#nimtraining

Santana was walking around campus, really really pissed off. Not wanting to admit the awful truth that was crawling to her. Ryder is coming back. We are going to do the ritual. Then it's all over. She didn't want to think of the alternative. The monster investigation was fun. But she needed any other thing before falling into a complete despair. Then she saw it. A sign from God. The angel. "Baby!" She calls Joe when she saw him. "Come with me! I have good deeds waiting for you... unless you are..." She put that mocking voice you make for babies or tiny pups. "Scared?"

Joe is not lost. Angels don't get lost. Everything else is simply out of place. This is familiar, but at the same time, it isn't, like maybe the color was different, or--He turns towards a familiar voice, and is not relieved when it's Santana Lopez, the one who escaped death because of his letter. "I'm not scared of any good deeds. That's--what's waiting for me?" he asks, looking around for a lost soul needing shoes, or maybe a bruise that needs healing.

Elliott enjoys going to the gym to keep his body active though sometimes he feels really bad about those guys who actually are there to gain muscles and see him literally lifting several weights at the same time, just a moment ago one dude almost walks into a wall because he was looking at him in disbelief. It is also a nice place to flirt with cute guys, he is not gonna lie, maybe the lifting surprise some of them who would look at him in surprise, but he also attracts other looks for different reasons. He leaves the lifts behind and goes to one of the running machines, unaware of any other conversation anyone he knows is having right now with other people in other place.

Santana kicks out the gym door dramatically like the place is hers. "Run, joey, run!" She demands like it's super urgent and live or dead, until she pass some guys lifting weights. She notices Elliott there, so she sends him a whisper illusion. "Want to see how the Gayest Queen kicks some angel's ass?" She goes to the first empty training room she encounters. One of those with water on a side for water witches. Maybe she could throw the angel on the little pool. That would be fun.

Joe runs like it's super urgent, past the weightlifting guys, and past Santana Lopez, until he almost runs into a wall. Catching his breath, he discreetly looks around to find the good deed he was promised. Until he catches sight of Santana, and casually strolls over. "Sorry, what am I looking for?"

Elliott let's out a small high pitched scream when he suddenly hears a disembodied voice near his ear, "fuck me" he says realizing is Santana, a guy passes by and winks at him "but also fuck me..." he chuckles but then decides to follow the voice and meet with his friend "So are you guys fighting?" he says when he finds the pair standing next to each other.

Santana grins. And points at herself. "My my, little cherubin... I just wanted to know. If you are really the messenger of God... he wouldn't had make you weak, wouldn't he?" She says, making appear her Soul Armament, the gunshield. "I want to check if you are strong enought to survive." She says, aidming at him. "Get ready, you li-" She gets interrupted. A fish jumps in the pool. A swordfish. "Oh no. No. Not you."

The swordfish jumps outside the water, to the gym floor. It jumps more on the floor, fish out of water not breathing well style. Until the fish polymorphs, becoming a standing human man. With wet clothes. He looks very happy to see people. "Mist!" Jesús says, opening his arms, like he was waiting for anyone to hug him. "And friends! What a joyous coincidence to find you here! Hello pals! Folks call me Jesús. Nice to met you!" He says, looking at Joe. "And nice to see you again, buddy!" He says, looking at Elliott. "Are we reunited here to duel... with our wits? I'll love to join let's go!" He barely breathes or pauses between sentences.

Joe narrows his eyes, swallowing back a retort about how he's not weak. "Yeah, you're right. He wouldn't ha--whoa." A huge fish jumps out of the water, and it feels like a sign--probably a sign that he's right. When the fish turns into a human and opens his arms, Joe cracks a smile and approaches him with a hug. "Jesús!" Joe says. "Like the prophet." This is definitely a sign, he thinks, as he shakes off some excess water. "A battle? For the truth?"

Elliott observes the scene in confusion, maybe he should have followed that guy who wanted to fuck "Erm... that's a dramatic entrance" he chuckles "nice to see you again" he says to Jesús, he then looks at Santana "So? Four way training?" he asks her.

Joe notices the demon and inwardly cringes, because I did not forget to react to that crucial bit of information.

Santana wanted to cancel the fight. But then maybe Jesús would just annoy her to dead. "You...you couldn't possibly know I was going to come here! Not even I knew!" And there he was. Hugging the angel. This was going all kinds of wrong. She just wanted to humilliate someone, why everything had to ruin her plans? "There is no fo-" 

Jesús interrupts her. "FOUR WAY TRAINING! We are going to have SO much fun together and you're going to be so happy queniquerrashacerningúnritualdespuésdeesto." No pause. All excited. His sentences just gets faster and faster. "A BATTLE FOR THE TRUTH!" He announces, on a dramatic, deep voice. "What gets broken when its not being held?" He asks, and big smiley flowers appear from the floor. They look like they had been designed by a 3 year old girl and then that 3 year old girl payed 5 dollars to a 2 year old girl to make the 3d versions of them.

1d6 Jesús attacks Santana = (2) = 2

1d6 Jesús attacks Ell = (1) = 1

1d6 Jesús attacks Jow = (5) = 5

@Joe Hart 22/22 👼🏼 Yeshaya L2:  1d6 Joe counter = (5) = 5

Joe jumps a little, but tries to play it cool by rolling his shoulders. There's a riddle, and flowers that smile at him, and he's so confused. "Our trust in the Lord?" Joe answers the riddle.

@Santana 61/62🐮LvL 5(2/3)🔫🛡:  1d7 Santana counter = (1) = 1

Elliott looks at the flowers thinking they are sort of cute, he has no idea what the riddle means "Broken when its not held? What the fuck?" he asks loudly inadvertedly answering his own question.

Santana slips with the watery floor and the flower jump scare, and hits her Perfect and Flawless butt into the floor. "Ugh! Your illusions suck ass! See how it's really done!" She says, making a real scary fucked up realistic giant plant, full of thorns going to attack Jesús.

@Santana 61/62🐮LvL 5(2/3)🔫🛡:  2d7kl1 REAL santana attacks jisus = (7+6) = 6

1d6 Jesús defend himself from Santana attack = (1) = 1

Joe takes a step back, inadvertently towards the demon, when suddenly there's an angry thorny plant attacking the nice guy with the prophet name. "Is this really a battle for the truth??" An edge slips into his voice, and there is one thing he can think will provide comfort; a tiny orchid mantis. "Hi," he greets him.

Elliott can barely react when he sees Santana attacking Jesús, he shrugs and summons Ziggy, it was always better to work with her and there was something they have been meaning to try together for a while,, he is about to move and join the training when Joe steps back and he bumps into him.

@Karin😈Ell 56/59:  2d6kl1= (3+6) = 3

Elliott trips and Ziggy goes flying at the other side of the room, barely hitting Jesús.

Jesús trying to grab and hug Ziggy = (6) = 6

Jesús hears Joe's answer. "No, pal! Wrong answer! But it was a good try! I'm sure you can figure it out!" He conforts him. "Is not the frick either!!" He shouts to Elliott. "You can do it! I can give hints too!" Jesús gets distracted by Santana's attack. "That's a really good illusion, Mist! I'm proud of you!" He says, and hugs the cutest snake flying to him. "Oh my, you are the cutest thing." He whispers, wide eyed, to the snake, and gently puts her in the ground. "You're beautiful. But I don't know if you can swim." He says, and lets himself fall into the water, turning again into a swordfish. He moves faster swimming.

The three flowers merge into a giant one. "Y҉O҉U҉ H҉A҉V҉E҉ T҉O҉ S҉O҉L҉V҉E҉ T҉H҉E҉ R҉I҉D҉D҉L҉E҉" An unreal, mechanical voice sounds. It tries to  pats Santana's head.

1d10 Flower attack to Santana = (3) = 3

@Santana 61/62🐮LvL 5(2/3)🔫🛡:  1d7 Santana's counter = (5) = 5

Ziggy is very cute indeed, she hisses to Jesús "thanksss".

Fiyero shouts "ZIGGY IS SUPER CUTE!" from the distance. Nobody saw him.

Ari agrees quietly before slipping off into his spy cat life.

Joe is really confused about everything that's happening. There are flowers, and snakes, and fish, and all he can think to do is send Yesh to attack the flowers patting Santana Lopez on the head.

@Joe Hart 22/22 👼🏼 Yeshaya L2:  2d6kl1 +1 = (4+6)+1 = 5

1d10 Flower counter to yesh = (2) = 2

Elliott teleports next to Ziggy, maybe they could join forces against the flower.

Santana shouts "I'm not going to play your ridiculous riddle games!! And the answer is obvious and super easy!" She says, shooting illusion bullets to the water where Jesús is. "Daisy help me out!"

@Santana 57/62🐮LvL 5(2/3)🔫🛡:  2d7kl1 +1= (2+1)+1 = 2

2d6k1 Jesús counter because he gets advantage in the water fish perks = (1+6) = 6

Jesús as a fish, jumps and throws really fake illusory bubbles to Santana. They have hands and smily faces and they try to hug her. He makes an illusion of his own voice, because he can't talk in fish. "C'mon pals! The answer is a noun. It starts with a P!" He goes back to the water and moves away from Elliott, really fast.

The flower tries to give a clue to encourage riddle solving. I҉ W҉I҉L҉L҉ E҉X҉P҉L҉O҉T҉E҉ S҉O҉O҉N҉ I҉F҉ Y҉O҉U҉ D҉O҉N҉'T҉ S҉O҉L҉V҉E҉ M҉E҉ The illusory sound is so loud and distorsed it can hurt ears.

1d10 Plant attack to Elliott = (2) = 2

@Karin😈Ell 56/59:  1d6 + 1d5 + 2d6k1= (6)+(3)+(5+1) = 14

Elliott takes Ziggy in his hands, he takes a deep breathe, he is a little nervous to practice this tecnique, the soul armament, but he is also excited, the snake starts disolving in dark smoke and she slowly becomes a long chain, the links look rusty, with intense orange and yellow tones coloring the metal. Elliott grabs the chain strongly, and he runs toward the flower, he takes a little jump for impulse and throws one of the ends of the chain towards it, as it hits the flower, Elliott teleports and with the other end that is still on his hand appears on the other side of the flower, surrounding it with the chain, but he miss calculates and falls to the water.

Joe watches, wide-eyed, as the demon disappears from next to him and appears in a different spot. How can he do that? How? He bites the inside of his cheek and starts trying to think about the riddle. Something with a P that breaks when it's not held... "Pan?" he asks, knowing that Jesús speaks Spanish with that weird run-on sentence about rituals. Bread can be very crumbly, right? Santana Lopez seems to not be at full health. He doesn't entirely trust her, or at all, really, but at least she's not in the water and attacking him? "May the Lord Bless you," he says, reaching out with his hand to put it on her shoulder.

The flower illusions dissapears, losing all its strength with the last chain attack.

Jesús as a fish, gets surprised  to find a friend in the water, so he turns into his human form, just his head above the water. "Woah you're so fast, buddy! Wanna enjoy a swim?" He shouts very loudly outside "It's not a pan! The answer was A PROMISE!" He said, looking at Santana, like it should mean something. "But let's go for another riddle! If I have it, I shouldn't share it, because if I share it, I won't have it. What is it?" He says, and another illusion appears. Is a tiny cartoony hunter man. Very fake and very unreal. He appears in the same place as the flower was.

Tiny Hunter Man moves on his own spot. "Fast fast! Said the answers before this bomb explotes!! You have one!" Says the little man, showing a sandwich with a countdown.

Santana is super angry. "Shut up with your riddles you fishface! And stop turning into that gross thing!! This is not the fish market!" She shouts, feeling like... in better heal for some reason. She laughs, noticing. "My my! The Lord Bless me? Of course!" She aims at Jesús with her gun, hoping not to fail. 

@Santana 57/62🐮LvL 5(2/3)🔫🛡:  1d100=100  = (15, 0 successes) = 0   @Joe Hart 22/22 👼🏼 Yeshaya L2:  1d6  = (5) = 5 (Santana’s blessing healing)

Joe panics when Jesús sends over another illusion, and tries to swat away the sandwich-bomb, with Yesh pecking at it like the nice snack a sandwich is, regretting blessing Santana Lopez when she pulls out a gun. “ARE YOU ALLOWED TO DO THAT??” He asks her, still shell-shocked from the disappearing demon. “An object!” Joe shouts confidently as the answer to the riddle. @Joe Hart 22/22 👼🏼 Yeshaya L2:  1d6 + 1d6 level 2 familiar attack = (3)+(5) = 8

 1d15 Tiny mans counter attack to Jow = (9) = 9

Tiny Hunter Man jumps and screams at Joe, while showing signs of a flashing and annoying bad illusion. "NOT AN OBJECT! THINK DEEPER OR BOOM!"

Elliott thinks harder "aaaah..." he starts thinking "Is it a promise again?" he is still in the water, he moves his arms a little to keep a float, and then tries to hit the new illusion with his chain again.  

@Karin😈Ell 56/59:  1d6 + 1d5  = (3)+(1) = 4

1d15 Tiny hunter man counter to Elliott = (9) = 9 

Elliott splashes the water annoyed.   

Jesús gets out of the pool, still all clothes wet. "Aw, aren't we having fun! I'm having so much fun! Being with friends, solving riddles, not having to change anything about ourselves, not hurting anyone on the process wOAH! Isn't it so great? Who would want to lose all that am I right? But let's go for the next riddle! You can swallow me, but I can consume you too. What a-"

Santana interrupts him. "Pride." She is too annoyed already. "Ha, promises, secrets and pride." She says, coldly. "I'm not having fun. In fact, I think you are really boring." She tells her fake uncle. "Now, Elliott, my my, you got some new moves! Those are really cool, I hope to train more agaisnt them someday" She says, starting to ignore Jesús and focusing on the rest. "And you cherubin, what a cutie, healing and being scared of a little gun shield. Aw, adorable. Santana will kick your ass other day." She says, blowing a kiss to them and getting out of the room before exploting on everything going on, but still putting a bitchy smile on her face. "Bye bye!"

Joe is actually sort of flattered when he’s called cute. Even though he is not a cherub. “Um, goodbye?” He looks at Jesús, and then at the demon. “This school is...” confusing, “interesting.” Yesh flies back into his pocket, and Joe gives him a soft brush. “I’ll, um, be here if you need me. May the Lord forgive us.”

Kitty was at Undique Stadium, inside the special room she had booked. It was one of the best ones. She totally flirted with the guy at the counter and he fell for it, the idiot. She was holding the pendant in her hand, turning it around to see the oak leaf catch the light. Alena, her familiar, was swimming in a small cup of water Kitty had gotten from the water fountain. "This is a good sign, Kitty. You two have dueled each other a lot." Alena said. "Ugh, shut up, Alena. I'm going to contest and get it changed! I thought bribing the people at the school would get me Sister Quinn! Instead they put me up with the worst witch ever! My life sucks!" Kitty whined.

Wilde wanted to meet, so Tina was on her way to meet her. It has been about a week now since the pagan festival and the sadness that ached had been starting to dull yet still hanging over Tina like a dark cloud.  The only 'good' that their seemed to be was the Socius Pactum and her and Wilde were a team. Keeping her agreement not to  wear short skirts, Tina needed to get some rouse out of Wilde and found a loophole by wearing short shorts, with a cropped top and hood, all black obviously. Her raven hair twisted up in a messy bun with loose strands framing her face. Dark circles lining her eyes from the little sleep she gave herself worrying. Tina enters, hands in pocket, one fiddling with the charm, the other her phone. "Hey soul partner!" She calls before Wilde. Tina's heart beats quick cause aether this meant the bitch made it through that day.

Kitty gaped at Tina's outfit. Black short shorts. What was this girl on? Mushrooms? Cocaine? Cocaine mushrooms? "It's October?! Excuse me, did you lose your brain cells in the cold? Why are you wearing that?" Kitty exclaimed, jumping up from her seat and knocking her cup of water over. <<Heavenly Father, I’m but your humble servant, lend me your power. Fill your holy vessel with your magnificence, freeze!>> The water from the cup froze in an instant, trapping Alena within the ice. "Kitty, it's so cold." Alena complained. "No duh, Alena! It's ice and shut up!" Kitty hissed at her lame familiar. She hopped to a different spot, to get a better look, and clicked her tongue at Tina. "Soul partner? Ew. Stop. That's not what it means in Latin." Kitty muttered. "Look, I don't want to like fight you today. I just had my nails done and you always end up ruining them." Kitty showed off her fleek nails. She kept it to herself she was never going to fight Tina and hit her with her holy magic again. Last time was the last time. Not because Kitty liked Tina or anything! It's because the Lord punished Tina enough. "I'm going to ask for a change unless you prove to me what you actually got. Because I know I'm flawless." Kitty put her hand over her chest and stuck out a hip. "So got that memorized?"

"That's what the hoodie and boots are for?" Tina rolls her eyes a little,"Besides, ever heard of a warming clothes spell?"  Like come on how the hell did characters in video games last long in their outfits? At least magic had it perks. "You said no skirts, see I'm listening to you." Tina watches as she knocks over the glass of water, freezing it. Her attention turns to Alena, Kitty's familiar more important than Kitty's nails. Choosing to sit on the table instead of the chair, in the mood to swing her legs around. "Fine I won't call us that."  She looks at Aleena,"You should take better care of your Familiar."  Tina didn't want to give her attention, to wind her up or really not caring, a bit of both really. "Fine we won't fight. I'm glad you're giving me a chance...you are kinda flawless...in battle," Tina adds quickly. A dorky smile appears on her face as she quotes Kingdom Hearts, letting out a low giggle. "What do I have to prove?"

"I heard of those spells, but earth-to-Tina, your thighs aren't clothed?" Kitty pointed to Tina's bare thighs. When Tina told her about the skirt ban, Kitty looked at Tina like she was the dumbest thing in the world, and Kitty was into it. "Ew, like we are an 'us', ugh." Kitty muttered under her breath. She watched Tina sit on the table and move her legs around.  She narrowed her eyes when Tina talked about Alena. "Did I ask you about advice? Don't talk to my fish." Kitty stepped in front of Tina and smirked. "Don't waste my chance, Trashy. You're not that bad, which is why I'm giving it to you in the first place." She didn't know what Tina was smiling about, but it wasn't bad. "Like, your magic. I never got to see everything you can do, so bare it all."

Crossing her legs over as she leans back on her hands on the table. "So...the rest of me is warm so I am fine." Tina wonders if Kitty is looking at her thighs because why would she.  Tina could hear her mutter under her breath since they were the only ones that were in the room,"There is an us if we are going to be something," she was only talking about the pact, nothing but the pact. Something about being around Kitty, felt normal with all the chaos that had been happening. "I won't mess this up," she straightens her back being a little more serious as she eyes up the blonde in front of her. "It's true you haven't everything. You want me to bare it all?" Tina shrugs, emptying out her pockets, sliding the black hoodies off slowly, in a means to tease Wilde about baring it all.

Kitty pursed her lips. Tina was right, they were going to be an us if they were going to be partners. Pact partners. Kitty twirled her fingers around her hair since she had nothing to say. "Yeah, you better not." The insult didn't come out right. What did come out was a stifled squeak when Tina started to take off her clothes. "I-if you catch hypothermia, I wouldn't be surprised, and I didn't mean that, you lesbo. Just show me your magic." Kitty's eyes were wide and she stared for a hot second before she tossed her head to the side.

A squeak left from Kitty's lips that Tina never expected to hear. "I was only taking off my hoodie? Geez, relax a little would you?" She lets out a long sigh, though a smirk tugs on her lips as this was a chance to be a little bit playful. "Alright, alright." Folding her legs over one another, Tina reaches for her phone scrolling through her spells. "This one!" Tina clicks on the spell , her phone starts to glow with her magic circle around. She casts <<🔮 🎯🎯🎯🔮>> , in binary code before the materialises moving targets, that float slowly around them.  "One trick, digital materialisation. I can download what I want, when I want. They aren't 100% real but they are close as they can be."

Kitty glared. "I'm so chill, bitch." She said through a bitchy smile and watched as Tina did her magic, and Kitty was mesmerized by it. She had never seen magic like this before. She had heard of it but seeing it in person was a whole new sight. "How did you make those?" Kitty asked, walking over in her sneakers to touch the targets. It was solid. "Download? How real are we talking about?" Kitty could see the money signs appearing behind her eyes. But she needed to test Tina's magic in battle. "I bet these things are flimsy though. I can't trust New Age magic." Kitty said, putting up her guard. She had to break one to see.

@Tina :  3d7  = (2+3+5) = 10

@Kitty :  1d7  = (4) = 4

Kitty put her hands together in prayer. <<Heavenly Father, I’m but your humble servant, lend me your power. Fill your holy vessel with your magnificence, pierce through falsehoods!>> Kitty put one hand out, her pretty white-blue nails were shining when her magic circle appeared. She created an icicle and it shot out like a cannon, breaking through one of Tina's targets. It made a loud boom noise. It felt real. "I'm not impressed. These are just floating walls. Is this all?"

Something about Kitty’s ice magic was stunning and oh so fearful. Tina watched as one of her own targets seems to just dissolve aways so quickly. “No that is not all!” Tina quipped back at Wilde. She wanted this, she really wanted this. To be partners with Kitty. It was the best way to make sure...Tina tries not think about the worst. Scrolling through her phone she casts  <<🔮⚡️🐉⚡️🔮>>  in a blaze of light her lightning dragon unfurled its wings, floating a little away from them.

@Tina 36/36  📱 Beesy  🐝:  1d7  = (5) = 5

@Kitty 😼 {19/19 & L.3 (2/3)}+2:  1d7  = (2) = 2

Kitty grinned at seeing Tina react to her magic. 'I'm like totally awesome.' She felt prouder than ever. It was because she was showing the New Age her place... or so Kitty was telling herself. There were more targets left and Kitty was aiming another spell at one more. <<Heavenly Father, I’m but your humble servant, lend me your power. Fill your holy vessel with your magnificence, freeze these fools!>> Her ice magic was swirling around a target when Tina's phone exploded in a flash of light. "Turn your flash down!" Kitty screamed and when she opened her eyes, she saw a dragon in front of her.  "Cheese and rice." Kitty whispered. "How in God's Holy Name did you make that. Is it a hologram?"

@Tina 36/36  📱 Beesy  🐝:  1d7  = (2) = 2

There was something fearful in Kitty's voice when Tina's phone lights up in her hand and her dragon appears. She can't help but stare a little at Kitty as their is therense of fear and slight wonderment in Kitty's eyes. Her voice lowered, making a lopsided smile creep on Tina's cheeks. "Data and emoji codes," Tina whispers, shaking her head. "No, it is solid and real...to an extent at least." She walks near, calling her dragon down, petting it on the head. "See?" Tina grins but that isn't all it can do. <<🔮⚡️🐉⚡️🔮 ️️>> she casts in control of her summon, as it spread it's wings, letting out small flickers of electricity like a light breeze. Though the flickers were nothing impressive just mere static.

Kitty touched the dragon's head after Tina did. 'This is heathen magic.' She warned herself but Kitty was drawn to the shiny pixels and the slight static in the air. "Ok, you're like nothing compared to my Graceful self, but like this isn't too bad... for trash magic." Kitty coughed and pulled her hand back into her crossed arms. "It's like, better than I expected." Kitty wondered about the upcoming Field Studies Course. It was going to be her debut to the other students since the workshop where she totaled Blaine Anderson, but even Jesus knew he wasn't an actual challenge. Kitty wanted to impress.  'This could work.' Kitty glanced at Tina, and pointed at her after making her mind. "Ok, you're on a trial run with me, Trashy. In the upcoming tournament, I expect us to show the others how superior I am, and your job will be to make sure you don't embarrass yourself, which will be embarrassing me. Now... let's talk about strategy. Come on." She grabbed Tina by the sleeve of her jacket and pulled her to the benches. They had to come up with a plan to dominate the others.

Santana arrives to Undique, ready to train with Ryder. She wondered if he would change anything from his fight style, or it would be like fighting with any witch. She stopped expecting much of fighting witches, but understanding her allies fighting styles and skills always helped when they had to face a stronger enemy together. She waits in the room she booked for this, with some water on the sides. "Are you ready to face the great Illusion Master?" She asks when Ryder comes.

Ryder smiles when he walks into the training room and Santana is already waiting for him, but the smile is strained. "You were always the best person to train with, you didn't hold back," he says. "Don't go easy on me." With all the pent up energy he has in his body, Ryder knows he wasn't about to hold back in his own fighting. He walks to the other side of the room and rolls his shoulders back. "Ready when you are, Great Illusion Master."

Santana laughs every time someone tells her to not hold back in training. Please, these people didn't know what was Santana unleashed. Immoral, illegal and super fucked up. "I did hold back, my dude. One always have to keep some tricks on their sleeves" She warned with a smile. "Give me a challenge so I don't have to go easy on you." She stick her tongue to him and prepared a simple illusion of the water attacking him.

Santana: 1d6 +2  = (1)+2 = 3 Ryder:  1d6+1  = (3)+1 = 4

Ryder grins at that, ready for a good fight. They would still be friends on the other side. With that in mind, Ryder's magic circle lights around his wrist as he speaks out a spell: <<Whip.>> Water gathers on the side of the floor, elongating as it flows until it snaps just like a whip and hits Santana's thigh.

Santana: 1d6 +2  = (1)+2 = 3 Ryder: 1d6+1  = (6)+1 = 7

Santana shouts an, "Ouch," with the whip, and then moves away while pouting. "Alright, next attack I won't be tha--"

Ryder is already running towards her as she pouts, moving with a speed that only comes when his moon is approaching. Before she can even finish her sentence, Ryder gathers water around his fist and uses it to his advantage as he punches her in the gut. She did say to give her a challenge, right? Why fight from across the room when he could bring it up close?

Santana: 1d6 +2  = (5)+2 = 7 Ryder: 1d6+1  = (3)+1 = 4

Santana steps down with the punch. Holy shit he was fast. She runs away because she is not a close type fighter, and makes illusion spears appear from the ground to hit him.

Ryder tries to stop his momentum when the spears appear, but he's too slow. One of the spears slices the side of his jeans and scratches into his leg. "Shit," he mutters.

Santana: 1d6 +2  = (4)+2 = 6 Ryder: 1d6+1  = (4)+1 = 5

Santana giggles. "I'm so good it almost feel like a real wound, doesn't it? The wonders of the mind," she shows off.

Ryder loses some of his anger at that, letting a laugh escape. "I was more mad about my jeans getting ripped," he calls over to her, backing off again since she ran away. "Your illusions are a lot stronger now. Just don't pull a gun on me. I don't want to get fake shot."

Santana: 1d6 +2  = (6)+2 = 8 Ryder: 1d6+1  = (3)+1 = 4

Santana laughs awkwardly hiding the illusion gun she was about to pull out with her right hand behind her back. "Of course I won't do that!! That would be so insensi--" She stops herself to pretend to throw a bunch of shurikens to Ryder.

Ryder narrows his eyes at Santana, looking at the arm she hid behind her back. While his eyes are distracted, the battery of throwing stars comes before he can cast some type of shield in front of him. "Fuck!" The most he can do is spin around so the illusions hit his back, stinging like metal bees on steroids. Damn, Santana was really good at making illusions feel painful.

Ryder: 1d6+1  = (4)+1 = 5 Santana: 1d6 +2  = (6)+2 = 8

Santana makes the shurikens explode into fireworks while doing the finger guns thing, and saying, "Pew pew."

Ryder What started as just a sting grows more painful, enough to put Ryder down on one knee. He hates it, but he throws up a hand. "Uncle!" he says, giving in. "Uncle."

Santana vanishes the illusions. "Oops, sorry, I though fireworks were A-ok. Are you fine?" she asks, worried.

Ryder "Fireworks are okay, except you forgot to turn off the pain," he winces, getting back up. But as he stands, he can't feel them in his back anymore and the tear in his jeans is gone too. Ryder looks to Santana and gives her double thumbs up. "All good, my dude," he promises, walking over to her. "You've gotten a lot stronger," he says proudly.

Santana points as her head, happy to not have pushed another Traumatizing event during training like she used to do. "The pain is in your head, I can't do anything about that." She thumbs up too. "Yeah, I know," she says, not too proud because she can't even control her illusions anymore to be less realistic. "You got a lot faster!"

Ryder nods at her words. "All pain is," he muses. He grins at her compliment, meeting her in the middle and giving a fist bump. "Yeah. Being a werebeast isn't all horrifying." He speaks a quick spell to dry off her pants where he got her with the whip. "You get lunch yet?"

Santana shakes her head. "A punch to the stomach isn't," she jokes and answers the fist bump according. "There has to be some perks to it, hey, sweet!" she says to the dry off. "No, if that's an invitation let's go!"

Santana just got out of the hospital, and what better way to celebrate than fighting a friend? She arrived with Matt to Undique, and went into a private room. She checked there was no other person around "Ready to practice your secret dark magic, hoodoo guy?"

Matt could really use a duel, and getting to stretch the shadow muscle in a context where he wasn't fighting for his life would be a new, interesting thing to explore. He looked around to see if they were really alone, even though Santana had just done it. "You fucking bet I am." He hesitated for a moment, looking right at  Santana as he thought about something. "And I've been wanting to try..." Matt said, and summoned Sydney. "Santana, this is Sydney, Syd, this is Santana." He gestured at the appropriate person/quokka when he said their names. "I hear folks fight with their familiars, right?"

Santana looked down. Oh great, a giant rodent. I love those so much. No. I don't. She thinks, looking at what she thought was a wombat. She sighs. "I don't have a fa-" she tried to say, but got interrupted by Daisy appearing from her tattoo to fight. Daisy does a victory happy moo, happy to be there. "Anyway..." Santana continue. "I don't have a familiar appreciation as most of the magic community has. But this is my emergency food I guess" She says pointing at Daisy. "Let's... let's just fight."

Matt could tell Santana wasn't into Sydney that much. He briefly considered sending her back to the Aether, but... it was pretty brief. His jaw dropped comically when the cow appeared, feeling a tug on his chest. "That's the most beautiful fucking cow I've ever seen." He stares for a few seconds, raising a brow at Santana's remark. "You're not gonna eat her," he said, sort of unsure. "But yeah, let's do this shit. Tell me if you're starting to feel like shit, okay?" Sydney hops over to stand right in front of him, as he begins to cast.

@Matt 🌊:  1d12+1  = (6)+1 = 7  @Santana 🐮:  1d6  = (4) = 4 

Santana sighs to Matt' reaction. Why everyone liked her shitty cow so much. "It's just a cow." She puts her arms in her hips, instead of putting a fight posture, and laughs a bit. "C'mon, you hurt me once after I was struck by a trickster bitch goddes, and you think you can beat me? You are in for a ride, Matt!" She says sure of herself, knowing pretty well she should start considering not believing she was always the strongest, but not doing it anyway.   

<<Lock,>> Matt casts, and he feels the flow of Santana's shadow towards his. Sydney's shadow also merges, but she doesn't flinch. She's standing on all four limbs, in as much of a stalking gesture as a quokka can manage, but he can see she's interested in the cow. Sydney takes a moment to tell her: 'You're gorgeous, Ms. Cow!' Matt chuckles for a second before turning to Santana again. "Yeah, yeah, I know you're the number one badass and you always kick my ass when we fight, but still, gotta be safe." He pictures the energy flowing from Santana to his shadow, and casts again. <<Drain.>>  

@Matt 🌊:  1d12  = (2) = 2  @Santana 🐮 :  1d6  = (4) = 4

Matt can almost feel the shadow slip from him, like he was grasping something slimy with clumsy fingers, and the shock of it kicks him back.  

Santana is too distracted with the familiars, looking at them in exasperation, and then she felt that draining feeling again. "Ugh" She complains trying to step down.  She couldn't run away from her shadow. But she had experience on fighting intangible dangers, she was an illusionist for god's sake. If you can't defend yourself from harm, attack as a defense. She illusioned Matt's shadow attacking him, trying to imitate what he did with shadows. Meanwhile, Daisy winked very fast, flustered by the compliment. "Thank you, quokka friend. I am very happy we can meet" she moos very slowly. Santana glares at her "What are you talking about?"

Matt's own shadow was attacking him. The pit of his stomach twisted into itself; this had never happened before. In the moment that it took for him to pull his arms over his head and panic, he realized it was likely an illusion, but his heart still pounded quickly against his rib cage. At the same time, Sydney and Matt answer Daisy and Santana, respectively. 'Too right! I'm Sydney. You're so smart! Matt had to ask me what I was. Not that he's not smart!' comes from the quokka's telepathic message, while Matt asks: "What do you mean, what am I talking about? Being safe is good, you know." Still shaken, he fishes for a mojo bag in his pocket, and blows some of the dusty contents towards Santana as he casts <<Run, it's fun!>>

@Matt 🌊:  1d6  = (4) = 4 @Santana 🐮 :  1d6+1  = (4)+1 = 5

Santana shakes her head when she notices she was about to tell Matt she was actually asking the cow. In what did she had become. She dodges what Matt is throwing at her. "C'mon piece of meat, stop talking and do something useful! Charge!" She says pointing at Matt. Daisy moos"You are so nice, quokka friend" With Santana's command, Daisy runs to give Matt a hug. If you though cows couldn't run, you were wrong. They were hornless bulls.

Matt huffed when Santana dodged the spell, and then yelped when he saw Daisy charging at him. She had been so adorable one second, and now he didn't question that she could kill him in a second. This was exactly like last year's July-a-thon, with only one cow. And her orders were to charge. She knocked him off balance, and some of the air in his stomach came out in a puff. "Beautiful and badass. Fucking amazing!" Matt said, completely sincerely. He couldn't resist giving Daisy a little pat on the head, before reaching in to coat a tiny pink bouncy ball in the same dust he'd tried to use earlier, changing up the casting. <<Those feet look like running feet to me!>>

@Matt 🌊:  1d6+2  = (4)+2 = 6 @Santana 🐮 :  1d6  = (1) = 1

Daisy put her head on Matt's arm with fondness, eyes closes, and did an appreciative moo for him. What a good man. Santana rolled her eyes. "Future hamburger, you can leave now, you know" She said, distracting herself again while Matt did his spell. She started running in circles, wthout any control. One thing was getting hurt, wich she wasn't ok with, but she kind of accepted as normal on a fight. but other thing was getting  humilliated. That wasn't cool, that's the type of thing she would do to others, not the type of thing she should suffer "Hey!!" She complained, "You- you!!" not knowing what to say in the moment. She keep running around, comically.

@Santana 🐮:  1d6  = (4) = 4 @Matt 🌊:  1d6  = (4) = 4

Matt couldn't help it, he started laughing at the utter ridiculousness of the spell, so much so that Sydney began hushing him. 'You're embarrassing her, stop it!' she said, even as she was clearly trying to hold back on some laughter. His spell faded as he lost his focus, and he wiped a stray tear from his face. "Fuck, sorry," he said, a bit breathless. "I really needed to try that shit."

@Santana 🐮:  1d6  = (6) = 6 @Matt 🌊:  1d6  = (2) = 2

Santana was blushing in embarrasement. "What a heartful apology after all the laughing you little shit!" She says preparing her revenge and illusioning Tina appearing of thin air, wearing sexy goth clothes and saying "Hi handsome" while winking to Matt and then exploting into  a million of bees. Then she though that might had been a little distasteful, but hoping it wasn't really.

Matt barely had time to stop laughing when Tina, of all people, appeared out of thin air. Aether fucking damn it, one of these days, hoping Santana would forget about his unfortunate confession would work based out of sheer will. When she burst into tons of bees, he covered his face with his arms, even though he was well aware it was just an illusion. "Fine, touché, hope you got that out of your system," he said, irritated even though he had just embarrassed the hell out of her too. Digging through his pouch, he fished out black poppy seeds to prepare his next spell.

@Matt 🌊:  1d6  = (2) = 2 @Santana 🐮 :  1d6  = (6) = 6

Santana laughs a little about her small victory, like a bitch. "Awww, c'mon don't get mad. How are things going with Tina? Planning on...confessing?" She says while illusioning whatever is on Matt's hands to explote into noisy fireworks. "You stopped using your shadow, why? It was going better for you." She genuinelly asks with curiosity.

Matt dropped the seeds in shock, and they scattered uselessly along the floor. He grumbled as he leaned down to pick them up. “I’m not angry,” he said, annoyed. “Things are going the way things have been going for a year. We’re friends, she’s probably not interested. I gotta get over it and I don’t know if telling her is the way to do that shit.” Not looking people in the eye while talking about his feelings was totally the way to go, right? He picked up the last of the seeds and shrugged at her next question. “I’m not great at keeping it up for fighting. I guess I don’t have much practice. Hoodoo’s safer, and easier.” Matt threw the seeds up in the air, in no way trying to avoid the conversation, nope. <<From this seed, confusion to feed.>>

@Matt 🌊:  1d6  = (5) = 5 @Santana 🐮:  1d6  = (3) = 3

Santana looked at Matt's expression. "You seem a little angry, though. Oh my, a year. That's a big crush. Why don't you tell her?" She says, as she didn't do the exact same thing when she had a crush on Marley. "Probably not interested sounds as you aren't sure, my friend. And as long as you aren't sure you are going to have some hopes for it. And as long as there is hope, the crush is going to stay" She knows she got affected by next Matt spell, still unsure wich way. Confusion? She was confused without spells. "Ugh...Safer, easier and not as effective."

Matt sighed dramatically. “I’m annoyed, it’s different.” And mostly he was annoyed at himself for letting the alcohol loosening his tongue that night. “Because I’m a fucking coward, alright? Because I was going to tell her, and then July-a-thon happened and I don’t want...” He gestured vaguely. “I don’t want to fuck it up.” Matt listened to Santana intently, still annoyed that he even had to deal with this. “So you’re saying I need to tell her or I’ll never get over this shit?” He raised an eyebrow and pointed at Santana. “Hey. Shadows are cool and useful as shit, but hoodoo is effective. I understand it a whole fucking lot better than I do the darkness crap. Knowledge is not something to be underestimated.”

@Santana 🐮:  1d6  = (4) = 4 @Matt 🌊 :  1d6  = (6) = 6

Santana walks dizzy to what she thinks is Matt direction, falling to the ground. "Different how so?" She asks, face on the floor, trying to stand up. "It's ok, you are talking with the resient coward.  I just waited long enough to hate the girl. You can also do my strategy of waiting for Tina to dissapoint you. But what, if someone had a crush on you, wouldn't you want to know?" She says standing up, giving two more steps and falling. "Alright, alright, hoodoo is also effective. Holy shit."

Matt watches wide-eyed, and yeah, amused as Santana flops onto the ground, keeping up the conversation like nothing was going on. "I guess you can be annoyed with someone but not mad. But if you're mad at something you're generally always annoyed. It's a degree thing." He keeps an eye on Santana as she stands up; he doesn't want her to be bleeding everywhere, or concussed or something. "I don't know if that shit works for me. I thought I'd gotten there, after that Field Studies with the monsters where no one seemed to give a shit we were split off like that. But she was--she--it didn't work like that. If anything, it's almost like she disappoints me less every time. I don't know if I'd want to know. I don't know how I'd handle that shit. Would you want to know?" Sydney flinches when Santana trips again, at the same time and almost comically similarly to Matt, and he takes it as a sign that he should stop it, so he rubs uncrossing oil against his skin.

@Matt 🌊:  1d6  = (4) = 4 @Santana 🐮:  1d6  = (1) = 1

Matt takes a series of small stones as the confusion spell fades and sets them in the shape of a cross in front of Santana. <<Cross o' stones, seep chaos into these skin and bones,>> he casts, as he backs away.

Santana keeps stubbling and trying to act as she has any control of the situation. "Ha, she what? Did she give a fuck? She seems very nice, it's easy to miss her bad side" She warns. "Specially when you see her with pink colored glasses. Oh, of course I would want to know! I love people  's adoration."  She takes validation from whatever she can, even if he felts unconfortable about it. She felt the confusion go away, followed by a feeling of chaos. "How dare you hurt me with one of the things I love the most?" She said, feeling betrayed and inner peace, hit with all the familiarity of chaos. Bad, incomplete illusions appearing around, with no clear form. She was getting a little tired. But Matt couldn't defeat her.

@Santana 🐮:  1d6  = (4) = 4 @Matt 🌊 :  1d6  = (4) = 4

Matt is still amused, although less so now that the confusion effect seems to be dragging on. "What do you mean, she 'seems' very nice? I don't see her with any kind of glasses," he says, defensively, even as he realizes he probably does idealize her. "Okay, sure, but doesn't that shit get weird? Doesn't the whole relationship change?" He's weirdly relieved to see his spells working, even if the whole thing is starting to weigh on him, a sheen of sweat over his skin. "What?" Matt stops to think for a second. "Chaos?" It makes sense, as long as he says it out loud, honestly. One of Santana's shapeless illusions pops up next to him just as he tries to prepare a new spell, the magic forming around it and fizzling out quickly. "Fuck," he says, while at the same time trying to play off the shock.

@Matt 🌊:  1d6  = (3) = 3 @Santana 🐮:  1d6  = (5) = 5

Santana tries to shake it off the spell's effects. "Metaphorical glasses, my friend. No one is as nice as they seem, that's it." She listen's to Matt's worries. "That depends, are you going to be weird about it if she says she doesn't like you? Or are you afraid she is the one who is going to be weird about it?" She says starting to get control of her illusions again, making spears appear agaisnt Matt.

Matt is extra suspicious. "Sounds like you meant something more specific." He feels very called out afterwards, too. "Yeah, well, it's my thing to be weird about shit. And I wouldn't blame her if--actually, no, I think I would blame her if she got weird about that and that's not fair, is it? She's got all the right in the fucking world to flirt with Brody. Or whoever else," he adds in hastily. Matt almost feels the air get knocked out of him from the spear, and he stumbles backwards. He's getting frustrated.

@Matt 🌊:  1d6  = (6) = 6 @Santana 🐮:  1d6  = (2) = 2

Matt knows this is probably not the time to try something new, he's tired as fuck, but also he wants to maybe find a way to end this sooner rather than later. <<By the Aether, let me deceive her,>> he casts, and illusions a wall of darkness around her, to give him a second to catch his breath.

Santana looks to the side, getting caught. "I am." Apparently she and Kurt were the only ones who saw some bad in Tina. "But c'mon, I'm not going to talk shit about your crush, you will notice it yourself, luckyly." Santana fucking knew he was a little jealous of Brody for the whole Tina thing. She knew it. Well, she really didn't knew it but she loved to act in her head as she knew things. Impressing herself or something. "Aw, you are jealous of Brody. So you two would get weird about it, uh. Well, then there is no other solution I guess. Never tell her, eat your feelings forever." She says sarcastically, jumping a little to the sudden darkness, believing it would be another strong shadow attack.

@Santana 🐮:  1d6  = (3) = 3 @Matt 🌊:  1d6  = (1) = 1

Matt lets out a breath, even as his rational brain tells him he doesn't even like to gossip about people who weren't Bloodlines, anyway. Let alone, as Santana said, talk shit about Tina. "Fine, you're right." He almost says something about how he gives a shit if Tina had done something to Santana, but then she brings up Brody again, and she's ridiculously, annoyingly right, and the thought is struck right out of his head. "You don't have to be sarcastic," he mutters, even though he hadn't listened to her not being sarcastic, and the darkness begins to fade around her.

Santana leaves out a giggle. Of course she is right. "I don't have to, but I can." She says and throws some illusory knives to Matt when she sees an opening in the darkness. "But c'mon, my dear! I'm a teaser, but you have my support on this! If it goes wrong or if it goes right. Some people say talking about feelings is good or some shit." She says with a grin.

@Santana 🐮:  1d6  = (6) = 6  @Matt 🌊:  1d6  = (4) = 4

Mike still wasn't so sure if battling Santana was a good idea. His ego was clearly damaged the last time they dueled and their friendship wasn't exactly in the best position at the moment. The truth was that ever since the New Year's shenanigans, his mind was more focused on getting stronger rather than making friends or taking care of the ones he already made. Working on all those things alone was a terrible decision. Now here they were and he just couldn't keep denying Santana's challenge. Armed with only his talismans, he waited for Santana to show up. Mei was present but she kept quiet and observed precariously. Maybe it was time for Mike to do some real growth for once.

Santana was glad the guy who said she was her friend finally decided to face her at something. She was more than ready for the fight. "The Kitten has decide to stop running away, uh?" She asks Mike when she saw him. "And you bring the big cat with you." She says while Daisy, the brown fluffy cow, appeared at her side for the fight. There was a point she just felt mildly exasperation about it, but she was starting to care less and less about it. "C'mon, hit me with your best shot, Exorcist!"

@Santana 🐮:  1d6+2= (1)+2 = 3

Mike smirked, that comment was well deserved because he really did avoid her for months. He took one of the talismans out of his pocket and whispered softly through the material of the sacred paper "Release!" 

@ Mike Chang:  1d6+2= (3)+2 = 5

Santana recieved the attack, without even dodging it. "My my, is this the best you can do? C'mon, at least entertaint your best friend with a little chat! What the hell do you think friends are for, bitch?"

@Santana 🐮:  1d6+3 = (1)+3 = 4

Mike sighed...not even a scratch? He really had lost touch with his magic. "Don't get cocky." This time he sent the talisman straight to Santana's feet. Mei stayed quiet and waited patiently for her cue.

@ Mike Chang:  1d6+1= (4)+1 = 5

Santana saw how Daisy put herself in front of the attack, still stink a bit, but wasn't much. "C'mon. Mike. What am I to you? What is a friend to you? Answer the fucking question."

@Santana 🐮 :  1d6+2 = (4)+2 = 6

Mike was faced with guilt as Santana kept on asking the same question. But he couldn't answer just yet. He wanted to prove he was worth it. He wanted to show he was more than a weak link. "Release!"

@ Mike Chang:  1d6+1= (4)+1 = 5

Santana was so fucking mad at people ignoring her. At Mike ignoring her. What the fuck, do you think I'm Mei 2.0? A fucking magical animal you use to train? She made an illusory blue fire agaisnt him. "I warn you. If don't answer me, next attack I will have no mercy." She said with cold anger.

Mike 's magic was unstable but his consciousness was not. Santana WAS his friend. And so was Mei. He was just so used to avoid conflict, to give the impression that he had the upper hand but that was just an illusion. "You're my friend. I'm just not sure that this version of me is someone you'd wanna be friends with."

@Mike Chang:  1d6= (5) = 5

@Santana 🐮 :1d6+2= (1)+2 = 3

Santana hold back her attack. "Just fucking talk to me and stop shutting me out!" She says annoyed. "What is this version of you? Do you think I can't make my own decisions about who I like as friends or not, that you have to chose for me?"

Mike was about to throw another talisman at Santana but when she stops, he stops as well. "How could I face you, Santana? I lied to you. I opened up to you plenty of times and yet never told you about the way my family treated people like you, people like Elliott. I could not look into the eyes of whom I considered my best friend here without thinking that I was part of the reason your people didn't feel safe."

@Santana 🐮: 1d6+2 = (1)+2 = 3

Santana tries to make another weak, blue fire illusion to Mike, just so he knows they are still fighting. "Like you are doing it now!" She rolled her eyes, "Oh please, miss me with that witch guilt shit. If your guilt only works to make ME feel worse so you can ignore me, your problems, and drink to cope about me or Elliott being the ones suffering shit, I don't need that guilt at all!"

Mike sends another talisman her way and whispers for it's release. "I guess we could call this a start." He knows Santana is right. He has no say in the way he or Elliott should feel. "I don't drink to forget. I drink because it is the only way I've known how to cope with myself."

@Mike Chang:  1d6+2= (1)+2 = 3

Santana smiled a bitch smile, she was still angry. "It's a start, indeed." She dodges the talisman. "Maybe you should stop looking so much at yourself and look at the world around you, Mike. What is holding you down? What's the thing you can't deal with?"

@Santana 🐮 :  1d6+2= (2)+2 = 4

Mike felt a change in Santana's qi. He dodges her attack. "Those stupid doors and all the things that have turned this place into a hell pit. And not being there to fight for what is right. For you!"

@Mike Chang:  1d6+2 = (3)+2 = 5

@Santana 🐮:  1d6+2= (4)+2 = 6

Santana gets attacked again by Mike. She is so overwhelmed by confidence in herself and her skills she doesn't even care. "Then be here now! Help us to discover what the hell are those doors!" She shouts, making illusions of stakes from the ground to attack Mike.

Mike tries to dodge the stakes but it's useless, he throws more of his talismans to the ground to try and counterattack Santana's attacks. "I will. Just let me get stronger first. I want to fight by your side not against you. Not anymore."

@Mike Chang:  1d6+2= (1)+2 = 3

Santana throws more stakes. "You don't need to be strong to help." Then she prepares an illusion on Daisy to have her wear a spiky cow armour. "Let's finish this! Charge!"

@Santana 🐮 :  (1d6+2)*2= ((4)+2)*2 = 12

Mike is attacked by so many stakes that he is glad he isn't a vampire. He simply surrenders to Santana's attack and smiles. "I know that an apology is just a bunch of words without any real meaning but I really wanna help you guys find what the hell is going on with those doors."

Santana gets closer to Mike, and offers her hand to indicate certain acceptance. "You know I don't care about apologies. But we really do all the help we can have with the doors. So welcome to the Fuck The Doors team, Mike. I'll send you the information we have."

Sam wasn't even sure what compelled him to want to train lately. It wasn't something he actively had done before but right now, he was just itching to do something, anything, to get rid of the feelings bursting inside him. There was so much he wanted to say and he was ready to let it all out. Maybe training with Santana today would help. Somehow her words had been making sense to him lately even if he was still in the midst of working to understand what it was that he should be focusing on. His head was filled with thoughts but no outlet to let them go. And somehow even though they weren't friends, she seemed to be the one person who got through to him. Bouncing on the heels of his feet, he waited for her to arrive at Undique.

Santana didn't like Sam company, but following the teachings of her family, sometimes you have to team up with people you don't like to get things done. She had worked with way worse people, Aad she was willing to do whatever she has to do to get things done. Sam has the resources and seemingly the will to help, and she wasn't going to let that go to waste. She swallowed her own feelings and cordially greeted Sam. "Hello, Sam, are you ready to train? I was thinking about practicing a non-aggressive, non-hurtful way of fighting style, if you are up for it" She explained, while leading the way to the private room she booked for today. Talking alone would be best.

Sam nodded when he saw Santana, "Hello." He greeted as they began to walk towards the room.  "I'm more than ready, although I should let you know my magic has been shaky at best since what happened. So your idea may be just the ticket." He wasn't about to admit how much he did not want to fight anyone, to hurt anyone, but the fact was they had to be ready for anything. And if he could do that without causing harm to anyone else, then he would do whatever he could.  "What are some of your ideas?"

"Shaky?" Santana asked "How so? Shaky in what sense?" She didn't know much about witch magic, or know of any way that they could become 'shaky', but she wanted to. "Since Brownstone or since New Year?" She said, unsure what he really meant. If the doors did something to Sam's magic too it would be important to know. She faced him on the battle ground. "My idea is simple" She illusioned a heavy armoured warrior with a spear, face hiden, in front of Sam and with his same height. "Try to fight without getting hurt and without hurting the warrior. It would be all illusions, so it will be a safe practice"

Santana:  1d4 +2  = (4)+2 = 6 Sam Evans:  1d6  = (5) = 5    

Santana tried to make her illusion less realistic and strong, so it was really a practice and not a competitive fight. Considering Sam magic was shaky and hers stronger, she tried to not use all her capabilities, but still it seemed way too good of an illusion. Maybe she had to practice to control her powers too. The warrior put his sword up and waved it at Sam chest.

Sam tried to think of the best way to explain it. He had been having difficulties getting anything to work correctly and how he wanted to. "Since Brownstone." He said, his voice cracking slightly when he said the word but he quickly pulled himself together. "I haven't been able to create strong results with the spells I use. For example, if I try to use water jet, imagine a stream of water from a nerf gun. It should come out fast and quick. But it's like a trickle when I do it. And I haven't been able to heal properly either. I've had scrapes and things I tried to fix but for whatever reason, the healing doesn't come." He looked at the warrior and decided to give her a glimpse of what he meant with the water jet. It would only hit the sword and not the warrior, even if it was just an illusion. He activated his magic circle, which sputtered slightly before activating. <<Water jet, hit this sword out of the warrior's hands.>> Instead of a stream of water coming through quick, the water took time to get the sword and even then it wasn't powerful enough to stop the sword from hitting his chest. He winced slightly but tried to shake it off.

Santana was a firm supporter of chatting while training. She was on the side, observing Sam’s fight agaisnt her illusion. She listened to his explanation. Bold of him to assume she knew what a nerf gun was. “Did something like this ever happened to you? It’s your magic connected somehow to your feelings? Or it’s something else?” The only time her magic was erratic was this New Year and that one time Rachel Barbra Berry sabotaged her audition, but witches magic migth work different. “Have you talked to your parents about it? They might know more, since you share the same magic” Santana nodded to Sam trying to disarm the warrior, but it would had to be stronger than that. “Not bad, but he is still armed” She said, stricking another attack.

Santana:  1d4+2  = (1)+2 = 3 Sam Evans:  1d6  = (2) = 2

Sam shook his head, concentrating on the warrior but also trying to focus on her questions.  "No, never before that night. I never had a problem with it." He knew how his magic worked but with all of the feelings he had been going through, he couldn't concentrate on one enough to focus on how to really control his magic. "Yes, it's connected to my emotions. When I really want to fix someone, I'm supposed to be able to heal them. When I want to defend myself, I should be able to create strong bodies of water. When I want to defend other people, it's the same case. But lately I've felt stuck in that I don't know if I can do any of that. Like I betrayed it." He finished just as the new attack came. <<Water rope, wrap around the sword and remove it from the warrior.>> He tried to pull the sword out with the water rope but it ended up snapping and just getting him wet. He groaned in frustration. "No, I haven't told them about it. I...I already let them down the second I became a murderer."

Santana never liked how it sounds the concept of ‘fixing’ someone, but let it slide. “You think that if you try, you will make things worse” she said, knowing way too well that feeling. “So you rather not try again, or play it the safer way possible” She had try again and again really risky strategies that never worked, and on occassions, she concluyed that doing nothing would be better. “That no trying would be better. But that means to think that the problem will take care of itself, that other person would take care of it.” She keep trying to weaken her illusion warrior, but it was still too realistic, the image, the sound, it was like it really was here. She always tried to do her illusions to the maximun of her power, so she never noticed she couldn’t do a bad illusion. “Why telling them this will be letting them down?” She asked while her illusion attacked Sam again with the sword still in its hands.

Santana:  1d6 +2  = (2)+2 = 4 Sam Evans:  1d6  = (4) = 4

Sam had no idea how she managed to get it so well and he sighed, "How is it the most frustrating person in my life is also the one who seems to get it the most?" He said, not caring at all what he said. Somewhere deep down he probably should but at the moment the sentiment was true. "Play the safest way possible, without hurting anyone. Without causing them harm and if harm comes to be, then so be it. I deserve it." He got ready for her next attack.  "So in essence, it would be like I would be waiting for someone else to handle the problem when I should do it myself." He tried to understand what she was saying.  "Because we're supposed to be healers. Supposed to defend people. To help people. And that night, I went against every single part of who I was. Who I'm supposed to be. I should have seen they needed my help and instead, I let fear take over." He was so angry, so upset, that when he activated his magic circle, he cried out <<Tidal wave>> and even though it didn't come out as strong as intended, it was still strong enough to push the sword out of the warrior's hand.

Santana felt something off, like noticing a crack in a perfect illusion ”Frustrating?” but quickly she went back to the issue at hand. “Playing it safe is just an illusion. A cushion. There is not a single way to solve problems that always works.” If there was, she would love to know. “Tell me, Sam, I know you regret doing things wrong, but haven’t you ever regretted not doing something? To not try to solve a problem?” She walked a little bit around the battle scene.  “In essence, yes. And if harm cames to be, it rarely comes to just one person” She said, already feeling like she might do the situation worse. “I don’t want to burn out the kind of people who get things done. At the very least, I want to support them with all my might. Don’t you think so?” She illusioned the sword getting away from the warrior’s hand, seeing Sam’s spell would had worked. She didn’t understand what is wanting to be what you are supposed to be, or be angry at failing to follow the path. “It’s not that night anymore. Don’t forget the past, but don’t let yourself be stuck in it either” her unarmed warrior went to punch Sam’s face. Just getting rid of the sword wouldn’t be enough.

Santana:  1d6 +2  = (5)+2 = 7 Sam Evans:  1d6  = (4) = 4

Sam nodded his head and sighed, "Yeah, the whole Field Studies debacle when we all voted you out. I regretted not doing something differently then. And another Field Studies, we left someone behind even though someone else was with that person, we still left them behind." He admitted.  They were regrets he had and he knew Santana was not one to believe it but she seemed genuinely interested in what he had to say.  He understood what she was saying. Not just one person ended up hurt in an attack and it was better to fight for everyone than just sit around.  "Yeah, I do. Supporting others is the way to work together and get things done. Like New Year's. Japan, even though we didn't get to fight back, you still were working to try and do something and we were all going to fight together." He was just rambling now, letting the words roll off his tongue.  "How can I not be when everyone reminds me of it every chance they get?" He was distracted by the question and didn't see the punch in his face.  He winced at the pain in his nose, shaking his head. He had to remind himself it was an illusion but wow that warrior packed a punch.  He called out, <<Whirlpool, swirl around this warrior.>> He created a whirlpool in the hopes that the spinning would leave the warrior feeling confused.

Sam Evans:  1d6  = (4) = 4 Santana:  1d6 +2  = (1)+2 = 3

Santana keep walking around in circles. She listened, not exactly knowing what to say. That she was voted out shouldn’t matter now. It was just a little grain of sand. Why getting all worked out for a grain of the desert of not being welcome. She just listened until the part about supporting others is the way to do it. “Sometimes you have to carry others, too” she just said. She bited her lip at her second ‘you tried even when it wasn’t enough’ of the Japan trip. Everyone though that, right? But she coudln’t not try. Not doing something was the hardest thing to do for her. Not noticing where she was walking, she unceremoniously fall to the floor slinding with the water. She step up again, not answering Sam last question. “When you don’t try solving a problem, only two things can occur. One, It doesn’t get solved and people might get hurt. Two, someone else has to solve it, having to let the burden to another. But...” She said, while the warrior strike another punch to Sam’s face. “If you try, a new possibility opens up to those two: You help solving it. This can only happend if you try”

Santana:  1d6 +2  = (2)+2 = 4 Sam Evans:  1d6  = (3) = 3

Sam listened intently to what she had to say. It was true that carrying others was important.  How do you carry others who don't want your support? "And if they don't want it, I just try anyway?" He asked, since he was getting somewhere he thought. It was still easier said than done but she had a point, he couldn't just give up and fall away.  He noticed her sliding on the water but didn't find any satisfaction in it. Instead, he felt...bad. Annoyed. She wasn't the one he was targeting, why did that happen? He shook it off and focused on the warrior.  "Trying is hard but that's life, right?" The warrior hit him again and he was getting frustrated. He briefly thought of a water net but then mentally shook his head. No, he wasn't doing that. Instead, he put his hand out, <<Bubbles, splash upon this warrior's face.>>

Sam Evans:  1d6  = (1) = 1 Santana:  1d6 +2  = (4)+2 = 6

Santana shrug “I have to admit it’s most complex than a simple yes or no question. You will have to decide depending on the situation... but I can propose a situation for you, a situation were you have to lead, if you are up to take it the risk” She said, hoping it won’t ruin things. “That’s life, indeed” The warrior wasn’t affected at all by simple bubbles, of course. The illusion went to punch Sam in the stomach this time.

Sam knew that life was about risks. And he had been wanting to do something to make things right every since this all started. He looked over at her suggestion and in the time he did, the warrior got to him.  He left out a loud, "Oof" knowing there would be a bruise later. Maybe if he concentrated enough he could heal it.  "What do you suggest?" He asked her as he decided to go all out and try to trap the warrior. He might as well do it even if he was seriously getting tired now.  The urge to protect himself was growing and he did his best, <<Water whip, knock this warrior down.>> He watched, hoping the whip would work for him.

Sam Evans:  1d6  = (2) = 2 Santana:  1d6 +2  = (1)+2 = 3 

Santana had a big breathe before saying it. “Uncovering the truth about the doors. What I asked you long ago” she admited, waiting for his reaction before explaining her idea. She wasn’t even focusing in her illusion right now, and having it practically in automatic. The illusion ignored Sam’s water whip and keep punching him. “Be careful” she said, noticing it a little late. 

Santana:  1d6 +2  = (4)+2 = 6 Sam Evans:  1d6  = (2) = 2 

Sam found himself startled at the mention of the doors and it allowed him to be distracted enough that the warrior got a few more punches in.  "Ouch, ugh, wow you're strong warrior. Hold that thought, Santana." He said and as tired as he was, he focused on the warrior and replied, <<Water splash and knock the warrior back into a puddle.>>   

Sam Evans:  1d6  = (6) = 6 Santana:  1d6 +2  = (2)+2 = 4 

Santana tried to controle her own illusion close up, recieving a slight damage from the water splash. The illusion was knocked up, but standed up again. “You caused harm, wrong move, Sam. You just have to defend yourself” But it was not so much, the illusion went to attack Sam again. “You can use a bad outcome to do something good. Now your name is relevant, even when it’s for an awful thing. But people talk about you, Sam. You have a plataform now. You might not be listen to, but you would be heard. You can start the spark that might bringth the light of the truth to the darkness of ignorance. If you want to. Do you?” 

Santana:  1d6 +2  = (3)+2 = 5 Sam Evans:  1d6  = (4) = 4

Sam winced and found himself so frustrated, he groaned out, "How can I possibly win in a fight if I try not to cause harm? That's my goal but how do you..." He paused, knowing that's what she was talking about. He had to find a solution, something that would give him an advantage while maintaining ground against his opponent.  As the warrior got him once more, he activated his magic circle and called, "Water shield." He brought up a barrier between himself and the warrior.  "I do want to be heard. I do want to do good." He looked over at her. "But we need proof. I won't be listened to without proof, especially when we don't know who could be involved."

Sam Evans:  1d6  = (6) = 6 Santana:  1d6 +2  = (2)+2 = 4

Santana sighed. She wondered if he would get it by himself. And he did. The illusion could do him no harm. She sighned even more at the 'but’ attitude. He said the same about the Onsen, of course he would say that of the Doors. But she wasn’t going to surrender. She shouted over the magic shield. “There is no evidence left! You don’t have to be listened to, just heard! A spark of rumours, people talking about it! And it has to start with you! You are the only one who can start it, Sam!” The illusion keep attacking Sam, and Santana hoped the shield will still resist. 

Santana:  1d6 +2  = (6)+2 = 8 Sam Evans:  1d6  = (2) = 2

Sam could feel his confidence in the training waning, but at least he knew that he wasn't directly hurting the warrior. He had done it. He had listened. But of course it was still too powerful and broke through the shield, causing the water to fall against him and lead him to the ground. Laying there for a moment, he panted before looking over at her. She had a point. If he wanted to make things right, then he had to fight.  He would fight. There was nothing to be scared of.  "Okay.  I'll do it." He agreed, taking a moment to try and get his bearings.

Santana vanished the illusion, noticing Sam looked way too tired to continue. “Not bad you can work more on your Abjuration, probably Rachel can give you some useful tips, she is excellent at it.” She walked to be next to Sam. “This might be questionable, but... there is always programs about...” About killers. They had a following. People wanted to heard what they said, their morbid curiosity loved the to hear the details of a tragedy. And then you connect what you have to say to goverment incompetence. And then you talk to the first time the doors appeared. That was her original plan. But it was too disgraceful. Too her style. “No. I told you enough. If you believe this is the right thing to do, if you think people deserve to know the truth, even when it’s hard for you to do... then you’ll do it your style. Now it’s up to you.” She gave him her hand for a handshake. “Good training. You might need some healing...time to check that powers of yours”

Sam took Santana's hand to shake it before standing up the best he could, but he was so tired. "You mean the public speaking people do? I thought about it. Even watched one guy whose drunk driving killed his friends. Honestly, it just sounded like me, me, me. But I'll look into anything I can." He really found that he wanted to do this. Sam wanted an answer to the doors. Why had they come back again?  "Thank you." He dug into his messenger bag and found the star sticker that had been in his Grimoire. He put it on himself and lifted his shirt slightly, pressing a hand to his stomach.  <<Heal>> He could feel the need to want to heal himself, but it wasn't completely coming through. So the bruise only turned red, but didn't completely go away.

Santana raised her eyebrows. “Just... whatever you can do to help” it was in his hands now. Not that she would stop trying other ways, of course. But she really hoped Sam would help. “I... that doesn’t sound... driving drunk is not- is not the same.” She tried to explain, uncomfortable by the comparision, but more uncomfortable to have to talk about it. She tried to, but she decided to go instead, just nodding at the thank you. “Uhm, see you around, Sam, I-I have to go, good luck with the healing!”

Kitty arrived to Undique Stadium on Monday. Brother Hunter's baptism was weird but like he was always a little off. Being a bloodline was like that. Kitty pulled off her sunglasses when she got to the room to deal with another upstart New Age. The last time she was here, Trashy Cohen-Chang threw her off, but this time, Kitty was sure to win. She held onto her cross pendant for support. The Lord would grant her a win. She wouldn't be tempted to lose control.

Ryder and his familiar, King, were already waiting in Undique. He'd added another hour onto the reservation for the training room, just in case. Though he knew it wouldn't take that long to knock the Wilde girl down off her high horse. 'You won't go too hard on her, correct?' Ryder sent the elk a look as the doors opened. "Hey," he said as Kitty came walking in. Wow, she was short. "Do you need to warm up? Summon a familiar? Pray?"

Kitty pulled a face. What was that thing? A big deer. "Warm up? God didn't need a warm up and I don't either." She blew on her freshly done nails to make her point sharper. She gave Ryder a vaguely irritated look. He was another boy. She didn't have to exert any scheme on him. Boys were simple.  "I've already prayed, Tinder 3." She didn't want to summon Alena, though she had a feeling her familiar would sneak up somehow. <<Heavenly Father, I’m but your humble servant, lend me your power. Fill your holy vessel with your magnificence. Alena, I summon you under the grace of God.>> At Kitty's call, a small fish floated around in a bubble of water Kitty created within her palm. "Can we get this over with? Your familiar smells like a barn."

Ryder "Just asking," he said, putting up his hands. His brow furrowed at Tinder 3. What did that mean? While Ryder was trying to stay in the right mindset for a duel, he was distracted by the fish that popped up in a bubble. No, he thought, don't be fooled by cute animals. "And yours has no sense of smell," he shot back. Ryder and King walked across the floor to take their spot on the other side of the arena. "Ladies first," he said.

Kitty: 1d6  = (6) = 6 + 1 for familiar use Ryder: 1d6  = (2) = 2 

Kitty pouted at Ryder's comeback. "Fish can smell, Barn Boy. They have nares." Kitty said snootily. She gave Ryder a fake smile for his annoying chivalry and went to her side of the stadium. The faster she knocked down these New Agers, the better. She had to get stronger before she could own Tina Cohen-Chang. If this werewolf boy was giving Kitty an advantage, Kitty would take it. Only idiots gave people a chance to hurt them. <<Heavenly Father, I’m but your humble servant, lend me your power. Fill your holy vessel with your magnificence! Flood and freeze him!>> Kitty shouted, sending a torrent of rain down onto Ryder. As the water hit the boy, Kitty froze it. "Alena, show him what you got, bitch!" Kitty commanded her angelfish. Do I have to? Alena said sadly as she flowed between the raindrops and lightly slapped Ryder on the face. "Now leave," Kitty told her familiar. She wasn't going to have her goody-goody two shoes familiar around to patronize her.

Ryder thought, Shit. I forgot about nares. So much for that comeback. He grimaced at her spell phrasing and how she called on God's magnificence. At first, the rain had no effect. But the she froze it and it stung at his skin, making him wince. "You made the fish slap me," he said sadly. Ice magic was something he'd wanted to grow into using, but it was still out of his specialty. Maybe his heart just wasn't as cold as Kitty's. "Nice move," he said, wiping the rain off.

Kitty replied, "You were the one who said she had no sense of smell!" She wasn't totally defending Alena, her dumb familiar. No freaking way was she doing that. She saw her freezing rain wasn't affecting him much. Was he a stronger affinity than her? Kitty growled behind her lipstick. She already lost once to an electrifying lesbo. Big Daddy God wasn't going to let Kitty fall for the same trick twice. She dropped to her knees and started praying. She grabbed at her cross pendant.  <<Heavenly Father, I’m but your humble servant, lend me your power. Fill your holy vessel with your magnificence, let my spirit be yours, my body nothing, let it bear all wounds, all pain, all death, for my place is with you in Heaven, shed me of this mortal sin… >> She starts the ritual, not caring if she was going to be hurt during it.

Ryder: 1d6  = (6) = 6 Kitty is preparing and rolls a 0. Takes full 6 damage.

Ryder started to gather water from the side of the training room. Bringing it to King's head, he let the water mold to his antlers. Even with the water to keep from totally bludgeoning Kitty, this was going to hurt. King was already running across the room (reluctantly) in order to headbutt the girl when she got down onto her knees. "Don't kneel during a fight!" Ryder shouted at her, but it was like she didn't hear him. King had too much momentum to stop and even Ryder winced when the two collided. "Okay, that was worse than a fish slap," he winced.

Kitty: Holy Beam - 1d50  = (22) = 22 Ryder: 1d6  = (6) = 6

Kitty continued to cast despite getting impaled by an uggo deer. It's okay, if I die, God will protect me. This pain is nothing for a martyr of His Grace. This was what I deserve to be pure again.  She pressed her hand tighter on her cross enough to cut into her palm. <<And let my body burn up in your light of Justice, oh Heavenly Father!>> Her body went into a trance, bending backward. A brilliant white flash burst from inside her like an explosion. It was a circle of light shooting out of Kitty that struck Ryder. After the light passed, Kitty gasped as she woke up from her trance. It hurt so bad. Her body was abused from the inside by that mighty holy power. But did I win? Lord, do you believe me when I said I made a mistake with that girl?

Ryder watched her pray, wondering if it was to be healed. King returned to his side, the water falling from his antlers. They shared a brief look at the words 'light of Justice.' In the next moment, Ryder finally knew what it felt like to be smote by God. It was something he'd imagined would happen after leaving the church and becoming a witch. Now it was truly happening. Nothing had ever burned so much. That angry white light was the last thing he saw before collapsing to the ground as King dissipated into the Aether beside him.

Kitty got up on her feet. Her hands were blackened from the blast. I'm getting better at it. Papa said not to do it but what does Papa know? What does Mama know? They're idiots who think they know how to control me. Little by little, Kitty knew she was going to be stronger. "Oh fuck," Kitty slipped as she took a step. "Frick. Fick. Free...Oh free." Kitty looked nervously up at the ceiling. She knew the Lord heard her. In front of her was the new age witch. The werewolf boy. Lying in a loser heap on the floor. She smirked before the pain was too much and she had to grab at her side. Her phone, where was it. She wanted to take a picture to commemorate. But is that a good idea? Kitty sighed. "What the heck do you want, Alena?" Her familiar was floating in her water bottle on her side of the stage. Kitty controlled the water to flow up from the bottle so she could see her familiar face to face. You already showed him what you can do. Alena moved her gills. Kitty frowned, pursed her pink lips. "So what." Alena swam in a circle. You didn't show him everything. You should heal him, Katherine. "Ew, stop calling me Katherine! That's so old! Why should I heal him." Kitty crossed her arms and glared at Ryder on the ground. It's what the Lord would want you to do. Love thy neighbor. "My neighbor is Quinn, and she's never around for me to love." Kitty uncrossed her arms. She glanced at Alena. "Do you think she would?" Alena didn't say anything. Kitty grumbled and placed her hands on Ryder.

Kitty rolls to heal 1d15  = (10) = 10

Kitty <<Heavenly Father, I’m but your humble servant, lend me your power. Fill your holy vessel with your magnificence. Mend his bones. Cleanse his spirit. Rid of his smell.>> Kitty saw her hands glowing blue-white. The light left her hands and entered Ryder's body, healing him.

Ryder opened his eyes to a warmth on his body that was the opposite of the burning he'd felt moments - years? - ago. "Holy fuck," was the first thing he said. He sat up off the floor and shook his head free of the cobwebs surrounding his mind. "That. Was. Epic!"

Kitty shrieked when Ryder came alive with an exclamation. Did new ages not know manners when coming back from unconsciousness? "What the heck, stop creaming your pants, you weirdo." Kitty pulled her hands away and scooted away from him.

Ryder laughed at that, pushing back onto his feet. He didn't feel 100% but he felt 10/15, which was pretty good considering he thought he'd just seen the white light of death. Wait, students couldn't die in school duels. "You're a total bitch, but damn that's a good attack." Maybe he should've stuck with God after all. Ryder threw up a little in his mouth just at the thought. Nope. "What do you call it? The Last Thing You See?"

Kitty wrinkled her nose. "And you're a moron and your attacks, your familiar, and everything about you sucks." She stared at Ryder's enthusiasm blankly. She tried to look for Alena but that bitch floated or swam away into the aether. "No, it doesn't have a name! Stop making one up!" Kitty argued. New ages are all total psychos. She got up steady to her feet and decided walking away from this was way smarter. No wonder Sister Quinn was a genius. She didn't deal with loser lusus witches draining her IQ. "I'm leaving, you're so weird!"

Ryder shrugged. "I would've had you if you didn't pull that bomb out on your second attack like a coward," he mused. "It's a good name though. You should use it." Maybe then she could just say the attack name instead of kneeling down to pray and opening herself up to a hundred different attacks. "Thanks for the heal! We're having a rematch! No bombs!"

Rachel had no idea what to expect from her training session with Lauren Zizes. She only knew what she'd seen online about the girl. She didn't even really know what her magic was about, what her skills were other than running multiple blogs. But that was also exciting to Rachel. It was nice to have an SP again. Rachel at least hoped that this would work out. She got to Undique first and waited for a bit before she saw Lauren walk in. "Lauren hi!" she said excitedly. "We should probably start by choosing our codeword so we can summon each other. Is there anything you'd think would work well?"

Lauren had a lot of things to do instead of wasting her time on this, but she figured that she could cut it it out fast so in the future it would be the less inconvenient to her. She took her gym clothes on a bag just in case, and Reneesme insisted to come. She glanded at the big transparent octopus hanging on and moving its tentacles. Her homework forced companion greet her. "Hi" she responded back without animosity. "No. Don't call me. Let's do this the bare minimun the school asks for. I don't want to be here more than 1 hour."

Rachel frowned. "Lauren, I get the feeling you don't take this seriously. Being in a socius pactum is a serious thing. We have to be able to count on each and rely on each other. The first part is that we need to be able to summon each other when we need to if one of us is in trouble," she told her. "We don't have to be here long, but we do need to decide on a code word and train a little bit so we can see how our powers interact with each other. Can you do that?"

Lauren nodded. "You know why? Because is not serious. I didn't came here to 'count' on people. If I'm in trouble, I won't call you. I'll call the cardines or 991." She was here to stop a wedding and to met the love of her life. This didn't help in any of that. "That's our code word. 911. My powers don't want to interact with y-" The old man that only she could see started to try to touch Rachel's hair. "D̡̳͔o̹͓̺ ͙̞̩y̱̞̣o̗͓̕u̜̩ ̹w͓a̴͇͖n͔̬̯t̼̪̀ ̬̗̣t͏̹̱e̸̱̩a̛͖̗ ̟͙̀a͟ǹ̩͍d̟̬̀ ͉͙͓c̶̯̲o̰͍̺o͓̖͙k̖̼͝ie̼̟̹s̛̞̩?̰̙̘" He says, but she doubts Rachel would hear anything, except maybe feel a sudden chill. Lauren looked unimpressed.

Rachel was going to snap back at Lauren when a chill suddenly ran over her. She almost felt like something was... touching her hair? But there was nothing there. Rachel took a step to the side to get away from the cold feeling.  "Great, 911 is our code word. That's a good start. But we have to be able to fight together too, Lauren. Can't we just try? What kind of magic are you strongest at? I'm best with abjuration."

Lauren glared at the old man, expecting him to explain to her wich one was abjuration. The old man look at her with his empty eyes, not giving any answer. "Why do we have to fight together?" She had her wrestling days, but she could see the girl in front of her wasn't going to wrestle. She was asking about what kind of magic. What kind. Lauren was supposed to be the magic one. "Do you know wrestling?"

Rachel shrugged. "I... well, there's been a lot going on in the world lately, as I'm sure you've noticed. This whole socius thing is to help us better protect each other, I guess?" she told Lauren. "If something bad happens again, we can team up together to protect each other. I think that's why they're making us do this. But to be able to protect each other we have to make our magic work together," she added. "I don't know wrestling, no. But I'm a fast learner, if that's part of your magic?"

"In what world I would call you for help when I can call Cooper Anderson?"Lauren asks. "Not in this one." Lauren noticed a bit of doubt on Rachel's. "You think?" She thinks that's the real motive of doing this, but she doesn't sounds sure. "If something bad happends: run. Call the police. I'm a writer not a bodyguard." The octopus get out of her bag while slowly approaching Rachel. "No. It's just wrestling. I'm a medium." She was frankly not interesed in Rachel's magic. "Look. Let's do this. I invite you to my party at my dorm this saturday, all hot people coming, and you don't bother me more about this."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "The Cardines aren't always there when you need them. Nor are they usually reliable at all," she told her. Rachel was going to give up. Frankly, Lauren kept fighting her on the training question and it didn't seem all that worth it. But, if there was something Rachel Barbra Berry never did, it was give up. She had a flash of an idea and smirked at her socius. "Fine, how about we decide this way: a coinflip. If I win, you train with me. If you win, we don't train." Of course that wouldn't be an issue. Rachel always had luck on her side.

Lauren is offended, but her voice only sounds slighly angrier than before. "Excuse me, did you said the cardines aren't reliable?" Apart from 'Do you even know about Cooper Anderson', did this girl expected a college student was going to be more reliable? She picks up a coin. "Heads, I'll leave without training. Tails, you leave without a fight." She says, throwing the coin the the air.

Rachel raised a brow. “Yes, I did. I’ve had my fair share of run-ins with them to confidently say that,” she said. Rachel bit her lip at Lauren’s bet. She probably thought she was going to win this without training, but Rachel had a trick up her sleeve. “Sounds like a deal,” she said, watching as Lauren threw the coin in the air. She focused her luck magic just on the little coin. She made it so that the coin fell right on its side. It teetered for a second, looking like it was going to fall one way or another. And then, it stayed straight up, not falling on heads or tails. Rachel looked up at Lauren with a smirk. “Looks like we’re having a fight.”

Lauren reflected on her own words and annoyance. Rachel wasn't completelly off. It was true that everytime she called the cardines, asking for the most handsome one to come, they never brought Cooper. That's the exact definition of not being reliable. Now, this girl said she spend a lot of time with the cardines. That picked her interest. "Are you a criminal? Have you ever been arrested by Cooper Anderson?" She wanted to ask what she had to do to be so lucky. She even regretted the win-win coin situation, noe thst she knew Rachel had information, but when she looked down, the coin was on an almost impossible position. "This can't be...it must be fate." Lauren whispers. This was clearly a sign. A sign, showing her the way to her true love Cooper Anderson. And Alyrical Berry was goibg to be her fairy god mother guide. "Looks like it. You can start." She didn't know anything about magic fights and she figures Rachel was going to be her mentor figure on all this.

Rachel frowned. “No, I’m not a criminal. I’ve just... run into the cardines often,” she said. She was sure Lauren would have been angrier about the outcome of the coin flip, so she was shocked when Lauren told her to go ahead. “Okay, then. Let’s do this. We’ll just do warm-ups so we can see how our magic works together,” she said. She summoned her magic circle and started singing the classic <<Don’t Rain on My Parade>>. She figured a small sound bubble would be the best way to start.

@Rachel Barbra Berry Corcoran 🌟🦁:  1d7+1

Rachel attack Lauren + affinity advantage = (2)+1 = 3

t!8ball Can you show her my magic?

|  My sources say no, Lauren.

@Lauren 13/13:  1d6 -1

Lauren counter against Rachel's attack = (2) -1 = 1

Lauren insist. "Why?" She wasn't going to let this one go. "Wich Cardines? Anyone in particular?" She knew half of the cardines of New York by name already for how many times she called. They also knew her by name. At first she was a little defensive about Rachel. Lauren knew a bit about her when she searched some information to vote. She knew Rachel had a main character story, and Lauren didn't like that. But she was a mere victim of internal misogyny that pit women against each other. They weren't rivals. Rachel was her to teach Lauren, as her own headcanon told her. Now, she could admit. "I never actually properly fought with my magic. Sometimes I had to fight, but..." She shrug. Probably her ways weren't the ways Rachel expected. Ghosts weren't reliable as her fists. Alyrical started singing, and the wave of sound hit Lauren. The noise give her a headache like no sound made by the living ever made her feel. "That hurts!" She complains. "Are you one of those strict abusive teachers that show their cruel methods were actually good in the end?" She deadpan asks. Then she tries to show her powers. She looks at the old man she can only see. "Can you show her my magic?" She asks, empowering the old man. He smiles, but he doesn't do anything else. The rascal probably planned to keep this energy to do whatever other thing he wanted to do. "He says no."

Rachel shook her head. "No, no, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you! I just thought you'd defend yourself. I'm sorry," she said. "Who says no?" she asked with a frown. "You said you're a medium. How does that work, exactly?" she asked.

Lauren noticed how Rachel tried to dodge the cardine question. "You're trying to dodge the cardine question. Do you work with them? Have you meet Cooper Anderson?" Lauren looked at her bag, trying to find some pills for headache pain. "Do you assume people can defend themselves of sound? Then sound pollution won't be a problem. Duh" She sees the octopus in the ground, poking her with its tentacles. "(Ask more clearly.)" The voice of Reneesme tells her. Another voice only she can hear. Lauren tries again. "I talk with the earthbound spirits. Can you show Rachel who you are and what you want?" She casts again, her magic circle pointing at the letters forming the question.

t!8ball Can you show Rachel who you are and what you want?

|  Don't count on it, Lauren.

/r 1d6 -1 +1 #Attack to Rachel with +1 for familiar

@Lauren 13/13🐙2🎲+2:  

1d6 -1 +1

Attack to Rachel with +1 for familiar = (1) -1 +1 = 1

Rachel frowned. “I... I don’t work with the Cardines. I’ve met Cooper a couple times in class, but that’s it. Why are you so interested?” She asked. “There are ways to defend yoursef from sound attacks, trust me. I can show you once I know what your powers are,” she told her. She watched as Lauren cast her spell and had her magic circle waiting to counterattack, should anything happen. She waited and watched, her head tilting when nothing happened. “Are the spirits supposed to materialize?” She asked.

Lauren knew Rachel was hiding something. Maybe something that would need to be revealed on later chapters of her life. But still, she was impatient. "You said you encountered the Cardines a lot. And that they aren't capable. Where did you met them? You never met Cooper working as one? We're just destinied to be together." She casually mentions. The dead was always bothering her, except when she actually wanted them to do something. "They don't materialize. They act. But they do whatever they want to do. It's like trying to tell children to listen." She looks at the old smiling man. "I don't need you. I can get better. But you can't." She says, taking her phone to record the sound around. She points at Rachel's feet, as his beloved would do."This place is haunted." She informs, and her magic circle shines. The spot where Rachel is cursed now, as it attracts spirits. She can see other spirits aproaching them. Most of them young adults, but the old man gets closer. They aproach where Rachel is. There are 5 of them now. She wouldn't be able to notice anything, but she won't feel safe there.

“Yes, well, a lot of weird stuff has happened in my three years at NYADA. The Cardines interfered. Like every time the doors attacked us, all the Saltus disasters. The Cardines have gotten involved every time. That’s all I meant,” Rachel told Lauren. She watched as Lauren cast her spell. She looked around, trying to see what would happen. All she could feel was an uneasy feeling encroach on her. It was like someone had poured cold water down her back, but so much worse. She activated her shield to try to protect herself. She knew it was the spirits, even if she couldn’t see them. The feeling she bad was still horrible. Hopefully the shield would help./r 1d7+1-1 #counterattack to Lauren

@Rachel Barbra Berry Corcoran 🌟🦁:  

1d7+1-1

counterattack to Lauren = (5)+1-1 = 5

Lauren wonders why Rachel talks as she knows what she's talking about. Is just like when she talks with the spirits. Everyone of them is cryptic and is like they expect her to do all the work of understanding what they mean. She is not for it. "Are you always this non-explicative? Did Cooper got involved?" She didn't really care about anything else. "Now, Can anyone of you show this girl the proof of your existence?" She asks the ghosts.

@|Lauren 13/13🐙2🎲+2:  

1d6 -1

 = (2) -1 = 1

t!8ball Can anyone of you show this girl the proof of your existence?

|  Don't count on it, Lauren.

“Yes, he was involved, I guess? Why are you so interested in Cooper?” Rachel asked, looking around her as the sense of unease grew. “We need to focus on our magic. Cooper and the Cardines don’t matter,” she said, clearing her throat. She was still maintaining her shield, but it was becoming difficult. She could feel herself trembling, goosebumps forming on her arms. She sent out a blast from her shield, hoping it would... stop the spirits? She didn’t even know what she was trying to do, she was just gripped with fear.

@Rachel Barbra Berry Corcoran 🌟🦁:  

1d7+1-2

a real counterattack this time lol = (5)+1-2 = 4

Lauren is really dissapointed in everyone wasting her time asking question that can be solved glancing at her blog for one second. "I told you. We're fated to be together. You are witnessing a story of True Love." She slightly smiles for once. But her expressionless face quickly returns. "I don't care about our anything. I'm here for Cooper. And you are going to be my ally." She informs Rachel. She recieved another wave of noise and pain. "Agh. You still haven't told me how to defend myself of these things." She can't really hold out much longer. "Can anyone shut her up?" She casts, touching her forehead with one hand.

@|Lauren 13/13🐙2🎲+2:  

1d6 -1

It can't fucking be another bad roll ok = (5) -1 = 4

t!8ball Can anyone shut her up?

|  Yes, Lauren.

One of the ghosts puts her hand over Rachel's mouth, and firmly grasp it.Ooc. You cant see it but u can sense it!!

Rachel didn't even know what Lauren was talking about anymore. She could barely concentrate as the sense of dread grew to an almost unbearable level. And then she felt something grasp her mouth. She screamed—or at least tried to. She dropped her shield, unable to maintain it anymore. She stepped forward, trying to get away from the  spirit. She flailed her arms at Lauren, hopefully communicating clearly that she wanted her to call off the spirit.