lumière//noir

It’s one of those. Of course anything huge with powers like her’s would come with a price. There was nothing in this world that was free after all. So what did that mean? She probably had a shorter life than most people? Or maybe it was just something else entirely. He’ll choose not to ask. He wouldn’t want someone asking about certain things about his own abilities as well. There were things he’d rather not share. 

“You think the same will happen here as it does back home? Death showing up and whatnot?” He’s tracing his finger along the ceramic of his coffee mug, in thought before grabbing the handle and taking a sip from it. It’s still piping hot. Just the way he likes it. 

Ah, it’s only fair that she’d ask some question of her own, right? He keeps the mug lingering between lips for a second before placing it back down with a shrug, “There was a fight between two that broke out, but I was protected and survived by my bones.” There’s nothing more to it, but he supposes he can explain a little better. 

“My bones can be shaped and controlled in pretty much any way one can think of.”

“I don’t know.  Until I have a way to try it out I won’t know for sure.  But dragging a dead body from a cemetery all the way to one of the few places my magic is unlocked sounds like something that’ll get me arrested.  Even if the body is ethically sourced.”  Sylvia shrugged.  “No point in worrying about it when I can’t even use my magic.  I guess I’ll find out when the time comes -- whenever that is.”

She was normally immune to finding things ‘gross’, but something about his description was horrifying.  Sylvia pursed her lips as she contemplated how to respond to that mildly disgusting piece of information.  “Doesn’t that...scar?  I assume your bones break skin, right?  Unless you also have extremely pliable dermis...”  She cringed at her own callousness.

So much for trying to be positive. Truth be told he agrees. There’s actually no such thing as peace. The world is chaotic and the people in it only seems to make it worse. 

…

He’s lost his appetite a bit. 

Her talking about how her abilities came to be reminds him of himself. It isn’t exactly like that, but his did start manifested at a much earlier age than most kids. He still remembers it like it was just yesterday. 

“I guess it would have been dangerous if you didn’t watch yourself.” conjuring things through magic…Even though his ability has nothing to do with magic, he’s been around it quite enough to know just how much damage it can cause. 

“What was your first spell?”

“I thought I knew everything as a kid, so I didn’t really think of the consequences of my actions.”  Technically, she still thought she knew everything -- but this time she did.  Or, she did in the past.  Now she had no idea what was going on anymore.  How irritating.

“I raised a dead rat.  My mom was incensed.  It involved loaning my soul to Death, and the bigger the thing I’m raising the more painful it is to perform the spell.”  She quirked an eyebrow as she took the last sip of her tea.  “Hmm, I wonder if he’s around here.  I thought he was technically a constant, but once I asked him about aliens and he told me he wouldn’t know -- his domain was specifically our planet Earth.”  Perhaps if she ever managed to find a dead body in one of the locations her powers were unlocked she could see if the consequences were the same.

In a world like his where powers were pretty much the norm, he’s met a few who’s abilities circled around necromancy and witch-like. He’s never  met an actual witch though. Certainly not like the ones he seen in movies. 

“Hopefully it won’t come to where you’ll have to protect yourself.” He says with a sigh. It’s been relatively quiet. Nothing to worry about, but all of that can change. He doesn’t LIKE not having his full ability either. It really does suck. 

“Yeah. I guess it’s for the better. It’s not really something I like to flaunt around.” he says with a shrug. On top of that it’s rather painful. “Do you remember when you started getting in control of your powers? I thought by 10 it would have already started. I guess for everyone it’s different.”

“Oh that’s how it always starts; it’s peaceful and quiet for awhile and then you have,” she wildly waved her arms around to demonstrate chaos, “werewolves teaming up with vampires to get rid of the human race.  Or something like that.  I don’t trust peace anymore -- it just means someone is brewing up a storm in the background.”

Sylvia quirked an eyebrow at how smoothly he turned the subject back on herself without answering her question.  Whatever, that was normally what she did so she supposed there was no point in pressing it.  She took a swig of her tea and shrugged.

“No?” Okay, so maybe there really was no reason to worry or anything. Damn, he should’ve just mind his own business like he normally did. He was real good at it, too. NOT good at whatever attempt this was. At least he can say he tried, should Shu ever ask him about anything like ‘did you try to make friends’. When has Shu ever asks those questions though? He can’t recall. 

Hotaru looks away at the mention of her friends and family. The way she talks about it is almost as if…

never mind. I know that feeling better than anyone. 

What use would it do to dwell on what happened to his family? Sure he’d like for those bastards responsible to pay for what they’ve done, but he’s done crying and done being miserable. He’s done plenty of those and there’s not much he can do stuck here. Just like there’s not much she can do in the same situation as his. 

“what kind of powers do you have?” He decides to ask. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want.” 

He dropped the subject pretty quickly.  Good, she really didn’t want to have to painstakingly explain why she didn’t particularly want to be coddled by a stranger right this second.  His follow up question; however, made her stiffen.  Sylvia drummed her fingers on the table for a few seconds as she mulled it over.

Normally she was quite evasive about that particular question, but at this point -- in this place -- what did she have to lose?  He certainly posed the question as if he has powers of his own, so she supposed there was no harm in explaining.  She finally relaxed and leaned back in her chair.  She realized was being hostile for no reason.

“I’m a witch.  I specialize in necromancy -- raising dead bodies and such, but I know my way around an offensive spell.  I’ll admit I normally acted as support in most situations that involved fighting, but without my friends I’m stuck on the offensive line -- and I can’t even use my magic to protect myself.  It...sucks.”  She couldn’t think of a more eloquent word at the moment.

     It has been easy enough to jump out of way to avoid the stranger’s sudden barrage of groceries. However, what mostly concerns Candace now is the other woman laying flat on her back, almost defeated as she looks up at the sky and then to Candace herself. Poor woman… Was there really no one around to offer her help to carry any of these? Or how about a taxi?

    Well, regardless of the reason, the redhead simply watches as the stranger seats herself up now, quirking a brow as she listens to the woman’s words.

     ❝ Maybe. Or you could have called a taxi, ❞ the helper now says, her tone unintentionally a bit cold.

     ❝ Do you have much longer to walk? I can help carry some of these… Well, if you want, anyway. ❞

Sylvia clicked her tongue.  “I don’t believe in using motor vehicles unless I absolutely have to.  Although you’re right, I probably could’ve stood to get of my high horse in this case.”  It was a stupid simple solution, but she had gone so long without stepping foot in a car that she sometimes forgot they were an option.

She picked herself up off the ground and brushed the back of her pants down to get rid of the dirt.  “Aha...actually, I would like some help.  It’ll be faster anyway -- I had to walk so slow so that they wouldn’t fall out of my hands...”  She started hunting down all of the items that had fallen out of her various bags; luckily none of them were any worse for wear.

He doesn’t blame her for her reaction. He suppose that if a stranger was looking at him the way he looked at her, he’d be annoyed too. But man, she has it all wrong. He wasn’t—-never mind. He breathes a sigh out and averts his gaze just briefly toward his pastry. It hasn’t even been touched. 

“It’s rude to stare where I’m from too,” He confirms. Mismatched hues looks back at the woman next to him. 

“I wasn’t staring to be rude…Was just trying to see if you needed anything.” That’s a weird way of putting it. The words come out of his mouth already and there’s no taking it back. All he can do? “I thought if maybe you were panicking…about where you were, the most I could do was give you some comfort on but….There’s really none.” There’s no explanation. At least NONE that makes sense. The woman that was probably in charge of bringing everyone here didn’t make sense. 

“If I needed anything...?”  Well, she’d probably find that offer sweet if he hadn’t spent so long silently staring.  “Are you trying to activate mind reading powers or something?  From what I’m gathering, only regenerative powers are available in the city.”  It made her feel quite vulnerable considering she definitely slacked off when it came to learning and memorizing healing spells.

Sylvia ran her pointer finger around the rim of her teacup twice as she silently contemplated on his statement.  She probably should be panicking, but at this point she’d put up with so much weird shit she couldn’t be bothered to care much.  Also, she was definitely compartmentalizing this entire experience -- did that Mara lady introduce free healthcare in this weird place, because she probably needed to talk this out in therapy.

Sylvia had always been a strong believer in using physical labor over magic when possible -- after all, she dug up 90% of her bodies with a wood shovel -- but dear God was she wishing her powers weren’t locked by some mysterious force right about now.  She was attempting to carry a large -- and heavy -- amount of groceries from the store back to her small house.  It would be nice if she could use a levitation spell right about now.

She was carrying multiple bags up both arms, and then stacked some bags on top of each other to hold in her hands.  The teetering pile was constantly on the edge of falling over, but if she walked slowly enough she seemed to be in good shape.  Now!  To walk 3 more mile back home!  Sylvia counted down the number of steps she had to take in her head as she hobbled along the sidewalk.

Unfortunately for her, the bags were piled just a little too high and she couldn’t see the pole right in front of her until she smacked right into it.  Her large pile of groceries scattered as she dropped them; she jerked backwards and tripped as her shoe got caught in a gap in the concrete.  Sylvia landed flat on her back accompanied by the groceries still mercifully anchored to her forearms.  She blinked as she looked up, realizing she nearly took out another woman with her when she fell.

helloooo, I love OC only groups and so I wanted to bring my favorite child back to the RP scene 💞