#kellsxbells

He found a deep, dark pool hidden in the forest, lit from above by shafts of golden sunlight. He settled in to stand in the soft earth close by the cool waters, eyes closed, feeling the sun on the green pine needles on his head and shoulders. They were growing in more every day... he wondered if he would become a tree entirely if he rested like this too much.

But he just needed a break. He stood perfectly still, listening to the sounds of the forest around him.

“Is this good?” Abbie sat on the soft ground by the river, shoes and socks in a pile next to her. Kells could leave the lake now, if she wanted, but Abbie suspected her friend felt more comfortable in the water than on land. And Abbie was trying not to do magic in the house. 

It had warmed up significantly, which meant that Abbie had gone from too big cable-knit sweaters to lighter, more fitted ones, had switched from heavy layers to lighter skirts. Kells never seemed to get cold. She was, as well as Abbie understood it, connected to the water, or maybe part of it, so it would make sense that the temperature wouldn’t bother her.

Sixer was out at the lake again, but he wasn’t actively looking for any local anomalies.

Mabel was engulfed by rage as she stormed out of the Gleeful mansion, front door slamming closed with an unconscious pull of her power. Without a second thought, she’d stepped over the barrier her great uncles set up a fortnight ago and into the comfort of the forest. Or it would’ve been comforting, surrounded by a pulsating hum of differing magical auras and a general wave of unusual calm, if her mind wasn’t currently going a mile a minute. Too much red blinding her focusing.

She didn’t even realize where she was walking. Merely letting her feet stomp across the grass, hands in fists and fingernails cutting deep crescents into her palms. The amulet on her headband softly creaking as it strained against the raw fury trying to escape in the form of her magic lashing out. At least that she could keep some semblance of control, it wouldn’t do her any good to destroy the forest.

Virgil wished he was used to this, as he found himself face first in damp, dark soil. The tinkering with magical sequences that opened gateways to other universes was dangerous, but every step into a new place was a step closer to getting back home. At least he had yet to lose any of his limbs yet.

Spitting out wet leaves, the small scholar sat up, wincing as he flexed his fingers- singed red and raw from his latest attempt. The distance portion of the sequence had been off- that or something foreign got in while he was activating it, although for the life of him he couldn’t exactly recall what happened. 

He fumbled for his bag, mud and moss clinging to the fabric but otherwise intact, much to his relief, before risking the chance in prying himself off the ground. His muscles protested, but he couldn’t just wait around as the dampness slowly soaked into his clothes and darkness made the trees far too eerie for his liking, prickling the hairs on the back of his neck and nerves coiling in his stomach. 

He was just behind the bushes that bordered the shore of a lake, the moonless night sky peeking out from behind drifting dark clouds. It would be too dangerous to try to navigate... well... anything, in the dark without a proper light. And without knowing where he was or what dangers lied around him, Virgil was anxious in sticking around in one spot for long.

Anxiously, he curled his arms around his bag and pressed it to his chest as he cautiously stepped over the underlying shrubs and onto a bare patch of wet ground, hoping to get into some twig-less spot so he could wait out the night without having sharp branches poke at him-

-And immediately had the soft earth give out from under him, causing his foot to slip in the mud and into the water with a frantic slosh as he wrenched it back out again and scrambled back, tripping and collapsing against a tree with the air knocked out of his lungs. 

closed starter for @kellsxbells

Lorna Magdalena Patterson wasn’t known for many things. She was quiet, a follower, a bystander – that’s exactly it, she had always been just … off to the side. But one thing she was known for? Her incessant childlike stubbornness; which had led her into all sorts of sticky circumstances over her admittedly short lifetime.

The most remarkable of those instances, though, was more a stroke of luck than her own fault. It was her fault that she’d followed her aimlessly wandering sap of a friend Wirt too deep into the forest – the luck came into play when she encountered the same mesmerizing creature in balmy shallows of the lake. She would quickly come to consider that day the greatest of her triumphs.

A week had passed since then, yet Lorna could be found in the exact same spot – sitting cross-legged on the edge of the dock, smiling at the kelpie that had come up to greet her.