoke in a softer tone "Hey there..." now she was distracted with the small creature, but she was having important conversations with her Mentor "Thank you, Alyce. This is very much appreciated." though she knew the price of being given something. Usually it's how it worked.

"Where did you find it?" Hayley glanced at Alyce

lyce laughed with a childish glee when Hayley's face showed how much she liked it. "Oh, we came across a few different animals in our travels. Now.. that's as big as Rune will ever get, so you don't have to worry about it losing all that cuteness. It has issues walking, maybe that's why no one has kept it around for very long."

She gave a little shrug of a shoulder, "I'm sure you'll find some solution, or you could just leave it in you room when you're working. Maybe that minotaur could fix you up with a little pond or something."

Alyce was having one of her good days though, so she was staying on track. As she waved the coven member goodbye, his cue to leave, she returned to the questioning. "Now, where were we? Oh yes, if leading others was what you truly wanted to do."

The biggest it could get was the size it was currently at. On top of that, it had issues walking... That wouldn't stop Hayley from trying from helping it though. Anything could be helped with a little bit of support. "I understand." she continued to pet the small creature while keeping contact with her Mentor "I was put into a position where I had to manage coven members, examine assignments, do assignments and paperwork. I'd like to be a leader, though, a Leader with enough power to do things on my own when it comes to it. I'm independent. Letting others do my dirty work makes me feel as if I'm not doing my job properly." though that was all of her opinion "My view on a leader may be different from yours, which I completely understand."

Alyce sat back in her chair, patting her lap and clicking her tongue. The leopard's tail twitched, but it did move to crawl into her lap. She ran a hand from the head to the tail, rinse, repeat. "Well, there is a good amount of delgation one needs to do when you're in the higher ranks. You can't do everything yourself, because there will be a lot of responsibility. But let me ponder and do a little checking around. I'll find you the right place, and.."

Alyce grinned, "I want to see what your full potential could be. If you don't mind, tomorrow I'd like to arrange to have you meet with the best trainer I've known. And I'll observe while your abilities are put to the test. Say, sometime after breakfast?"

"I understand." she said with a slight nod of her head before addressing her full potential "That sounds like a reasonable time. Consider it done." she gave her a warm smile "Anything you recommend I wear for the viewing?" she glanced to the cat, tilting her head slightly. In a sense she did miss petting the large cat. But alas, she could not, especially when Alyce kept demanding it to do things that made no sense. She was wishy washy with it, sending it away, calling it back...

"Comfortable, yet functional for a training test." She smiled, and then gave the cat a bit of a push. "Off." The leopard moved quickly, as if knowing to dally would be foolish. Alyce stood up, and gestured for Hayley, apparently their time was at an end for the moment.

"I'll let you take your new pet to your room and get it settled in. Another member should be delivering some food and supplies to your door soon." She led the way to the door, pressing a hand against the stone to open it.

"I am going to discuss a few things with my bodyguard, and probably rest for a little while. Could you meet me back here for dinner? I would love to have you dine with us tonight."

Hayley had plenty of clothes for this training session. So things should go well. Unfortunately her thoughts with wishy washy were correct. Wrapping her small companion back up and comfortably, she held it in her arms like a baby, both arms coddling it as she got up from her chair "Alright." she followed Alyce to the door and let her open it up "Of course. I look forward to it." with that, the magic user stepped out "I'll see you later on then Alyce, you too as well, Coda." she hadn't forgotten about him, but she did know he was quiet much like a secret service security guard would be.

With that said, she departed for her bedroom, holding her small companion close to her, the warmth radiating off of her.

Alyce turned back after the door closed, and moved to sit at the foot of her bed as she addressed Coda. "Thoughts?"

Coda had been silent, observant, this whole time. In truth, he was feeling more than a little restless—his senses, kicked into overdrive by his recent feeding, picked up on everything a little too much. Every time Hayley or Alyce set down their teacups, the noise stabbed gratingly through his ears, and he began to grind his teeth in irritation partway through their conversation. Still, he knew this was important. Hayley, it seemed, would be undergoing training with a certain skilled trainer—he found himself wondering who this was; he hated not knowing what people were talking about. And, for some reason, the coven seemed to have a ready supply of exotic animals. Why—?

Maybe they were shifters, he thought. What other use would a magicians' coven have for a bunch of ordinary baby animals? What most saw as cuteness Coda merely viewed as weakness, vulnerability. Sharp teeth and claws were not cute, but they could put up far more of a fight than doe eyes.

"There's a lot I don't know," he admitted to Alyce, his eyes averted somewhat resentfully, "but I don't plan on being left in the dark anymore."

Alyce grinned wide. "Good. I know you just arrived from the states, but here... there's a good bit more involved. I'm excited to show you around! But first, do you need to settle in for a little? An hour or two maybe, while I take a refreshing nap? Then I will give you a little tour, point out some important things, get you introduced to a few others. It'll be grand!"

Inwardly, Coda felt a twitch of frustration. The last thing he wanted to do now was wait, not when answers were finally forthcoming, not when his new power was so close he could taste it.

(A wet, metallic taste, like the blood that had flooded his mouth when he unlatched his jaws on his meal's chest cavity.)

But now wasn't the time to be throwing a tantrum. He had made progress, had been assigned his charge, had been bonded to her through some arcane ceremony—and all throughout were scattered flashing, urgent signals that, whoever Alyce really was, she was immensely powerful.

She was the key to him finally seizing the power the world had so callously deprived him of.

"Fine," he said in a low voice. "I'll stand guard outside your door."

Alyce laughed, "Oh no. If you don't want to settle in, that's fine. I don't feel quite like a tour right now but..." She moved off the chest at the foot of her bed and opened it up.

"I remember.." She rummaged around, before finding what she was looking for. "We need to get you an upgrade, more than likely. It's very doubtful the stuff you were given is at the right level."

She unzipped the little brown travel bag, checking the contents. Inside were ten small vials, all held securely inside with loops. She held this out for Coda to come take as she sat back down.

"This is an upgrade kit. You can't just go from one to ten in a day. There are consequences and you'd be of little use to me then. So, each one has a number. You start with one, the lowest level. Take half in the morning, half in the evening. Next morning you move to two, and then three, and so on."

Alyce didn't let it go when Coda grabbed it, she held on to make sure he understood. "No skipping. You won't be able to be my bodyguard properly, alright? And if you feel anything really strange about a level, let me know. We might just have to adjust the balance physics with your magic and the dust ingredients. Very important, Coda. Okay?"

There was a combination of exhilaration and suspicion when Coda took the bag, and his eyes locked onto Alyce's when it became clear how urgent her instructions were. This dust—it had to be different from the kind he had already been taking on his own time. That stuff was little more than a mood-altering substance, something he took when the voices in his head and sulfur in his blood were too much to bear. The worst that could happen to him was a temporary episode of despair or rage if he had happened to get a bad batch or, more often, a withering withdrawal when the effects of the drug wore off and he was again plunged into the baleful reality of his grenade of a brain.

But this—an upgrade, Alyce called it. What exactly was it going to do to him? And where were they getting it—?

A thousand questions swirled in his mind, and his heart was racing in anticipation. Somewhat abruptly, Coda realized his hands were shaking from the intensity of the storm running through his veins.

"Yeah," he said, his eyes boring fervidly into Alyce, his teeth almost chattering from the electricity racing through his system. "I've been waiting my whole life for this. I don't plan on fucking it up now."

Alyce smiled warmly at him, one hand lifting to rest against the side of his face. Her thumb moved brushing along his cheek. Her voice had even dropped to a lower volume. "Good. I like you. I think you can go very far here."

Her hand fell away, and she tapped the first vial. "It's still morning, you can take half now if you'd like. And relax, I don't need you to guard my door. When I set the wards to locked, no one can get in without the right ring." She flashed the ring on her finger. "Or without me letting them in."

She moved to turn down the covers on her bed. "I think Key said you had to see to .. something or someone when we were done with the blood oath? Now's your chance to do that. I'll come to you when I wake up. You're right next door."

Alyce started to take off her dress after laying a robe on top of the bed. She looked at him over a now bare shoulder. "Thank you, Coda." And a little motion of her hand had the stone door opening for him.

This time, he didn't flinch at the soft, surprisingly warm touch of a woman, but he felt a fevered heat creep up his neck nonetheless. Gentle touches, kind touches—they confused him, stirred up uncomfortable memories of a mother who had loved him at one moment and feared him the next. It was difficult to admit, beneath all of the frustration and suspicion, how much he craved touches like this.

And he wouldn't admit it. At least not out loud.

His cue to leave couldn't be clearer when Alyce began suddenly to undress, and the heat in his neck rose, leaving his brain flushed and senseless. It was clear she had wanted him to get a glimpse, to gauge his reaction, perhaps, and he stubbornly gritted his teeth and tried not to let any of his fever show.

"I'll be ready," he said simply, and then he turned and made his way out the stone door, his head spinning. For a moment, he stood adrift, bewildered, until his senses returned and sharply reminded him: Key.

Right. He squared his shoulders, took a deep breath, and began making his way down the hall with purpose.
coded by natasha.
 
Evelyn Harper


Somewhere along the way, she lost sight of herself, carried away by the waves of nausea. The ceiling was subjected to her long scrutiny. Made of rock and quarry, not exactly the sight of a baroque italian architecture she’s used to but at least it held some shape. The mortals have some measure of taste to them, however boorish.

She took a breath--deep and far-reaching--a sharp knife of lucidity pierced her thoughts, a second of calm, enough to bring her bearings. Yes, trapped. Mortals are hostile. She stifled a groan as she tried moving her unresponsive limbs. Thankfully, her neck could move, but she struggled to look around. She grimaced at the sight around her, a few others were strapped down like her.

At the head of the bed a contraption lay, feeding a tube that ran through the floor, it buzzed with energy. They were being farmed for something. The burning pyre rekindled in her gut. Teeth gritted. A voice resounded, she recognized it--it was the ‘Fairy’ that came to her before. Her head swiveled where a gold light emanated and from it an orb floated. A true fairy then.

Evelyn breathed, lifting herself from the bed, she took no time to examine herself. Grateful enough she could rise without falling back like a stricken mortal. She rolled off, landing on her feet ungraciously, almost toppling over. But she managed, with a seeth. She made her way over to the fairy orb trying to maintain a modicum of composure despite the situation she found herself in.

--If Edwin follows--

Another set of steps approached them, she turned awkwardly--the motion still unfamiliar. It was the bear of a mortal, Edwin Blut. Truly a sight for sore eyes. She could not remember anyone from… When? The barbecue. It felt so long ago. “Edwin.” She greeted in a low tone. Her voice was unfamiliar to her, and it hurt to even speak, but let it not be known that Aelves lacked the courtesy even in peril.

-- --

She then nodded to the orb, ready to follow this thing, in hopes at the end she could let loose the burning fires in her heart.


location: ??? • tags • mood • Outfit • interactions
 

A NIGHT BLEEDS
A story by Out Of Words​




Out Of Words

Unexpected Event | Current Timeline: May 16th​

Tags: Vinegar Bees Vinegar Bees Britt-21 Britt-21
Location: HQ

There was a lot to process, Key tended to remain silent when there was a lot going on. It let him maintain some semblance of control. He had been about to answer Winifred, when Banks attacked the collection stick. He had really wanted to see what was in the dust left behind after Banks did whatever he did to the coven member.

He heard Wendy talking Indigo away, which left Banks, Winnie and Roje, aside from himself and the members who remained to assist. Key sank into a crouch, studying Banks as he stood there between Winnie and them. It was all so very interested.

Key was already forming theories, but he didn't want to settle on any of them without more evidence, more data. He spoke slowly, and calmly to Winnie. "Morgan was relocated, he is fine. Much too valuable to hurt. No, he will be taken very good care of."

Key actually lowered his sunglasses just enough to peer over the top. His eyes were pure white, no iris, no pupil, just white. He stared at Banks like this for a good minute before sliding them back up, and moving to stand. "You two will stay here for now. Coda should be coming to collect Roje before much longer. I hope."

"And I guess we play a bit of a waiting game to see what your little guard dog wants to do next. Hm?"

coded by natasha.
 

A NIGHT BLEEDS
A story by Out Of Words​




Razial Hale

Tags: Maylee Vinegar Bees Vinegar Bees | Location: Coven HQ​


Razial grinned, clapping slowly. Not a golf clap, but an actual Shia Labeouf clap. "Good. If I had just wanted someone I could use as I wanted, I'd have left you asleep and had you relocated to my bed." He stood up. "But I didn't, did I? I unlocked your magic. I helped you get past your... past.. self." There wasn't an eloquent way to put that, so he soldiered forward.

"Now, you're not Bambi, you're Maylee mother fucking Song. And you're going to show everyone, including yourself, that little fact. So, bravo. Bravo." Again with the genuine clapping. He smoothed out his vest then, and checked that his hair was in place before clapping his hands twice, like a clap on, clap off commercial.

The training grounds disappeared, and they were back in her assigned room. "Now, I don't want you to bow to me, but you do have to listen to me. If you want to harness all that tasty magic, you do have to listen to me. And right now.. I say that was a very good first session. You deserve to rest."

He started to move toward the door, but didn't open it yet. "Since you did extraordinarily well, I'll indulge one request from you. I'm not saying I'll grant you anything you ask for, but.. try me." Hands held out to either side, about waist level, palms toward her. A classic try me pose.

coded by natasha.
 

Hayley.png

1598763570730.png
Tags: Out Of Words Out Of Words | Location: Hayley's Room (Via Discord)

Hayley soon made it over to her room and she moved inside, still holding her small companion close to her. There was going to be a few things she was going to do with it. See what it could do, like swim, and see the issue with walking. Heading to her bathroom, she went on and began to fill her tub with warmish water, Just enough so that she can see if it could float. Once done, she moved out of the bathroom and placed it on her bed, unwrapping it and exposing it once again "Hey little one... There are a few things I'd like to learn about you." she let out a light laugh and gently petted him with the side of her finger

The little creature wobbled around a bit on the bed, stretching out its front fins and tail. Then it made a little bit of a clicking bark sound, kind of sounded like an old man who couldn't quite get a cough out.

It scratched at the collar with its tail before making a few more sounds. Some of them resembling a goat's bleat.

Of course, Hayley couldn't help but laugh at the sounds. She wasn't used to hearing such noises coming out of a cute creature. "You're going to be the light of my days, Rune." a pure and innocent...and oddly sounding creature but, innocent nonetheless. "Go ahead, move around a little bit. Roll or scream, or whatever it is you do." she tilted her head slightly as she laid on her side, head propped up on her arm while her hand held her head up "I have to figure out if you're a boy or a girl..."

The thing snorted and snorted, turning to face her head on, letting out another loud bleat, then waiting. Its eyes were watching her.

There was a wide smile upon her face, unable to contain it while looking at it "What? Am I offending you?" she asked it, lifting her finger and gently booping it on the nose "I don't know much about animals in terms on what are wild and what are not... But I'll just ask questions and see if you understand. Test you so to speak. If not...well I'm just talking to myself." she pursed her lips in thought and then spoke "One noise for female, two for male. Easy enough, right?"

The little thing bayed twice, one front fin thwapping the bed for extra measure. Bleat bleat.

Hayley raised her eyebrows in surprise at the sass coming from the creature "A male...The fact that you can also understand me tells me either you're enchanted, a shifter, or I'm just a Sea Lion whisperer." the last one was a joke. Once again, she reached her hand out and gently scratched his chin "Hmm... Do you want to swim in the water? One noise yes, Two no." might as well see if he wanted to swim a little

That one earned a very enthusiastic, and hence, loud, bleat. Just the one, but it was long and sustained as if making sure she could hear him.

Another laugh escaped her lips "Alright alright, come on, we'll be going to the water." she sat up and picked him up, holding him carefully in her arms and going to the bathroom where she got down on her knees and gently placed him in it "She said I'd have fun with you as a Pyromancer... But you're all about the element of water. You Thrive in it." she said, resting her head on the side of the tub and watching him "I think we could be really good partners, Rune. Also, yeses will always be one noises. Nos will always be two, okay? Oh and if theres something bothering you, just.. make a lot of noise. As long as I'm here, I'll protect you."

Rune immediately tried to dive under the surface and swim around, but the tub was cramped even for his size. Each time it surfaced, there was either a bleat, a baying noise, or clicking with accompanying snorts.

Oh, and it splashed the water with its fins. Once purposefully trying to get her wet just because.

Hayley watched with love and affection in her eyes, that soft smile upon her lips before he tried to splash her, making her giggle and shield her eyes from the water "Oh I see how it is. Listen bucko," she teased "I'd splash you back but you'd love that. So I'm at your mercy here."

Bleat. Bleat. BLEAT! It ducked its head under the water, only to move like a worm might, and have its tail go under when his head raised back up. BLEAT!

There was a sound at her door. Not quite a doorbell, but a low tone meant to avoid startling someone. However it clearly meant someone was at the door.

Hayley turned her head to look out into the bedroom where she heard something. Looking back at Rune, she put her finger to her lips "Shhh... I hear ya." she did tell him to make a lot of noise if something bothered him. Leaving him in the tub should be fine, but her gut was telling her not to leave him in there..."Let me go look." she gently patted him and reached in, gently taking him out. "I'm taking you out so in case you need to skedaddle." Hayley then placed him down on the mat and got up from the floor, opening the closet door just a little bit for him to nuzzle into before heading out of the bathroom, closing the door enough behind her to leave a small crack.

She approached her room door and opened it, her expression back to her usual look, her eyebrows furrowed slightly "Yes?"

It was one of the coven's lower ranking members, they all tended to wear the same hooded cloak. In his arms he had items for her new pet. "I was instructed to bring these to you. For Rune." It looked like a box of fish and sardines, what looked like a dog bed, and some brushes for its fur.

Geez, she was already starting to have anxiety about the fact she now had something pure within her grasp. One that she would be with for as long as she could be. "Oh, thank you." Hayley really had to get her head out of the gutter, she didn't have to worry, she was strong enough to take care of her little baby. Reaching for the items, she grabbed them and gave the coven member a nod "I appreciate it, you may go." backing up from the door, she closed it with her foot and put his bed by her own, though in her mind she was going to keep Rune in her bed. No better place than that. "Hey Rune, I hope you're hungry." she called.

After putting the bed and brushes down, she moved to the bathroom where she stepped in, in search of him "I got some fish for you. Hearing you sleep for almost two weeks, you have to be hungry right?"

He came waddling out the moment he heard her talk about being hungry. Rune bayed and sounded like that old man trying to cough, as he excitedly waddle waddled out the bathroom door and around the floor. He moved as fast as he could, baying over and over with a few barking like noises thrown in for good measure.

Rune was hungry.

Her Hazel eyes tracked Rune as he rushed out, giggling as she watched the excitement seemed to get the better of him as she got down on her knees and went into the box, pulling out a piece of fish and putting it down in front of him. "Raw or cooked? One raw, two cooked"

Rune gobbled it up the moment it touched the ground. Front left fin slapped the floor, before he bayed once. Then bleated twice. Wouldn't mind a bit of both, apparently.

She blinked a few times, staring at him. "Holy shit..." shaking her head, she laughed and pulled out another one, holding it with both hands as they began to glow, heating up the fish and practically cooking it within her hands. Once done, she placed it down and got up from the floor "Let me put the rest away and wash my hands while you eat." Hayley then picked up the box and moved to her fridge where she put the fish inside, leaving them in the bags they were in to prevent spills. "I'm gonna have to play charades with you arent I?"

The cooked one, Rune nosed at it until it felt cool enough to eat. Then it was gobbled down like the first fish. Eating gave it a surge of energy apparently, as suddenly Rune was waddling around the bedroom, around the bathroom, around every single room Hayley had.

Bleating loudly all the way. Occasionally, he'd stop to itch at the collar, pull the old man trying to cough noise at Hayley as soon as he stopped itching, then it was back to the zoomies.

Waddle waddle waddle waddle.

While he was on his hype train, she went and washed her hands, filled the tub some more for playtime later and returned back out of the bathroom where she sat at the foot of her bed on the floor and watched him waddle everywhere. "She said you couldn't walk...but you're walking just fine for a Sea Lion..." she murmured to herself, cupping her chin in thought. "Hey, Rune," she said, biting her lip softly before releasing it "Are you a shifter by any chance?" her tone was softer to prevent any ears. "Or an actual magical creature that can just understand me?"

Rune had stopped his zoomies when she called his name. But she asked two questions, he couldn't just answer yes or no, because there were two back to back questions.

He slapped his left fin on the floor, doing his best to let out a growl of frustration.

"Ahhh..." she sucked her teeth "Right right... Okay, first question. Shifter?" it was just like the times when she was with Sage. Specific wording. But instead of wording it was just yes or no questions.

BLEEEAAAATTTT!

And then Rune looked like he was smiling, chest puffed out and everything.

Hayley wasn't sure if she was ever going to get sick of his noises, his attitude all the more brilliant. But the fact he was a shift- Her eyes widen as she got off her butt and shifted to lay on the floor, her voice low "Does that mean... That cat in her room..." oh man things were starting to really make her mind spin "Wait... Also you cant shift back to your human form?" it was clear she was trying to keep a low profile by being as quiet as possible, though being loud enough for him to hear.

Rune scratched at the collar with his tail as an answer. Then let out a little baying noise. Only he forgot if one was yes, or two were yes. So he did three.

Furrowing her eyebrows, she reached over and grabbed the collar with her finger, trying to slide her finger underneath and tug it softly "This?" was the collar enchanted? More than likely. After all, they were in the Coven "Come a little closer."

Waddle waddle waddle. It let out a rather forlorn sounding bleat. The collar was solid, tight enough it couldn't be slipped over the head, loose enough it wasn't strangling him. There didn't appear to be any apparent way of opening it, there wasn't a locking or unlocking mechanism visible.

Upon inspecting the collar, running her fingers along it in every angle she could, she found nothing. "Spell Bound." she stated as her heart broke a little with his saddened noise "The Coven is known to do shady things... This being one of them." leaning forward, she kissed the top of his head "I don't think someone as powerful as myself could break this off of you... Probably the one who casted the spell would have to break it." Shifters were being held captive as pets. Why? "You were sleeping for a week, almost two, do you know why? One bleep Yes, two no."

Bleat bleat. Then it did a little head butt against her hand, left front fin thwapping the floor.

Softly she began to pet him, "I wish there was a way we could talk easier... I know it must be frustrating talking to me without using your own words." she was going to have a long few days. Hell, she might pull all nighters just to help him out "Do you want me to keep asking you questions? If not, we can go swim."

Rune started nudging more with his head, and wriggling his body, trying to find a lap to crawl into. He wanted to burrow his head under a hand or arm and just be petted to sleep.

It took her a few moments to process what he wanted before a soft smile tugged her lips. She picked him up and moved onto the bed, placing him down for a moment as she collected her laptop and then moved to the bed, laying down on her side with the laptop in front of her on the bed, allowing Rune to have plenty of space to nuzzle into while she was able to do some searching and browsing. But she didnt plan on doing that till he fell asleep. Once he got comfortable, she began to pet him, her fingers gently brushing his fur "Sleep well, Rune." she then pressed her lips upon his head once more.​
 

A NIGHT BLEEDS
A story by Out Of Words​




Chase Moon

Tags Leif KodakWolf KodakWolf | Location: WTFville ​


Chase wuffled when Leif moved back against the wall and started to talk. He reached down and a moment later, handed Leif the water bottle he picked up out of a crate nearby. "Here, it's hard to talk for a bit at first." He made sure Leif could twist the cap open, or he'd help. "It's twenty twenty. I.. think."

Wuffle wuffle. One hand ran back and forth along the top of his head, then rubbed at the back of his neck. "And uh.. wasn't sure if you would remember the same things. Apparently.. uh.." He gave a soft laugh, but it wasn't out of mirth. More out of disbelief. "We've all been sharing the last dream."

Chase gestured to where he saw the door before the minotaur had left them. "The minotaur, he tried to explain a bit, but he is a bit.. uh. Feebleminded? Maybe not to that extent, he's like a child. In a really, really big and strong minotaur body." Wuffle wuffle.

"But from what I gather.. there's a bunch of us, like.. well more than us. There's a lot here. Supernatural types. All just... sleeping while the Coven is benefiting. Not sure how.. that part we didn't get to, he's a busy boy. But.. all that stuff at Devlin's? A dream, something shared by everyone who was there" Chase wuffled more and looked a bit sad at it. "Though.. it felt real. I'm still processing it all. Said I've been asleep for six months."

Chase gave another short bark of a laugh. "Said he liked the white doggy and took it, only well turned out to be me. When I woke and could talk, I asked about the others. He was able to sneak you away, and I think he's been sneaking others or some of us. I don't know. We just have to figure out how to find everyone else, and get out of here, but he's gonna help as much as he can."

Wuffle wuffle. "How are you? Do you uh.. need.. anything right now?"
coded by natasha.
 
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