The Light That Blinds
Jayden
Jayden absently waved a hand. "No, no, it's...it's fine."
It wasn't. But no one needed to know that.
Well. Here he was.
Home.
Jayden opened the door and stepped inside, a blank stare on his face. Amy stood in the foyer, a grin on her face. "So! How was the party?"
"Fine," Jayden said. "Just...fine."
The grin slid right off. "Jay—"
"Let's go." He walked right past her and into the dining room.
Let's get this over with.
"Kept me waiting, haven’t you? Tch. No matter. Dawdle all you’d like. In the end, your defeat remains inevitable."
Fwomph
Training Day
Heather did a little spin as the pizza order was placed and eventually spun herself to leaning against one of the rock walls.
"So pizza's sorted, Mina and Jayden are off at their respective missions... I did just ask but what's our special training gonna be?"
She shrugs her shoulders and kicks the rock wall to get back standing again.
"If you want to see me bind a new Totem, I'm going to need something worth binding. Like uh... An accessory. Yeah basically just an unusual accessory that not just anyone would wear."
It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.
James couldn't say he was comfortable with the departure of either Mina or Jayden. It really felt like he and the others had manipulated them. After all, neither of the two were known for their force of will, so there wasn't much of a line between requesting something and plain coercion. He was especially worried about Mina of course, since he'd known her through Tom for a while now. He doubted any physical harm would come to her, but the fact that Xander seemed genuine in his affection made things, if anything, even creepier. That guy was fucked up.
Bringing his thoughts to more immediate and comforting circumstances, James figured he might as well inquire some more about Heather's totems. Pragmatically speaking, they would need to know each other's abilities in order to fight effectively. More than that, he was simply curious about how she had stumbled upon this. Was she tapping in the collective unconscious? Channeling spirits? Just utilizing a combination of insanity and latent magical talent? He had no idea. "How do you find new totems? I must say I'm quite interested to hear more?"
Surrounded by weirdoes
"Well, this sucks" Pablo commented. It probably voiced the feelings of everyone in the building, but if they decided to go through with this, it'd be really hard to change their minds. "Wish they said no, or at least to have some other kind of plan"
It was in times like these where he'd want to ask for more work. Even he felt like just needed something to do.
"Mind if I do homework while we talk?" He asked. At this point, even chemistry sounds like a welcome distraction.
Wake me up at your own risk.
The Roller Skate Park
Approaching the roller skate rink, Mina would see something that had, against all odds, survived from the nineties to the modern day. A massive, thrumming building that even from a distance sounded like there was some pretty intense music coming from the inside. People were walking in from the front, all dressed in a rather 90s chic sort of look.
The walls were tall and painted blue toward the base fading to white up top, with a hole in the roof with a pair of strobe lights moving about, shining in the evening sky.
Even with the pressures and problems facing Downtown Sandfield, the fact was that this place functioned as a place to get away from it all. To go with your boyfriend or girlfriend and have some fun.
After a moment, Xander approached Mina. Dressed in a dark blue v-neck t-shirt, a sleeveless brown zip up jacket, and tight jeans, Xander might look almost normal despite everything Mina knew about him. He'd styled his hair back with a bit of gel, and made every effort to relieve any complication. No Carter, no Eli, no Alan.
Just him and the girl he liked. "Hey, Mina," Xander said with a smile as he approached, "Glad you made it."
The Stake Out and Dinner
It did not take long for Matthew's pizza to get to the local rental apartment that Matthew reserved for the Investigation Team - a sort of base for them to use while Jayden handled dinner. Matthew admitted it did feel like manipulation. Police action like this was...complicated. Well, complicated was a weasel word - it felt awful. While interrogation was the absolute worst, this was a distinct runner up.
Especially when it involved family.
Let alone giving the guy some questions to try and get answered from said family. "What's the work environment like?" "What kind of projects have you been working on?" "What's the boss like?" "What's been going on at work lately?" - of course, spaced out to make it less overt.
Before Jayden went, Matthew had equipped him with the wire - well, more like a tiny dot on the inside of his collar. It would stick on there come hell or high water, and record the goings on. He also gave Jayden a few questions to try and get info from his mother, though they weren't hard requirements and of course he shouldn't try and force the issue.
"Well," Matthew said with a shrug as he somewhat morosely took a seat on one of the couches in the room, "If any of you have any questions, feel free to ask. About history, about what's happened before, anything."
Edited by NickTheSwing on Jan 16th 2022 at 12:47:45 PM
An Ordinary Oddball
Mina Parker
Mina blushed, though it was kind of hard to tell, what with all the colored strobe lights bouncing all over the place. "Y-You too," was what she managed to get out, before being shocked at the sheer bombastic aura the place exuded. It was truly a teenage wonderland in here, and even she was being sucked into it. She pulled out a pair of tinted aviator sunglasses—the only thing she had on her that would help her blend in a little bit more, as she was still in her school uniform—and put them on. "G-Glad to see you h-here..."
Edited by JumpingFruit on Jan 17th 2022 at 3:54:33 AM
I wear the skin of the Elder Things, having come unto my own.
Mina and Xander - The Date
"Yeah, I heard this place was really great, and...to be honest," Xander said as he looked at the sky high lights pouring from the top of the rink, "I'm impressed so far. Lets head in and get our roller blades on." Xander led the way toward the front of the place, where a large number of the teens and young adults from around town were funneling in. Xander knew this meant that he wouldn't necessarily be able to know who in all was present, but he figured he could relax for a while.
As they approached the ticket booth, Xander pulled out a twenty from his pocket, and paid for a pass for him and Mina - acquiring a pair of wristbands for them to wear once they got inside. These would also get them rollerblades for use inside on the rink.
"So uh," he started, "Have you ever gone rollerblading?"
Surrounded by weirdoes
"How did you first learn about whatever psycho group we are investigating right now?" Pablo asked Matthew. He had a notebook on the side, as he just tried to get a formula right while just taking some extra food.
In times like these, just doing something kind of productive helped him cope. And when forcing a friend into a majorly distressing situation, he needed as many things as he could to not snap and just blow the whole cover.
Wake me up at your own risk.
Answers
Matthew swallowed a bite of pizza and then leaned back up against one of the walls, breathing, "It started right after the Blessed Tear Case - if you wanna know about that, I'll tell you - about two weeks after. We already knew about the Umbral Horde, but then weird stuff started happening. Old assets of the fallen New Order, as well as equipment and faculty associated with a variety of anti-magic use groups were all being mass employed, brought on or forced into compliance."
Matthew shrugged, "Whole lot of shell corporations involved. I tried to get some information, but nobody's talking, and there's a whole lot more going on. Just a few weeks ago I had to deal with a Black Dragon set to erupt outta the remains of the Masquerade. Of all the things to know how to teleport..."
"So yeah, whatever or whoever this is, they're taking advantage of the chaos. Helix used to have money coming in from Shannon Roman, but now it belongs to...whoever the fuck is in charge now. Same story for the likes of my old enemies the Mikinomi. Whatever's going on, it's big...but we don't know how big."
Edited by NickTheSwing on Jan 17th 2022 at 11:05:48 AM
An Ordinary Oddball
Mina Parker
"Uh...n-no. I didn't g-get out very much before meeting y-you," Mina admitted, scratching the back of her head. Though, now that it had been brought up, it seemed that it would be very useful to learn. And this place seemed like a fun place to learn a new, harmless skill at. "And am I r-right in hoping you can t-teach me?"
Edited by JumpingFruit on Jan 18th 2022 at 10:31:33 AM
I wear the skin of the Elder Things, having come unto my own.
Fwomph
Stake Out
Heather chewed her way through a segment of crust she had pre-removed from her slice, only half-listening to the string of proper nouns that sounded oh-so serious and grim if they were explained. But then she finished chewing and decided to take a risk on a question.
"So I've got a question. Do fairies exist? Like classic stuff; Summer Courts and Winter Courts and shit like that. Seductive fair folk who sweep into your life before vanishing with the season... Changelings? Whatever, is that a thing? Are they aligned with the whole major struggle between Light and Dark gods or are they just... Chill?"
There was something beyond mere interest in her questioning. Some tone of desperation to wanting to know about the Fae.
It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.
Answers
"The Fae are..." Matthew cupped his chin as he started on that thorny topic, "Well, the Light and Dark Gods aren't the only things associated with the Realm of the Gods. There's another thing that sprung from the outer edges of it. A being who agitated for the formation of the material world called Gillianos. Now, he was no All Father. At his worst, I could describe him as...well, as a celestial con-man. In fact, even the rare Gillianos Anti-Priest will tell you the first thing they learn about their dead god is this: Gillianos lies."
Matthew crossed his arms, "Gillianos was by all accounts, both Dark and Light, a...a trickster. In fact, even the fact there's dispute between supporters of the Dark Gods and Light Gods about why Gillianos was murdered might well be more of his jest."
"Well, anyway, The Fae Realms embedded between the Mortal Realm we're in, and the Realm of the Gods. Kind of...half here, half out there. This arrangement was made when Gillianos' dead body crashed through the cosmos - his lighter, life derived aspects formed the Summer Elm that birthed the Summer Fae...and his darker, older aspects formed the Winter Deadwood that created the Winter Fae."
Matthew winced as he remembered something, "But by all means, don't think Summer equals Good and Winter equals Evil. I've dealt with my share of Redcaps. They're Summer Fae - Goblins, to be precise. Bright, passionate, lively...really, very passionate about how much they looooove some dismemberment murder."
Edited by NickTheSwing on Jan 19th 2022 at 12:39:02 PM
Fwomph
Stake Out
Heather mulled over the answer given for a hot minute before she quickly scarfed down the remaining parts of that slice she tore the crust off of.
"Sounds about right don't it? Every little bit of little ol' me explained because I turn out to be half primordial trickster on my deadbeat dad's side... I mean it's like, edging on too obvious because duh I'm full of passion and happiness that doesn't mesh and I've got magic mojo y'all never seen before..."
Heather paused for a moment, checking her pockets with a frown.
"Speaking of, anyone got an accessory on hand for that new Totem demonstration? Anyways anyways, it'd be so easy to write me off as a Changeling wouldn't it? Real typical..."
She sighs and practically collapses into the kind of terrible couch in this local rental apartment.
"Or maybe I'm just Heather the human and I'm messed up in the head or something. Whatever, I'm plunging into some deep-ass melancholy so someone get Matty going on background lore before I get existential and ask whether we actually have any shot making the world better."
It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.
The Light That Blinds
Jayden
"Jayden?"
Jayden blinked. His mom was staring at him in worried confusion, an equally baffled look on Kyle and Amy's faces. What was he doing...? Oh, right, he was supposed to be interrogating. During dinner.
Which he hadn't touched. Huh. Must've zoned out.
"Yeah?" Jayden said, internally cursing how...distant he sounded. He couldn't work up the energy to sound any more attentive, though.
"Are you alright?" his mother asked, concern clear in her tone. "You've been acting so distant lately, and you haven't touched your food since—"
"I'm fine," he said, a little too quickly. He picked up his fork and stabbed it into his salad. "Everything's fine."
"Your tone suggests otherwise," Kyle muttered, getting a withering glare from their mother.
"What about you?" Jayden asked, and yes this wasn't an organic lead-in but he couldn't care less at this point. "How's work been?"
"Kept me waiting, haven’t you? Tch. No matter. Dawdle all you’d like. In the end, your defeat remains inevitable."
Surrounded by weirdoes
"Those are stories for more food" Pablo noted. He took another bite "Been around the block, haven't you?"
He just gave Heather an odd look. Her thought process feels like a mystery, but he just tried to let it slide.
"Ever think of where this whole thing is leading us to?" He asked, after a moment "Because it really feels my life plans got really derailed"
Wake me up at your own risk.
Matthew and co.
"...Heather, I won't lie - I don't really get you 90% of the time. But if you wanna talk about making an impact, we're literally days away from rescuing Tom, Jackson's no longer suffering in the closet thanks to you guys, and you saved my buddy Damien's life." Crossing his arms, he nodded, "Sounds like we made quite a few positive contributions. And yeah, Pablo...I've been at this since...sixteen? And I'm nineteen now? Good grief."
Matthew awkwardly chuckled and then went to check in on the recording, pulling out his phone and listening back to what was said so far...
...And his face slowly registered horror at how bad things were going. Why? The quarterback pondered, Why did I put all this on Jayden? He was obviously NOT doing well. Damn it damn it, if Mama Gardner discovers what's going on things could end really badly.
But there was precious little they could do now...except listen and observe how things would go from here on.
Xander and Mina - The Date
"Yeah," Xander said with a bright smile, "I can teach you how to rollerblade. It's...well, it was less difficult for me after the first few times. But I don't wanna set up an expectation. It's different for everybody." He nodded and as the two of them headed into the building, Mina would see that the inside was just as thrumming as the outside. There was a prominent food court inside, with about six tables and four couches around a large see-through table - this one had a couple screens seemingly inside the table playing numerous E-Sports and various ongoing games.
There was some pop and hip-hop playing inside, and the managers handling tickets and loaner rollerblades seemed like slim, lanky skater types that grew up.
The lights were bright, and people were chatting. It seemed this was indeed a place for couples to go. Quite a few were lightly kissing and a few were seated - Mina would be able to see a good looking red-head boy, a blond girl, and a dark haired girl all drinking some kind of milkshake from a single cup.
Visible from the large and generous booth was the rollerblade rink further in. The lights were a bit dimmer in there, but there were alternating and shifting differently colored lights drifting around.
An atmosphere, to be certain!
Edited by NickTheSwing on Jan 22nd 2022 at 8:21:23 AM
An Ordinary Oddball
Mina Parker
Mina was glad that the strobe lights hid the blush on her face. To think that such a wonderland even existed so close to home...! She really needed to get out more. And to think that Xander, of all people, had called her here. For a moment, she was consumed with the need to have fun and just forget about all her responsibilities for once.
"It's okay," she said, over the music. "My d-dad let me rollerblade wh-when I was younger. I know h-how. I just s-stopped after my m-mom went away, th-that's all that is. Let's s-skate around for a while, and then we can g-grab something to eat!"
Edited by JumpingFruit on Jan 24th 2022 at 6:49:47 AM
I wear the skin of the Elder Things, having come unto my own.
Fwomph
Stake Out
"Yeah but that's... That's all people-scale. Rescuing some of our friends doesn't stop the fact that the only gods in this world are cruel and are actively trying to manipulate humanity to their own ends and that the only thing keeping a lid on the Masquerade is a group of mute mind mages!"
Heather had stood up somewhere in that outburst and though there was no sign of magic to fit that emotional surge it felt like the absence was the only thing preventing her having caused some damage to the furniture.
"I just... We're six teenagers. I want this to be right but I'm not sure there even is a 'right'. For there to be a 'right', there'd need to be anything good on the cosmic scale to fight for and all we've got is shades of black."
Heather practically collapsed back into her seat and weakly reached towards the pizza box for a moment before giving up.
"Whatever. I should probably focus on the mission rather than the background shit."
It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.
The Light That Blinds
Jayden
His mom frowned. "You can't just change the subject, Jayden."
"Why not? I'm fine."
"You're not fine," she said firmly. "You're distant, moody...and you've lost all interest in your favorite thing."
Favorite thing. The irony. "That means nothing," Jayden said, the words coming out more snappish than he'd intended. "I'm fine. I’m asking you."
"You're acting like a jerk all the time," Amy cut in. "That's not fine."
Jayden glared at her. "Well maybe I've just grown as a person."
"That's not growth," Kyle said. "That's the opposite of growth."
Jayden's eye twitched, and he grabbed onto the table until his knuckles turned white. "Why are you getting on my case?" he demanded. "Is it because I'm the weird one? Is that what this is?! You've always wanted me to be normal—"
"Jayden, I want to help you," his mother said, clearly trying to keep her voice steady. "You've been—"
"Acting weird? I'm always acting weird! And now you go from silently judging to having a problem with it?!"
"That's not—"
"SHUT UP!" Jayden yelled, standing up so fast he knocked his chair down. "I never even WANTED to have this stupid dinner! I'm done! I'm not doing this anymore, leave me alone!"
"Jayden—!"
But Jayden was already storming out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him.
...
Operation: Interrogation status: Complete and utter failure.
"Kept me waiting, haven’t you? Tch. No matter. Dawdle all you’d like. In the end, your defeat remains inevitable."
Surrounded by weirdoes
"Never really cared about gods, anyway" Pablo said, after a moment after Heather's outburst made him flinch "Face it, the world is messed up enough that a truly good god would have intervened a long while ago, even if just to start smiting assholes"
He just ran a hand through the cross he carried. He'd rather keep this bit a secret from his family. He could only ask for their strength in these tough times.
"Guess when nothing else matters, what matters is what you believe in..." He said, with a shrug.
Looking at Matthew's reaction, he felt like commenting "Not going too well, is it?" He wondered what way they could have gotten anything less than a comoplete disaster.
Edited by Blueace on Jan 25th 2022 at 3:36:39 PM
Wake me up at your own risk.
"Like Pablo said, the world was already fucked up, magic or no magic." James agreed. "The big picture is pretty scary, but remember, we live on the small scale, and that's where we can make meaningful change. We can't bring about world peace, but we can help keep Sandfield out of the Umbrals' grasp. I know it isn't easy, but try not to worry about things you have no control over"
James hadn't really seen Heather this shaken before. He'd always viewed her as an absurdly confident person, and she hadn't done too much to contradict that. This ordeal was taking its toll on each and every one of them. He was honestly worried the group might break under the pressure but he had faith they would pull through.
The Stake Out
Matthew crossed his arms and sighed - though what he said ultimately just got said with what Pablo and especially James said. More and more, Matt was really impressed with James. The guy was more than stepping up to the plate. Honestly, if anything happened, Matt was certain he could trust James to take charge here. "Yeah...it's not going well, Pablo. We...no. I pushed way too much on Jayden way too fast. I had a sloppy frame of reference for how "okay" with it people tend to be, and...honestly, this is my fault for putting him in this position."
Turning to Heather, he said, "We're not in this for anything cosmic scale. We're not out for benediction, blessing, or heavenly redemption. Let the Gods have their war in their realm. Their business is only ours in as far as the effect their underlings have. We're here, now, to work on helping people we can immediately help."
Shaking his head, he said, "...As for the Masquerade, it was never going to be a permanent solution. The fact was, even when I got started as a Magic Cop, it was fraying. Ultimately, I was put in the position to make a choice. The Dark God Daeth, the Time God, was pretty lenient with the details; either the Blessed Tear completely reshaped reality into something not worth living in, or I took my shot - save the world, but doom the Masquerade to fall to pieces."
Matthew smiled, "I took my shot, trusting my friends, my former foes, and those I work with to do their best. The Mage Association is out there. I have my complaints, sure. And their history is far from spotless. But there are people working to make a difference, and that's what counts. Not what some god dictates. Not what celestial balance of good and evil exists. But people - and how much good you can do for them. Just as an example - the folks around that house you fought Zombiestein at...they have no idea about gods, demons, magic or anything most likely. But their world, their universe, would've ended permanently if Zombiestein was allowed to rampage out of control. And you all put an end to that monster. Those people now go on with their lives, and whether they know it or not, they have you to thank for that."
As bad as the mission in Jayden's house had gone, and as much as they needed to do something to help their friend, Matthew figured he needed to say as much now. He'd been there before.
"Now, we need to find out some way to help Jayden. He's...he's not doing well." Matthew breathed, "I suspect he hasn't been doing well for a while. Honestly, doing this was a mistake. And I'm sorry."
The Rink - Date
And honestly, Xander felt the very same way - he wanted to just pretend like he had no responsibilities going on right now. That he was just a normal teenage boy going out with the girl he liked. That he didn't feel his phone vibrating in his pocket - noise and alerts turned off - with Carter probably making some vague threats to go talking to his dad or something. Honestly? Xander right now just wanted to have some fun. He'd spent his entire life running, fighting, and living a double life.
Just lose yourself in the music for a bit, Xander told himself. Carter is a worm. He's no match for me anyway.
"Alright," Xander led the way into the line, "I'll pay for the rentals, get us in, and then we can have a bite to eat afterwards. Food here looks great!"
Edited by NickTheSwing on Jan 25th 2022 at 5:09:13 AM
Surrounded by weirdoes
Pablo just nodded and sighed. "It really feels like something we should have seen coming, or at least said something about" He said, thoughtfully.
He sighed. Putting the things down for a moment.
"Well, that was a shitty hand" He noted.
With that, he furiously started shoving food into his mouth. Good thing he isn't currently in a match or something. As it is, someone would definitely leave with busted kneecaps.
Wake me up at your own risk.
An Ordinary Oddball
Mina Parker
It was very little known that Mina was, in fact, very graceful despite not getting out very much. Part of it was due to her own wish to not gain a chubby figure like she was teased for in middle school and fall back into those old habits. Another contributing factor was her old lessons in ice skating and ballet, and though some time had passed, Mina was still good at balancing on her two feet in slippery conditions.
So therefore, Xander was treated to the spectacular show Mina didn't know she was making of rollerblading, startling several others in the rink as she whizzed by and found enough nerve to twirl on a wheel. She soon stopped out of a desire to not wear the footgear out so quickly, but still. It was rather impressive, given that there wasn't even any ice in the rink.
Edited by JumpingFruit on Jan 30th 2022 at 9:49:42 AM
I wear the skin of the Elder Things, having come unto my own.
Mina Parker
"Th-That's okay, Bryce," Mina said placatingly to Bryce, clasping her hands together in front of her chest. "I d-do promise to be c-careful, and I'm g-glad we could c-come to an understanding. I'm g-gonna prepare for my date at the s-skating ring now..." And she did, ascending the stairs to her room to apply some basic makeup, though with the addition of some light green eyeshadow and extra shiny lip gloss.
Edited by JumpingFruit on Jan 12th 2022 at 2:59:33 AM
I wear the skin of the Elder Things, having come unto my own.