Fantasy The Owl House - Statice and Oak

[Skyrte]

Laris Heliot & Altair Wraith
​

Now that it was lunch break, Laris could finally talk to Altair, he looked around the cafeteria for his blue skinned friend. He couldn't believe that the talk of the school was about Audrea and Thomas, two of the witches who sat with his group of Abomination Coven students at lunch. He even heard someone say that Thomas was being trained to be in the Emperor's Coven, and the reason why he stayed so quiet and unsocial was because he never connected with everyone else because he was so mature. But Lairs had a different idea stewing in his head... he noticed something odd about Audrea, one time during class. After a few minutes of searching, he found Altair walking towards the tables with a tray of food and drink, and Laris happily jogged over to Altair and grabbed his tray, leading him back to the Abomination students table.
"H-Hey! Laris!" Altair protested, doing his best to keep the food on his tray, which was being pulled by a backpedaling Laris.
"Come on Tai! Did you hear what happened yesterday?"
"No but why is that my business?"
"Because we need your help! You can see into town with your crystal ball right?"
"Yeah but-" Altair sighed when he saw Laris giving him puppy dog eyes, "Fine! What happened yesterday?"
"Well! Those two new kids Audrea and Thomas who sit at our table during lunch were witchnapped by a monster plant that burst out of the ground and they were both grabbed and taken underground for hours and Mr. Varan grabbed the Construction teacher and a bunch of Construction students and they started digging-"

Altair stopped listening and just let his friend ramble on, he honestly didn't really care for the latest drama around the schoolyard, but it would just be easier to let him talk than to try and stop him. Eventually they were at the Abominations students table and he sat down, Laris still talking. The other students sitting there said short greetings, and most of them had their scrolls out. Was what happened really that interesting?
"So! A bunch of us sent messages to Audrea but she hasn't replied yet, rumor has it she was slashed across the back with a sword-wielding demon twelve feet tall." Laris explained. Altair stared at Laris dumbstruck, how could there be a 12 foot tall angry demon living under Hexside without the faculty knowing about it? That was clearly a load of nonsense. "Could you use your crystal ball to look into the hospitals around Bonesborough to try and find her?" Laris asked.
Altair stared at Laris even more stunned, "What? Do you know how long that would take? I'd have to spend actual days! I'll see really gross things like people with really bad cases of Common Mold!"
"Wait!" Laris shouted, and Altair stopped, following his gaze, the both of them found Thomas just entering the cafeteria. And when Altair looked back at his friend, said friend was already gone, and running towards Thomas.

"Hey Thomas! Come sit with us, we're trying to figure out where Audrea is!" The cheerful boy said, putting an arm over Thomas and leading him towards the Abominations students table. Once there, the group waved and said their greetings to the quiet Thomas. "So! You don't happen to be a secret master of dueling who's being trained to be an elite Scout in the Emperor's Coven while also being a battle-hardened demon hunter right? ...Probably not. But! I think Audrea MIGHT be!" Altair blinked hard and sighed heavily, he couldn't believe what he was hearing. Laris turned to Altair, "No listen! I saw something really weird during class once! When I was grouped up with Audrea and we finished our project early, the four of us were watching the Seniors practice dueling during Spelling, and it was amazing! They were pulling of spells I'd never seen before! But when I turned to look at everyone else, Aileen was just as excited, Cade, just as excited, but Audrea? She. Was. Deadpan. All she did for this one move was, raise. An. Eyebrow. Like it was a novelty!" Laris explained.
And as if one cue, one student further down the table held up her Scroll, declaring, "I got a message! Audrea says she's at home!"
"Me too! Said she's recovering!"
"That's all she said?! But what about the 12 foot tall demon sword that hit her? Is she cut in half and the only thing that was holding her together was her clothes?! I need her help to pass the next exam!" Laris exclaimed, standing up and grabbing his hair with both his hands.
Altair was entirely unamused at his friend Laris's outburst, and looked at Thomas in the eyes. "I am so sorry for his behavior. Maybe you could send her a message asking how she's doing? It was the two of you down there, she might not send you those one sentence replies she seems to be sending everyone else."

---

Etheldreda Sano
​

Audrey meanwhile took another bite of her bread, putting the finishing touches on the little spider-demon drawing she drew, giving it a little angry face. She chuckled at it.

 

[Edric Blight]

Lunchtime- the day was halfway done that meant. For Thomas, it meant he was halfway through with this uncomfortable day. A day filled with whisperings and stares from his classmates. A day where his name was mentioned in rumors and buzzing conversations around the school. You’d think a kid would love to be the center of attention, and in all honesty in a pretty positive light like this. But Thomas was different, that was for sure. He hated the lime light and attention. The young illusions coven witch boy kept his head down all day and kept to himself like usual. This was nothing out of the ordinary for young Thom, but today he had to work extra hard to do so when usually it was just something that came naturally. Nobody cared about the little quiet kid- the lonely loser. But now, people seemed to care. And the fact that he was so quiet about everything only added to the air of mystery surrounding him. To some people, that made Thomas so much more interesting, a curious case. It enticed then to want to know more about the boy who supposedly may or may not have rescued a classmate or fought some monster.

Lunchtime in the cafeteria posed a new challenge though- it was going to be much harder to avoid attention when pretty much the whole school was in the cafeteria at this time. Thomas groaned, dreading having to go into such a crowded area. But his internal clock and more importantly, his stomach, didn’t care. He felt it growl as it craved for food and sustenance. Figuring he had to eat and his stomach wouldn’t be denied, he made the trek down to the lunch room. As he entered the cafeteria, he looked around cautiously and gulped nervously. After waiting in line, keeping his head down, and getting his food, he emerged and looked around for a place to sit. But suddenly, a cheery looking boy wearing a purple Hexside abominations coven student uniform came up to him, wrapping an arm around him like they were old buddies and lead him to their table, asking him to sit with them.

Thomas’ eyes widened with surprise. Upon further examination, he noticed the boy and his subsequent friends at the lunch table he was led to, seemed to be a group of Audrea’s friends in the abomination coven. He remembered seeing them before as often Audrea would sit with them at lunch and hang out with them. Thomas often sat with them too as Audrey would always invite him over and drag him along, but he sat and remained mostly silent. They barley knew who he was, and in turn, he barely knew who they were. Thomas was always shy so it wasn’t like he ever made conversation when he’d sit off to the side with them all at lunch sometimes.

Thomas felt his senses being overloaded as he was quickly taken and guided along by the abomination coven boy to a table and was so suddenly bombarded by questions, information, and speculation. Thomas just let himself be dragged along, eventually sitting and looking wide eyed and dazed. He was quite stunned and caught off guard by the whole commotion. It seemed that they didn’t know where Audrea was either. He thought it queer that the girl was missing all day. He hadn’t seen her around at all or seen her in any of their classes. Without Audrea here, Thomas felt like even more of an awkward stranger sitting down at the table with all of the abomination coven students. But they all seemed to want him there and wanted his help in getting some information about a mostly unresponsive friend who hadn’t shown up today after being involved with some drama yesterday.

Thomas initially didn’t speak, just fits four of shock, too stunned and busy processing all of the words being spewed out by the different abomination coven students. He knew about as much as they did on the whereabouts of Audrea. He hadn’t been in contact with her for a while and hadn’t sent her a text since they last saw each other before parting ways to go home after their adventure. Thomas just widened his eyes and blinked, staring back at the boy as he spoke. He opened his mouth the answer but nothing came out, and the boy went on spewing a word sandwich. Thomas was certainly caught off guard of any sort of speculation that he was somehow some sort of elite Emperor’s Coven scout trainee. Sure he’d love to be in the Emperor’s Coven one day as did his parents wish this for him, but he was by no means being “trained” by the Coven itself to one day be a dueling specialist. And Thomas was ANYTHING but “battle hardened.” If being sheltered and raised in a pleasant and Quiana upper middle class suburb on the outskirts of Bonesbourough was “battle hardened,” then he’d fit the bill.

As for Audrea, Thomas didn’t know WHAT she was. Maybe she was trained by some sort of dueling specialist- it seemed as if she were, especially with that mentor she mentioned occasionally. But as for a connection with the Emperor’s Coven, he highly doubted it. “Erm-“ was all Thomas was able to muster out before he realized he didn’t quite process yet what he was going to say in response. Then the talkative abomination coven boy went on. Thomas still sat there a bit dazed and stunned, but then his attention was directed to one end of the table where a student further down had claimed that they had received a text from Audrey. That was a relief, thought Thomas, at least she was ok enough to be alive and well, texting. She was recovering? Thomas wasn’t too surprised- she’d done most of the work and took most of the damage. It definitely took a lot out of the girl. It made sense that she was probably recovering from the long day yesterday. Too bad he knew his parents would never let him miss out on a day of school in his life, otherwise maybe he could be home resting too. Not having to face all this attention and hearing himself be the subject of so many rumors….

Thomas then looked back at the abomination coven boy who was quite the talkative and expressive character. Thom just looked worried and nervous, clearly feeling awkward and uncomfortable being there at the table. Another abominations student must have caught that vibe understandably from Thomas’ demeanor as she spoke to him calmly, looking him directly in the eyes. He turned his attention to her and stared back with his brown eyes. He raised an eyebrow. They wanted HIM to send her a text? Well, he supposed their reasoning was pretty logical. He wondered if maybe he’d be over stepping by nosing around and asking her, and more so, telling all of her friends something that she might potentially text Thomas knowing that only Thomas can see it. Was he going to deny her curious friends a little possible insight as to what was going on?

Thomas cleared his throat and shrugged, an anxious look on his face. “Erm, I suppose I can I guess…. But I know about as much as you guys,” he told them with a shrug. “S- sure, I’ll send her a text…” he said softly, taking out his scroll and bringing up her contact, going to their messages- a very short message history between the two as Thomas wasn’t much of a talker nor texter. He looked at the screen of his scroll and began texting Audrea: “Hi Audrea, it’s Thomas,” he wrote, although this wasn’t really necessary since when the text would be sent, she could clearly see it was from him- Thomas Vlasic. “I didn’t see you in school today- I was wondering if you were ok. Your friends and I are worrying a bit about me. Hope you are doing ok after yesterday…” he wrote. He then hit “send” and looked up from his scroll and faced the people at the table, his eyes looking around at all of Audrea’s friends. “Done. I sent her a text,” he told them all with a shrug.

 

[Skyrte]

Laris, Altair & Audrey
​

The reply to Thomas's message came quickly.
>I'm doing fine! Just Healing Coven precautions, have to stay home for a week to make sure there weren't any nasty germs on that Spider-Demon. In the meantime I've just been jotting down a record of our battle with the Spider-Demon.
Audrey sent the message, then moved her Scroll to take a picture of her notebook, and she sent an image of her simply drawn diagram of the fight. The part centered was when the demon had leapt through the door and pinned Audrey down, with a simple angry face drawn onto the Spider-Demon's head. Next to the sketch was a much more detailed drawing of her shield, giving exact curve, thickness, and composition of the Abomination construct. As well as a Spider-Demon leg going through it, also more detailed, at least, more detailed than a stick figure leg. In handwriting there were notes depicting possible counters to the situation, rather than what she did in the moment of helplessly kicking and punching at the body of the massive demon, as well as possible ways to have strengthened the shield against that attack. Increasing shield thickness, holding it at a more extreme angle, foregoing the idea of an arm-mounted shield at all and raising a pillar of clay, or even using a golem arm.
>Not the most exciting thing on the Isles, I bet the school is being pretty crazy though.
Audrey added, it would be a surprise to her if Hexside was calm. She was sure there were students who saw them go in, there were dozens at the fair. And she was sure there were students that saw them get out, at the very least the Construction Coven students that volunteered or were told to help the teachers dig that hole.

When Thomas's Scroll buzzed with a reply, Laris immediately looked excited and interested. The overactive boy was just about to lean over to see what Audrey had said before a ghostly purple hand appeared and wrapped itself around Laris's head, keeping him in place. Laris voiced his protests, but the only thing everyone else heard were muffled exclamations. Altair had his crystal ball on the table now, and a hand was resting on it. From behind the blue skinned witch, a large ghost wrapped in white bandages floated, looking amused, just as Altair under it looked decidedly unamused. Altair looked to Thomas, letting him speak up on his own, without the interference of Laris.

 

[Edric Blight]

Thomas soon felt his scroll vibrate. He had received a text back. He quickly pulled back out his scroll and raised his eyebrows, raising the message from Audrea. He didn’t say anything as he read the message silently, almost forgetting he was sitting at a table with a bunch of eager abomination coven students who all wanted to know the whereabouts of their friend Audrey. He then looked at the picture attached with the text message. He wondered if maybe he should get checked for anything nasty that Spider Demon might have been carrying. But he felt fine so he figured he was ok, especially considering how he couldn’t really remember really coming into contact with the beast too much.

Interesting. She was going to be staying home for a whole week- something Thomas could never dream of thanks to his parents. He’d be going through school a whole week without his only friend here? How was he going to survive? That also meant he would (or would not, depending on if he chickened out) be doing grudgby try outs alone. That was if he even decided to defy his parents wishes, but that was something to think about for another day. Thomas remained silent, analyzing the text message and more specifically, the image that came with it, forgetting he was at a table and the center of attention with a few pairs of curious eyes on him eagerly awaiting an answer. Then he got another text.

She was right- school WAS crazy. If only she was here to troop through it with him, to guide him through it like she had essentially done in the ruins of Glandus. Surely she’d know what to do and how to handle being the center of attention, the subject of rumors and whisperings…. He didn’t know if he could handle this for much longer alone. He sent her a text back as the abomination coven students watched on eagerly. Before he did so, he suddenly seemed to become aware of the staring eyes of the students at the lunch table. He looked up and raised his eyebrows. “Err- hold on, just getting some more info,” he told them, hopefully buying himself a little bit more time before they started verbally questioning him. Their eyes already questioned him enough.

“Glad to hear you’re ok…. Yea, school has been VERY crazy…. Everyone’s talking about us…. I don’t know how much longer I can handle being the center of attention like this…” he wrote her back, sending a shrugging emoji at the end of that message. “Your abomination coven friends at the lunch table are wondering where you are and want some more answers- what should I tell them?” he sent her in another following text message. He then set his scroll off to the side and sighed before he addressed the members sitting at the table awaiting to hear of the status of their friend. “She’s fine, just resting and recovering at home. I’ll let you know what else she says,” was all he gave them for now. He hoped that answer would satisfy them or at least hold them over until Thomas got another text back and figured out what information she would feel comfortable with him revealing and what he should hide and omit.

 

[Skyrte]

Laris, Altair & Audrey
​

Audrey put down her pen and read the message with a slight frown. Even if she was there not much would have changed, except the group with Thomas would be talking to her rather than him. Rumors always got out of hand, and she knew from first hand experience back in Glandus. As soon as one detail got changed, more details got changed, and more, eventually becoming blown way out of proportion. She had a few titles back in her old school once she started learning from Master Liberi, and they were always way more dramatic than needed. There, she used the rumors to her advantage, even leaning into them, to make them more believable, but here she didn't want those rumors. This is what normal people must feel about rumors, she thought to herself, normal people like Thomas.
>Rumors always get out of hand, even if everyone knew the full truth, somewhere someone would have fudged a detail or exaggerated something. You'll just have to tough it out. It'll get better later.
>And tell them the truth I guess. At least then some of them will have the story straight.
She set her scroll loose back into the air where it floated, and she idly drew in some details to her sketches, internally debating if she wanted to reveal more about her past in Glandus to Thomas. A few stories, and she had more than a few, would keep him on his scroll. Distracted, and looking busy. The other witches probably would keep their distance if he looked busy. After a moment, she grabbed her scroll.

Altair kept watching Thomas, occasionally glancing at Laris who was finally sitting still and quiet, thanks to his Oracle Ghost keeping it's large hand on his face. He was patient, and quietly watching, but the rest of the table seemed to be much more eager for news, especially once they knew Audrea was responding to Thomas, and not any of their own follow up questions. Once Thomas explained that she was resting at home and fine, they seemed to be more content with the situation. Altair upon hearing the news had his ghost take it's hand off of Laris's face, and he immediately sprung back into activity with a loud, "Whew! So that doesn't mean she's confined in a wheelchair, sliced in half, or turned into bones? I can count on her help for the next exam?"
"Yes." Altair answered for Thomas, finally getting to his lunch.
Laris however was more keen on socializing, he leaned closer to Thomas, "So I think I speak for everyone here-"
"Not for me." Altair said mid chew.
"Everyone except for Tai here, what actually happened down there? Was it 15 foot tall angry demons with swords plotting to destroy the school?" Laris asked Thomas curiously.
Thomas's scroll buzzed again, another message from Audrey.
>Have you ever dealt with rumors before? I could tell you some stories from my old Glandus days, they used to call me The Salamander, and Scorpion Tailed, thanks to some overblown ones. To take your mind off what's going on at school.

 

[Edric Blight]

Thomas looked down at his scroll for the reply from Audrey. He nodded absentmindedly as he read what she had wrote back to him. “Alright, I suppose I’ll tell them the truth,” he texted her back. He sent the message to Audrey and took a bite of his lunch for the first time in a little while.

He shook his head in response to Laris. “No. No wheelchair,” he told him. He sighed and gulped nervously as they asked him questions again. But, Audrey did say it was ok if they knew the truth now. But before he did so, he heard another text from Audrey.

The boy looked down at his scroll screen and read the message. “No, never.” he replied. “I always keep to myself. Never the the subject of rumors,” he sent back. He then looked up back at the group at the table and spoke. “So uhh, th- there was a big Spider Demon. She and I kinda got scratched up,” was all he said, shrugging as he did so.

 

[Skyrte]

Laris, Altair & Audrey
​

"A Spider-Demon? How big was it? Was it fast? I hear-" Laris started up again, the boy was clearly excited to hear more about the adventure. But he was stopped once more by a large ghostly hand.
Altair interrupted Laris, "You know, I heard Vanna saw them come out from underground, she hangs around the grounds so much I'd bet she knows something about where they ended up. It would probably help Thomas and Audrea a lot if you found out more about that place." Altair said. Laris put his hands on the ghost hand covering his face and tossed it off, though more like the ghost let his hand be pushed off. Laris inhaled, and was thankfully silent for a moment.
"... You're right!" Laris exclaimed, "I'll see her right now!" The excitable Abominations student grabbed his sandwich and practically ran out of the cafeteria towards the forests behind Hexside, and immediately after, was sweet silence. Altair let the silence linger before speaking up, casually eating his food with his fork, then taking a long sip from his cup of water.
"Titan bless, it's finally quiet." He commented, he shot a look to the other students sitting at the table, simultaneously, his Oracle ghost looked with him, "It will be quiet, right?" And a series of affirmations were said and displayed. "Good." Altair replied, and his summoned ghost disappeared, fading into nothing. "Don't worry about Vanna she has infinitely more patience than I do. And the run to find her will tire Laris out." The blue skinned Oracle witch explained, he began to eat his lunch again before stopping, realizing something after a few bites, then swallowing and speaking up again. "It's incredible that you two were able to beat a demon like that." Then he got back to his food, signifying that he was done talking, and was ready to enjoy the relative quiet of the cafeteria once again. At least, a cafeteria without Laris.

Audrey picked up piece of her toast, now no longer hot, and munched on it while holding her scroll with her other hand. She typed with a single thumb,
>Rumors have a way of being uncontrolable, but they also go away on their own
>You're halfway through the day, almost outta there
That wasn't entirely true, a witch could control rumors, but that took way more social acumen and effort than she guessed most witches were willing to put forward. Even then it was possible that those efforts could backfire and cause things to spin even more wildly out of control. She wondered who would be pestering Thomas the most at the lunch table, and her mind almost immediately went to Laris. She closed her eyes slowly and sighed, mentally reprimanding herself that she didn't think of that before.
>If anyone is too much, you can tell them that I'll answer their questions when I get back to Hexside
>And if they're really really too much even after that, threaten them that I won't tell them if they keep bothering you
>Maybe that'll do it

 

[Edric Blight]

Thomas had a hesitant and uncomfortable look on his face as Laris began asking him questions about the Spider Demon. Thomas didn’t necessarily want to answer any of them, again wishing he had Audrea here to do the talking. It was why Thomas was secretly glad once again as Altair put a large ghostly hand over the boy’s mouth again to keep him from talking. Furthermore, Altair did him one better and found a way to get Laris out of there.

Once he was gone, the table felt like it breathed a collective sigh of relief as Laris was gone and it was finally quiet. Thomas looked visibly improved, but not by much. Laris’ questions had rattled him in all honesty. “Thanks…” Thomas muttered, shyly looking at Altair and giving him a slight nod. He was glad as she made sure the rest of the table would stay quiet and not pipe up, bombarding the poor illusions coven boy with question after question.

Thomas gulped a little and nodded in appreciation slightly as Altair admired the fact that he and Audrea had managed to fight such a beast. “Th- thank you, it was certainly something,” he replied rather awkwardly. But soon he got a text back from Audrea and quickly looked back down at his scroll. Her next text was a relief and hopefully a quick escape. “Oh thank Titan! These questions from your friends are relentless…” he quickly texted back.

He relaxed a bit. It seemed like that was a valid solution to get the abomination coven students and friends of Audrey off of his back. Thomas then put his scroll away and sighed. “Oh uhh guys, i- if you have any more questions, I- I’d recommend you ask Audrea herself once she gets back to Hexside,” he told them. “I’m uhh, n- not the best at answering all these questions…” he admitted. He hoped that at least would hold them over for now. Couldn’t they tell he was uncomfortable?

 

[Skyrte]

Altair & Audrey
​

The rest of the table voiced their acknowledgements at Thomas's request, having the grace not to push a matter that seemed to cause discomfort in Thomas. Though, some of them might not admit that Altair's glare gave them equal amounts of reason to not continue their bombardment of questions on the matter. Instead, they chatted amongst themselves, occasionally touching on the topic of the most recent incident, but not going to deep into that topic.
Altair was quiet, his mind thinking back to Laris's voiced thoughts. Apparently the rumor was that Thomas was the one who saved the both of them from this Spider-Demon that Thomas revealed, but all Altair could see in front of him was a shy boy. If Laris was speaking the truth about Audrea, then it would be much more likely that she was the 'secret battle witch' of the two. His eyes narrowed slightly. But why was that important? Altair just got back to his food, not particularly interested in the truth of the incident after that, he was sure that Laris would sit him down one lunch and spend the entire period retelling the story anyways.

Audrey sighed with a bit of a smile, her friends were more used to her more social behavior, they were probably giving Thomas a bunch of trouble before now. Hopefully they would hold back now, and if not, she would probably have a stern word with them once she got back.
>Yeah, some of them are too much even for me
>That aside are you going to be doing any training for Grudgby tryouts?
>Probably should, I would at least
She was still a bit on the fence about joining the Grudgby team, it was Thomas's dream, but... she kind of didn't know what she wanted to do. If she was going to try out though, it probably would have to be at the second week, rather than the first week. This staying at home thing for medical reasons would make it hard for her to make it to the first week of tryouts. She wanted to up her training anyways, having Grudgby tryouts to do would be another goal for it. And she wondered if she could sort of half join, be there for practices when she wanted to, not having the responsibility of needing to be present for any tournaments or school vs. school games. Seeing anyone from Glandus wouldn't be great, even though she was sure any Grudgby player from Glandus would go pale at the sight of her.

 

[Edric Blight]

Thom felt his shoulders relax a little bit as he even let out an audible but quiet sigh. He nodded and returned to eating the rest of his lunch. He then checked his scroll for another text from Audrea. He swallowed what was in his mouth and texted back. “They are a bit much…” he sent her. But his mind soon turned to grudgby try outs. Despite his parents’ wishes, it’d been the shy and timid boy’s dreams to play grudgby ever since his eyes first set upon the sport being played, watched on the crystal ball by his father when Thomas was but only a little witchlet boy.

He wondered if he even had a chance of making the team, but surviving the fight with the Spider Demon gave him new hope, a sense of confidence that if he could tackle that, he surely could handle trying out for the sport of grudgby. “I’d like to, but I haven’t gotten around to it considering yesterday’s events,” he texted. “Plus, my parents won’t let me train. I’d have to do it somewhere private,” he sent. He didn’t know how or if he was going to be able to train for grudgby. He hasn’t truly thought his plans out to try out for and hopefully make the team. It was nothing but a dream, a silly boyhood dream….

 

[Skyrte]

Etheldreda Sano
​

Audrey understood Thomas's predicament about his parents not letting him train. When she was younger and first apprenticing under Liberi, she would often tell half truths in order to get to training. Walks around town were hikes into the forest, hikes were adventures into the hills and mountains of the Knee. Eventually she did start telling them the whole truth, but only after she started leaving and coming home with her large bag of training swords. There wasn't really a way to explain that one. They were initially happy that she was just going outside and enjoying the sunlight, but what they didn't know was that she was also climbing trees, leaping over logs and stumps, crawling under shrubs by boulders. Suffering tiny scrapes and cuts, though those were nothing compared to what she suffered weekly at Glandus. Her thoughts on her earlier childhood were complicated, as well as some of her thoughts on Liberi. He did indeed train her, and allowed her to save herself from her peers... but what kind of adult trains a young teenager to that degree? Or did she really have that potential in her this whole time, and the training just let it free? Glandus produced some of the best battle witches on the entire Isles, and she supposed, she was among that category, in spite of her disdain for the academy.

She wiped her fingers on a napkin and got up from her chair, taking a few steps, then leaping onto her bed. Audrey pulled her Scroll to her face and began typing away while lying on her stomach.
>When I went to train I would lie to my parents telling them I would just be walking around the town
>But actually I'd be going to the hill and forest
>Eventually I did tell them the truth though, since I started bringing my swords and I can't hide those
She paused, where would she go to train in Bonesborough, if she needed to get home quickly?
>Maybe a large park? If Bonesborough has any
>At the woods by the beach?
>We could say we're just going on a walk, we wouldn't be lying then
She wondered for a moment if she was being a bad influence, and after a moment of thoughtfulness, settled on sort of yeah. But it wasn't like she was getting him to try pipe-weed or alcohol or anything, they were going to be exercising! That's not bad influencing right? She scrunched her face in thought, she definitely knew a few girls who would approve of her mischievousness, and they didn't have great track records of being good influences.

 

[Edric Blight]

Thomas widened his eyes a bit at Audrea’s next message. Lying! To his parents?! Again, it was a scary thought, one that Thomas had never even considered in his whole life. But, maybe that was the old Thomas…. He’d somewhat lied to his parents last night, he’d shown slowly that he was willing to test the limits now when before he’d chicken out and never lie to his parents and fess up, telling them the entire truth. But lying about things, it seemed sacrilegious but that it just might work out better. That way, he could easily slip under the radar of his watchful parents and begin his training in secret.

The blonde haired witch boy slowly let Audrey’s texts sink in, reading them all and reflecting upon her suggestions to cover it up and lie to his parents about possibly grudgby training sessions. Thomas was beginning to let Audrey’s ideas corrupt his thoughts and mind with the prospect of lying to his parents. Thomas was always a good kid, somewhat of a “goodie-two-shoes” for sure. He never lied to his parents and last night was the closest he’d ever gotten to that, and even his “lie” was somewhat of a truth. The only thing he had done last night was cover up and lie about his debacle in the ruins with an abominations coven witch by using another glaring issue regarding their strict barring of him from trying out for or attempting to play grudgby.

Was this timid little obedient goodie-two-shoes “golden boy” being influenced negatively by his new friend here? Maybe…. Or maybe he was maturing, quite possibly opening up his mind and learning to think and do things for himself, to stop letting his over protective and controlling parents keep him sheltered and closed off, making every decision for him. He was turning 16 soon, he was becoming a young man. He needed to grow up, and at this rate his parents were actually handicapping him with keeping him shielded and so overly protected. Thomas gulped nervously, thinking over the possibility of lying to his parents in his head before he sent his text back.

“Well… I suppose I could… that could work…” he replied, not necessarily wanting to out right admit that he was afraid to lie to his mom and dad. It made his stomach churn just the pure fact that he was seriously considering Audrey’s ideas. It went against his gut, but he really wanted this- to pursue his little dream of making the Hexside grudgby team. It was as if Thomas could feel the sandwich he had just eaten for lunch bouncing around nervously in his stomach as he sent his next text back. “I think we could do that, as long as we successfully hide it and my parents don’t find out…” he added.

 

[Skyrte]

Etheldreda Sano
​

Audrey rolled onto her back, resting her scroll and her hands on her chest, and thought about where she could improve in terms of her physicality. Thinking back to the battle against the demon creature, her strength and reflexes seemed fine, endurance on the other hand... her thoughts wandered to the end of their adventure where she collapsed at the tunnel leading them out. She made a displeased face, she needed to build her stamina back up, these past few weeks being at Hexside, moving to Bonesborough, have made her slack, she thought to herself. Even though she wouldn't complain about the outcome of that weakness, it was the that she was weak in the first place that troubled her. What if she found her strength gone during the fight? No amount of optimism or witty replies would change the fact that things wouldn't have ended well.

Her scroll buzzed and she looked down at it, bringing it back up to her face and reading the messages.
>Well, I need to do some training too and I don't know what to do for the rest of the day
>Don't worry, we're just going to be jogging
>Rule 1 is cardio, can't do your crazy moves if you get tired
>And you probably need to be in shape enough to make it to the other end of the field too
>Pick a nice big park for us to run around, and send me the place
>Meet up an hour after school?

Audrey then put her scroll down on her bed and she scooted off, opening her closet and rummaging through it for workout clothes. She picked out some black joggers, a grey sleeveless shirt, and a large dark green cloak, tossing it all onto her bed. She went over to her sword bag and dropped it onto the bed as well, with a thud, unwrapping it to make sure her steel was still in place. And it was. She redid the straps securing them to the bag anyways, and rerolled the bag closed. Did she want to bring the swords? Maybe, maybe not. Running with the extra weight would make it harder, but the bag was unwieldy, and she probably wasn't going to use them today. She pondered the idea while changing, there was still a few hours until the afternoon, she had plenty of time to think.

 

[Edric Blight]

“Thanks for the advice,” the boy texted her back. Meeting her up after school sounded good. “Yea, an hour after school sounds good,” he replied. Maybe she would help him train. Maybe, just maybe, he’d have a shot at making this grudgby team.

Eventually, lunch time ended and Thomas have Audrey’s friends a small and quiet goodbye as he went off, glad to be away from so many people at once. It wasn’t too long until the school day finally ended.

 

[Skyrte]

Etheldreda Sano
​

Audrey very quickly fell victim to boredom, after excitedly finishing up her record of the Spider-Demon battle, changing into running clothes, and staring at her sword bag for five minutes, she found herself out of things to do. Other than sitting at her desk and staring at that weird, hypnotic mushroom, and the beautifully crafted horn that she didn't know how to properly blow. And the mushroom was weird, she didn't want to mess with it more than she needed to, at least not without Plant Coven witch supervision, and her trusted aunts were still weeks away, at the very least. Audrey decided not to stretch in her room, since going through some light pre run warmups with Thomas would be a good idea, as well as post run stretching. Her stretching also promoted her flexibility, balance and coordination, all pretty important things, especially when someone would be running through the Grudgby Field. Which had its own traps built into the field ranging from terrain deformation, like large stone spikes, or mud pits, to the outright dangerous like large swinging axes. The girl was glad that her mentor instilled in her a respect for the very basics before even letting her touch a wooden sword. She rose an arm and flexed, and felt a certain satisfaction at seeing her defined muscles, allowing herself a self satisfied smirk. Some of her spells probably would have snapped her in half if she was skinny like a twig, like some of the other girls in school. Knowing that she was still strong and sturdy was a comfort, even though she admitted her endurance could use some work, since a lot of her Abomination spells were very irregular of Abomination Coven witches. Most of them in duels preferred to duel at range, using their clay to their advantage to keep their opponent at bay, with large golems or tendrils of goo. Master Liberi was an outlier, having mastery over the longsword, and blending the nonmagical sword technique in with his own coven magic, made him a uniquely dangerous Abomination Master to fight. He could both perform the long ranged dueling style of conventional Abomination Witches, and perform aggressive close range fighting, something only the highest level of Abomination Coven witch had the confidence to do. And Audrey knew how to do that, but her normal Abomination spells were admittedly not as impressive.

Audrey glanced at the time and found that there was still hours to go and she sighed, ending up diving onto her bed again, landing alongside her black sword bag. She grabbed a pillow and laid on it, putting it between her elbows. She grabbed her Scroll out of the air and began flipping through the net, looking for Bonesboroughs parks and hiking trails. Some trails looked nice, but they were harder ones leading out of the city and into the forests of the forearm, and hills of the Titan’s torso. While she might enjoy those harder trails, Thomas probably wouldn’t. She wrote off those trails for today and instead looked for parks, immediately disregarding the small in city parks meant for children, and casual lounging. Eventually she found a nice medium sized park, mostly fields and scattered trees, on the edge of Bonesborough limits. It lead into a small part of the forest similar to Hexside, and had a looping trail through it that lead to a long stretch of beach. Comments and online buzz about the park revealed plenty of benches, at the field, by the trees in the forest, and even benches overlooking the boiling sea beach. There was a Flyer Derby field, which could double as a non-reactive Grudgby field, as well as a small market square just outside of the park. Audrey was impressed, there wouldn’t be anything like this back in Latissa. Looking at the name of the park, Tripoint Grounds, she discovered that the park was an ancient part of Bonesborough, leading back to before the period of the Emperor’s reign. Apparently a wealthy witch with three horns and eyes made it his legacy, purchasing the land, and keeping it from being industrialized or urbanized. His wealth keeps up the maintenance of the park to this day, and in that part of the forest, he was buried with a tree seed. With some confusing legal fluff, the tree that absorbed his body was apparently adopted into the Tripoint family, and his inheritance, and land, was given to the tree. Audrey rose an eyebrow at that, a tree that owns its own land. Huh. She wondered if this Lord Tripoint guy was a Plant witch of some kind.

She copied the name and address of the park and sent it over to Thomas. By now school had ended not too long ago.
>Hey I found an interesting park
>Tripoint Gardens
>Good size, mostly flat, looks nice
>Have you ever been there before?
>This size of park doesn’t even exist in Latissa, the place is more concerned with docks and pubs

 

[Edric Blight]

Soon the school day had ended. Thomas checked his scroll as he was walking out of the Hexside school building. Sure enough, he had another text from Audrey. He saw an address of a park that she had found that apparently was open enough to be a good training and practicing spot. Tripoint
Gardens… the name rang a bell for some reason. Perhaps it was a park he had gone to when his parents took him as a little boy? He certainly remembered something like that when he was a kid.

“Sure, sounds good. And yea, Tripoint Gardens ring a bell. Think my mom and dad took me there as a boy,” he texted back. He took out a map on his scroll and went back to messages, sending Audrey as quick text before he went to make his way to the park. “Omw now,” he replied.

 

[Skyrte]

Etheldreda Sano
​

Her scroll buzzed and she read the messages. She wasn't surprised that Thomas had been to Tripoint Gardens, but she was surprised that he hadn't been there recently. Well, it was a big city, and not everyone is into parks and trails. Audrey started typing up a reply.
>See you there, be sure to change into workout clothes
Audrey then leapt out of bed, doing some light stretching and jumping in place, rolling her neck, to loosen up. She went into her closet and grabbed a single strapped bag, wrapping her cloak around it for later, an amusing thought came to mind, that her grandparents definitely wouldn't approve of her outfit right now, and they wouldn't have ever seen this kind of single strapped bag before. She easily imagined her grandmother nagging her about revealing her shoulders and that she should have long sleeves to keep warm. She scoffed at the thought and enjoyed the freedom she had away from her more conservative grandparents.

She opened her rooms door and found her parents in the kitchen and living room, the Crystal Ball was on, playing some cheesy soap opera show. Her parents looked at her, and before either of them could say anything, Audrey spoke up.
"Heading out to go running at Tripoint Gardens park." She explained, grabbing a bottle of water, and putting it in her bag.
"Okay, if you feel anything odd or any symptoms, come right back home." Her dad instructed.
"Of course Dad, I'll be back a little before or during dinner, what are we having anyways? I might grab dinner out in town." Audrey asked, peeking her head over to the stove.
"Spider-Demon Stew and we just got some fresh baguettes." Her mom said, Audrey was peeking over her shoulder and looking at the pot, currently browning the cuts of Spider-Demon cattle. Audrey felt an amused smirk grow on her face, beating a Spider-Demon in battle, taking trophies from it, and then eating Spider-Demon for dinner? That felt like a total and complete victory over the creature, like a hunter and a successful hunt.
"Maybe I won't have too much food out in the town, save me some stew." She replied before heading out and downstairs to the front door.
"She seems like she's in a good mood." Deron commented, and his wife Astra agreed.

Once outside of the clinic, Audrey summoned her scroll once again, pulling up a map and directions to Tripoint Gardens. While that was loading, she was doing some light stretching. She was going to jog there, taking the extra distance to go at her own pace, as well as going her own distance. The girl was sure that Thomas probably wouldn't be able to run as far as she could, and pushing him to the point of collapse wouldn't help anyone, since the next day he would be too sore to even more properly. There was a time crunch, he only had a few days before the first tryouts, and she began to formulate a plan for the both of them, even though she had an extra week of time.
She drew a spell circle and several bands from her, now completely visible, Abomination clay cuff brace formed. The bands floated over to her hair and she used her hands to make a pony tail, and the bands kept her hair together. As soon as that was done, she set off. Tripoint Gardens wasn't terribly far from Hexside, being in the same quarter of the city, it wouldn't take long to get there, especially at a jogging pace.

Less than an hour later, Audrey jogged into the park fields, she was conscious of her breathing and kept it at a steady pace. She looked around, the park was mostly empty, she reasoned that it was a school night and it wasn't that long since school was out. She let out an audible 'Hm', and then found a nice patch of grass on the field. The girl closed her eyes and took a deep breath, and started to stretch. First her arms and shoulders, because they were sore and it felt good, then her legs, even bending forward and touching her fingers to the tips of her shoes. Then she sat on the grass and performed several more, taking the stretching slow and deliberate.