#sequel: storms

11/8/24

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It was just a few scant months ago that Issac Riley and Anna Kahale met with a literal lightning strike. A lot happened very quickly, and the both of them are still adjusting to the changes in their lives.

Anna has to learn to control her newfound magic, and Issac has to deal with the drastic changes to his life from finding out he was the legendary magical figure known as the Master.

Kevin Anderson is still at large, leaving the both of them in grave danger, especially Issac, as he’s still recovering from his last encounter with the dangerous witch hunter.

This is made much worse as threats from the far past are returning, and quickly… And as the first Master in centuries, it’s on Issac to deal with them, and defeat the returning Darkness before it gets too strong. Can he handle the pressure, even with Anna’s help, or will he crack under the strain, and potentially doom the world with him?

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Rules: Post 7 lines (or paragraphs, or whatever!) of your WIP, then tag 7 people!

“We can figure that out later; I’m in no state to act yet anyway; we have to wait a little longer regardless, so there’s not need to rush that. But I feel like you’re not listening to what I’m-”

“It doesn’t matter,” she says over me, and I lean away from her, rather taken aback, “it was one stupid little thing over nothing. It’s not something we need to dwell on. Dwelling on fights- especially stupid fights- is dumb. Like, if Makala and I had focused on every little fight we had about nothing, we’d have broken up much sooner than eleven months in, you know? It’s just not a big deal; forget about it.”

“Anna-”

“Just forget about it.”

“Anna!” I gasp, “I don’t know if I’m going to survive this! I don’t want- I don’t want this to end with something like that between us! Please talk to me! Don’t just forget about it. I want things to be genuinely okay between us, and I don’t feel like they are.”

She’s very quiet, and I can tell she’s staring at me for nearly a minute before she speaks, “… Issac J. Riley, you are not going to die. When’s your next appointment with Dr. Everhart?”

“It’s Friday, but that’s not even remotely the point, Anna,” I say, shaking my head, “I don’t want to die, I just- I’m scared. After how easily I went down, and just how close to death I was, I don’t know that I can survive this, regardless of what I do. I’m just… I’m trying to be prepared for that possibility.”

tagged by @indecentpause to share seven snippets!

Long, so Under the Cut. Also from a few different WIPs! Because seven snippets is a lot!

One, from Sleepless:

My sword meets Zias’ and the force of the clash sends me skidding backward and I gasp for air, blinking quickly at him.

“You’re slacking today, Jack.” He says, smiling, and laughing slightly. “That normally wouldn’t have got you like that. Rough day at school?”

I keep my sword up defensively, staring at him. He’s talking, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we’re pausing in practice. “You could say that,” I say faintly, and his smile immediately falls away.

It was. I got reprimanded in AP Calculus for not paying attention, and the teacher didn’t at all care that I already knew the material.

Because I’ve taken this class before. So she called me out in front of the whole class, and took my poetry note pad. She didn’t even give it back at the end of class, so both my arms, from my wrist to the inside of my elbow are covered in tiny red writing.

And it was just second period, so I was more than a little stressed for the whole day.

“Please don’t make us start over in grade nine again after this. I’m so tired of high school.”

“Well,” he lowers his own sword, “for what it’s worth, you’re probably too old to pass as ninth graders at this point anyway, but you’re still too young to not be in school.”

“Hey, if we can pass as seventeen, we can pass as eighteen. We- We don’t have to be in school.” I relax out of the fighting stance, since he did. “Please, I don’t…”

Two, from Foggy Press Radio:

It was Halloween night, and Noah had his costume’s hat off and was fidgeting with it in his lap while he waited for Lucian to get back, when Haley sat down next to him.

“Your date ditch you?” She asked, fiddling with her tiara in her temporarily pink hair, “I still can’t believe you went with Pokemon rather than dressing as Finn to match me and Liz.”

“I didn’t feel like being the third wheel to Bubbeline,” he responded dryly, “And Lucille offered to make the costume for me; so why wouldn’t I?”

“Lucy’s running around as Elesa, isn’t she? I thought I saw her.”

“Yes, she is,” Noah muttered, “She loves matching costumes. Jenna is dressed as Iris. And no, Lucian didn’t ditch me, he just had something to go do. I’m just waiting for him.”

“I love,” Haley said, elbowing him, “That you didn’t even deny that he’s your date. Hilbert.”

“I’ve given up on that argument,” he put his hat back on, fixing his bangs under it, “and unless you want me to call you Bonnibel, don’t call me Hilbert again. Besides, when I played, his name was Noah. He is the player character, after all.”

“Oh tch, you’re no fun, Noah.”

Three, also from Foggy Press Radio:

Liz stares at him for a long moment before continuing like he said nothing, “Ghosts are a very broad topic, and one that deserves to be looked at on a more individual level, but for tonight, we’re doing an overview of the whole subject. The history of belief in ghosts and ghost hunting, and even a little fraud thrown in for Noah, because he is right sometimes, even if he’s an idiot about his boyfriend.”

He just sighs, staring down at the floor, while Haley bursts into giggles.

“You know, No, she’s right. You are an idiot about Lucian. When I dated his sister last summer-” Liz scoffs, but Haley presses on like she didn’t, “I saw a lot of him, and I’m poooositive he misses you.”

“He was at our house on Monday,” Liz says, “so I think that’s being worked on, but Noah’s still an idiot; because he definitely wants Lucian to be his-”

“Shut up Liz!” he snaps, leaning forward on his knees with both hands crossed to cover his eyes, and she stops talking at once.

“Noah? Are you okay?”

“Just move on,” he mutters.

Four, from The Fair Folk (ohhh I haven't even introed this one):

People are staring; who wouldn’t at the nineteen old kid waiting for a bus with two instruments and a large suitcase?

I’ve always hated people staring at me; hated attention and the spotlight. Every competition won, every round of applause had me sprinting off the stage as soon as I knew I was safe to. 

The only thing I had to turn to for comfort was the very thing that put me on that stage in the first place. It was inescapable. It even reshaped my body as I grew up with it.

I look at my hand, trying to ignore the staring of strangers. My fingers are twitching, yearning to touch an instrument to ease this anxiety. My long, calloused fingers and muscled palm; hands that literally grew differently for having been a musician growing up. 

“Do you know how to play both of those, Mister?”

“Not a Mister,” I say reflexively, glancing down at the kid, who can’t be any older than three or four, “and yes, I can.”

“Oh, sorry Miss!  That’s cool though!”

“Not a miss, either kiddo,” I say, smiling despite myself, “it’s Mx.”

“Oh! Oh! You’re non-binary? Mommy’s sibling is; it must be cool to be however you want. I like being a girl but boys get cooler toys.”

I don’t bother correcting her that I’m agender specifically, and instead just crouch down next to her and grin, “I’ll let you in on a secret,” I stage-whisper, “you can be however you want too. There’s no reason you can’t play with so-called boy toys ”

“Really?”

“Absolutely,” I say.

Five, from Eyes Wide Open:

“I wish you weren’t involving yourself in this…” I say softly, and she scoffs. “I mean it, Mia. I wish you weren’t. You… you weren’t born into this like the rest of us-” I push my bangs back to show the tattoo there for a second. I intend to get that removed eventually, if I live that long. I refuse to have them marking me forever. “You could have- should have been able to just… live, but…”

“Well, my life was never gonna be free of it all. Even if it was just in the way all of you were affected, or the precautions for if something like this did happen. It’s never been normal, and I’d MUCH rather hang with you and make sure you’re not on your lonesome than maintain some false sense of normalcy.” She shakes her head. “I don’t wanna be normal if being involved lets me help my favorite big brother-cousin.”

“You’re too goddamn nice, Mia…”

“Great!” She laughs. “Can you tell that to my history teacher? He seems to think I have an attitude problem.”

I snort. “Maybe that’s because you do. Don’t talk back to your teachers if you want them to like you, Mia.”

“I’ll stop talking back when he stops being WRONG!”

I laugh into my hand, actually smiling. It’s been a while since I laughed, like, for real. Mia’s good at that though, making me laugh.

Six, from Storms (Anna's perspective):

“Yeah,” he starts tapping his fingers on the table whilst taking a long drink, “Thank you for letting me help, Anna. Issac wouldn’t have. He still thinks of me like the helpless fourteen-year-old I was when our parents died.”

“Hey, you’re still a kid Ethan. It’s his job to look out for you.”

“You’re only three years older than me,” he says dryly, “It’s weird for you to call me a kid. Maybe more like two and a half, depending on when your birthday is…”

“Sorry, anyone still in high school is still a kid to me.”

“You’re nineteen!”

“I’m twenty in May,” I say with a grin, “I’m closer to twenty than eighteen. You don’t get to claim half years with me, kid.”

“Ugh,” Ethan puts his head down on the table, “I still don’t think the age gap between us is significant enough for you to be calling me a kid.”

Seven, from Storms (Issac's perspective):

I immediately regret walking away once I do, having to hold myself up on the railing at the top of the stairs. No one else is up here. Ethan is at work, and Lexi is supposed to be at a friend’s house. If I- If I finish going up the stairs, I will be alone. I don’t want to be alone, but I know Anna isn’t following me, because I hear her voice, with her talking to them in the dining room. I don’t really know what she’s saying, but she’s not coming after me.

I sink slowly to sit down on the steps, trying to breathe slowly. What am I so scared of anyway? That Anderson will somehow be around the corner when I go up these last two steps? That’s patently absurd, and I know it’s absurd. So why is my heart racing? Why am I stopped here on the steps, starting to cry again like a goddamn little kid?

Tagged by @blind-the-winds

Wow, sometimes for these I only get one or two words, but these set was a jackpot hahah. 

return — 17 instances

Why would I say that? It’s… it’s true, but it’s ridiculous. It’s been two years since we broke up. And it was my fault. I should have gotten over this by now. I have an amazing girlfriend, and I don’t want to jeopardize my relationship with her, but-

But Evan is always going to be a What If. A painful What If that I can’t seem to let go of.

I need to at least be honest with Anna about that, but… god, I don’t know, it feels so trivial to bring up, with everything else that’s going on.

‘Hey Anna, I know that a force that has previously and probably wants to commit mass murder again is returning, but I should probably tell you that I’m not completely over my Ex-’

Absolutely not.

home — 54 instances

I wish he would have stopped me. That he would have asked me not to go, to slow down and just stay home. Go to the Seattle Campus. I wish he would have asked me to not grow up so fast. If- If I hadn’t… if I hadn’t rushed out into being an adult, before I was even actually eighteen…

If I had been here, then maybe he would be alive.

Evan would have understood. We… at the time, we were sure we would be married. That was always on the table, from our first date, technically. Evan doesn’t date just for the sake of dating itself, and… honestly, I can’t imagine that either.

That aside, he’d have understood. He was more nervous than me to leave home and have been happy to stay for a little while longer. It could have been okay, and maybe… maybe we wouldn’t have fallen apart. I wouldn’t have been impossibly grief stricken and burying it to the point where I was snapping at tiny little things. Yelling at the smallest upset.

rest — 41 instances 

Just breathe, Issac. That’s become mantric over the last months. It’s the only thing I can effectively do to cope. It’s just… too much to deal with to do anything else.

Just Breathe. The pain will pass. You’ll get through this. One particularly awful hour shouldn’t dictate the rest of your life.

As much as I tell myself that, I know damn well that trauma doesn’t work that way. And even if it did, the physical injuries from it probably won’t get much better than they are now. Ever again. And that’s the optimistic outlook. Dr. Mendoza hasn’t put it into such stark terms, but I know my quintessence reserve is permanently damaged. And it could easily get worse again.

There’s not much known about what happens when a reserve is permanently damaged like this. It happens so rarely. Being stuck alone with a Hunter as long as I was and living to see the consequences is unprecedented.

Even now, just sitting here doing nothing, my head is pounding, and my whole body aches as it begs for Quintessence that it just can’t hold on to.

safe  — 24 instances

“… Will you though?” He says softly, “Because- I’m sorry- but even before things got worse, you had basically stopped improving, and now it’s not… it’s not like you’re low on tessence due to all this. I’m no medical expert, but I have a lot of practice with tessence sight too, Issac, and you aren’t lacking it; you’re just… I don’t know, it almost looks like there’s no clear barrier between you and the environmental tessence. And with that… like… any little upset in the tessence could hurt you. Badly. And that’s not even saying anything about how obvious you are magically due to all this. You’re the one trailing tessence now, and with Anderson-”

I suck in a sharp breath, rocking back in my chair and quickly shaking my head. God no, please don’t mention him Ethan. No no no-

I can’t stand to think of Anderson at all. I just stay inside where I’m safe and try to forget him being out there somewhere. I can’t afford to think of him.

My gaze focuses on the glass sliding door in this room that leads out to our back patio, like I’m searching for someone to be hiding in the trees in our backyard, even though it would be impossible for Anderson to get there without us noticing. It’s impossible. Relax. He’s not there. No one is there. Calm down.

Storms Tag List: @a-wild-bloog

I was tagged by @zmlorenz​ with the words door, water, snuggle, and care

Door — 109 instances

My back is pressed against the front door as I try to get my bearings, and I know I need to go upstairs, get my binder off- I’ve been wearing it too long- and get some rest so I’m not a complete wreck for Christmas tomorrow.

But… I don’t trust myself to move right now. My head is spinning and my stomach lurches at the thought of moving. The dizziness is so bad that I’m genuinely nauseous.

Water  — 17 instances

“Is…” he draws the word out, leaning towards me slightly, “there anything I can do to help?”

I idly press a key on the piano, quiet for a long moment before answering. “No, no. I really think I just need to sleep. For like, a year.” I laugh faintly. “But- But thank you, Ethan.”

“Nothing? Not even like, filling your water bottle or something?” He reaches behind him and grabs my half empty bottle from where it’s been all week on the nightstand. “Have you taken your meds today?”

Snuggle  — 1 instance

“Oh, Issac, I’m so sorry.” He says softly, and I practically launch into a hug, holding as tightly to him as I can. His arms are likewise around me instantly, and he starts gently rubbing my back as I cry and snuggle in close. “You look like you’ve been through a lot…”

It sounds like he’s on the verge of tears, and I twist the fabric of his button down shirt in my hands, taking gasping little breaths between sobs.

Care — 97 instances

I was barely cut out to take care of myself as an adult. I was… I was probably going to need some degree of support for my entire life, and I don’t have that. I haven’t for two years, and it gets harder every single day, and it’s fucking impossible now. I just… I just want my parents back. I want someone who can help me and reassure me that it’s going to be okay.

These examples are all just “Issac is having a bad time in Storms”

Tagging: You, if you see this. Your words are: Glow, Cup, Rain, and Stop

tagged by @47crayons

He mumbles something to himself that I don’t understand, and it seems like he’s going to speak to me a few times, but ultimately doesn’t, instead holding up a hand towards me, presumably telling me to wait.

I have to fight back a smile. So, he isn’t entirely unlike me. I suppose as my reincarnation we would have some things in common, and in this case it’s an inability to properly string together words when under duress.

Rules: use this quote generator & list as many quotes as you like using characters from your WIPs, then tag as many people as quotes you listed.

Tagged by: @artbyeloquent​

I had WAY too much fun with this.