; the prophecy

@lunarcovestarters / open to all

"Who made the potato salad?" Bess turned to the person next to her in line and shoveled another mouth full of the potato salad. "Don't point. I need to know if they're available for friendship." She smiled and nodded.

josie stepped out of boba cha with her drink in one hand and her phone in the other, already distracted by a string of texts she probably should've ignored. she was so focused on typing out a reply that she didn't notice someone approaching until it was far too late. her shoulder collided with theirs, and suddenly her freshly purchased brown sugar milk tea was no longer in her hand. "oh shit!" she yelped, watching in horror as the cup went airborne. the lid popped off mid-flight, sending tea and boba pearls scattering dramatically across the sidewalk before the empty cup clattered to the ground.

"oh darn it!" for a long moment, josie simply stared at the mess, looking like she'd just witnessed a personal tragedy. then her gaze slowly lifted to the stranger she'd run into. "i'm so sorry. i didn't mean to bump into you. i just-- i got really distracted with summer break."

"Oi watch—" Dhruv looked up just in time to witness the drink launch itself into the air in what could only be described as slow-motion tragedy as boba pearls scattered in every direction. "Well shit." Both of them stared at the mess in equal surprise, though when his eyes met hers, she seemed more devastated than anything else. "No, no, that was partially my fault too, sorry," he said, slipping his phone into his pocket. "I was texting and walking. A terrible combination." He blinked slightly in confusion at what she said, "Sorry, what? Summer break caused this?"

josie's face somehow managed to fall even further, if that was possible. she let out a tiny, embarrassed laugh as she looked down at the exploded boba decorating the sidewalk. "oh! no, not this summer break." she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, already wishing the pavement would swallow her whole. "i teach kindergarten. i just... every year when school lets out, my brain decides to take a vacation too."

she crouched down to rescue the now very empty cup, giving a defeated little sigh. "i swear i'm usually better at walking and talking. well... maybe not talking." a sheepish smile tugged at her lips before she looked back up at him. "how about we call it a mutual accident? you were texting, i was apparently daydreaming, and my poor boba paid the ultimate price."

"no offense taken." she sighed, "to be honest, i didn't really know there was a whole town of supernaturals when my friend told me we were moving cross country. or that supernatural being actually existed until today..." she shrugged, "guess they were smart to leave me behind then." she looked over at the siren curiously. "i'm just a little shocked is all.. i don't mean to be rude or stare. you're just... the first mermaid i've ever seen. and also like really really hot so it's almost as distracting as the tail."

"uh, yeah, they said they had friends here.. so, i thought it would be fine. i guess i could've stopped in new york and done the typical thing but i guess cove style felt more natural." she shrugged softly with a light laugh. laughing it off felt better than staring at the sea sad about it like she had been. maybe it was just the courage of talking with a stranger that made it easier to deal with. "two months?" she asked, eyes wide. "that's a long time... i've never been away from home or anywhere more than a week for family vacations." she said, "i guess now i'll stick around here. must not to be too bad if you came back, yeah?"

"Come join me, and I can tell you all about it." She patted the rock next to her, then leaned her hand down into the water, letting her fingers brush the soft waves. "The water's perfect."

hesitation filled her spirit. a mermaid-- no siren? oh, how was she to know the difference between... was now beckoning her over. and here feet were moving through the sand before she could process what she was doing. she paused just as the water hit her feet.

"oh- i don't know." she replied, hand rubbing the back of her neck. anxiety filling her now. but, then something else began to bubble. "uh... okay." she said as she walked through the water and to the rock. perching herself next to the creature. "so, uh, you're like a mermaid?" she said, eyes finding her tail. it was beautiful yet so intimidating.

Hearing someone else speaking, Will paused his book and took out one of his headphones. Then he followed the woman's gaze to the lighthouse. "Like a sea monster?" he asked. He couldn't imagine that there was anything left in the world that hadn't already been called to Lunar Cove. From the moment he'd arrived in what had seemed to be a sleepy seaside town, Lunar Cove had proved to be anything but: it was bursting with life, and witches magic were only the beginning. In just a couple of months, he'd gone from not even knowing magic existed at all to meeting vampires, pixies, werewolves, banshees, and sirens. Maybe that should have been frightening, but he just found it exhilarating. If the lighthouse turned out to be some sort of monster in disguise, luring people in to town, well then it would certainly make for an excellent plot twist. "Do you think that's likely?" He could just about believe anything now.

josie peered over her shoulder at the other with a soft smile, "maybe." she shrugged. the possibilities were now endless in her new world. but, she couldn't make herself leave as much as it scared her to stay. she couldn't actually make herself leave town now that she had her brother back.

"have you seen a sea monster before? i've read about krakens and giant whales... but i hadn't actually ever thought about one coming this close to shore."

"¡Jueputa! Qué mala suerte," Lupe cursed, backing up a few steps as milk tea and boba sprayed her shirt and jeans. She didn't mean to sound so frustrated, and it certainly wasn't at the person she'd run into, but she was already having a bad day and this was really just the last straw. "No, no, I'm sorry," she eventually said, tugging her sleeve up to wipe down at least the front of her shirt. "I didn't mean to curse at you. That was probably my fault." Her eyes went down to the sad looking cup, rolling around on the ground, now empty. "Can I buy you a new one? As an apology?"

josie immediately shook her head, offering the other woman a reassuring smile despite the tragedy currently soaking into the sidewalk. "hey, it's okay, really. i don't even know whose fault it was, but i definitely wasn't paying attention either." her gaze flicked to the tea stains on lupe's clothes and she winced. "honestly, i think you're the bigger victim here. at least my shirt survived." she laughed softly before tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "that's really sweet of you to offer, though. are you sure? because i feel like i should be buying you a new shirt instead."

Deciding to take this opportunity as a vacation, Simone started exploring the quaint little town. Her first stop, of course was for food. Since she didn't have any shoots coming up, she could loosen her diet a tad and not worry about having to do a juice cleanse for three days if she gained an extra pound. Just as she was about to walk into a promising boba shop, a meet-cute unfolded in front of her, clumsy heroine and all. As the cup did gymnastics in front of her, Simone stepped slightly to the side, avoiding any splashback as the tiny boba pearls bounced off the sidewalk. She had a satisfied grin as she thanked her pixie luck keeping her designer outfit safe. Pixie, which she'd just found out she was, outside of the larger label of fae. The romcom lead in front of her popped Simone out of her bubble as she spoke.

"Oh, you're fine, it happens all the time," Simone said gracefully, not offering any help as she brushed off imaginary milk tea. She squinted at the woman in front of her. "Summer break? From school?" Maybe there was a Benjamin Button type of fae here too, where kids look older than they're supposed to be? "Wait, how did summer break distract you from walking?" Simone asked, before she could think better of it.

"i'm a teacher, kindergarten." admittedly, she got the comment a lot. apparently being five-foot-nothing and having a face that still got mistaken for a college freshman wasn't helping her case. "i promise i'm a fully functioning adult. i even pay taxes and complain about them." she would have to bump into the prettiest woman she's seen since arriving in town.

she glanced mournfully at the remains of her drink before sighing. "and summer break distracted me because it means i no longer have twenty tiny humans asking me seventeen questions at once for eight hours a day. my brain's still adjusting." her shoulders lifted in a small shrug. "i got a text, saw i had approximately a hundred unread messages, and immediately forgot how sidewalks work. embarrassing? yes. but in my defense, i haven't had a single thought to myself since september. i'm sorry again..."

Malcolm wasn't naive enough to believe that these reunions, if they were ever to happen, would be joyous. In a perfect world, perhaps they could have been. There would have been no pain, lies, or betrayal. There wouldn't have been a mystery shrouding his death. But that wasn't the reality they were living in. There had always been a level of secrecy in their relationship. Malcolm had shielded Josephine from their hunter lineage. He would face their fathers' expectations if only to ensure his sister would get some semblance of normality.

Protecting her meant she was now staring at him like he was a ghost, rising from a grave he did not dig.

The initial pushback cracked Malcolm. His heart felt like it was made of glass, fragile and ready to crumble at any given moment. The hurt that was laced in his sister's voice was a sound he never wished to hear. He only knew joy from his little Josie. His arms had always been a place where she felt secure. Now here she was, barely even hugging him back, treating him like someone she didn't know.

It was her tears that shattered him. His heart was scattered into a million broken pieces. He had tried to protect the ones he loved, but by doing so, he ended up hurting them. "They buried something." His throat tightened with emotions he refused to let free. "I know. I was dead to dad. He wanted to make that known." It was an odd feeling watching your funeral from afar. Malcolm had hidden in the shadows on that dreary day. He remembers his mother's tear-streaked face, mourning a son she knew was alive but could never see again. His father looked disgusted rather than sad, knowing what his son had become. A disappointment. A disgrace. A monster.

And Malcolm? Well, he watched as the person he once knew was put six feet under. A life that was once his was now a distant memory. Josie was right. He had died. The person she had grown up with was killed the moment he had turned into the very thing he was taught to destroy. In the ashes of tragedy, he was born into something else. Perhaps the closest he'd ever be to his true self.

There was so much to explain in such a short amount of time. A whole world had been hidden from his younger sister, and now she was thrown into it without a single warning. "It's a long story," Malcolm didn't even know where to begin. "What are you doing here? How did you hear about Lunar Cove?" His older brother curiosity and concern jumped in, not that he had any right to it in the moment. "I .. I'm here because this is a safe place for supernatural beings. I am ... now classified as one of them." His words were careful, slow, as if the truth would be harder to believe than fiction.

josie stared at him like the world had tilted off its axis. like if she moved too fast, the whole thing would collapse in on itself. her chest hurt so badly she could barely breathe through it, every word out of his mouth landing heavier than the last. dead to dad. funeral. supernatural beings. monster. the phrases tangled together until she couldn't separate one horror from the next.

and the worst part was that it was him. his voice. his face. malcolm. her brother.

"stop asking me questions like you didn't disappear for years," she managed finally, though her voice cracked halfway through it. there was no bite to it anymore, just hurt. raw and ugly and impossible to hide. josie wiped harshly at her face, frustrated by the tears that would not stop coming. "i don't... i can't just..." she shook her head quickly, like she could physically throw the conversation out of it. "you don't get to stand here and act worried about me when i buried you."

the words came out shakier than she intended. she hated that. hated how small she suddenly felt.

her arms folded tightly over herself, protective more than defensive now. josie couldn't even fully look at him for more than a second at a time because every glance made her stomach twist. there were pieces of the brother she remembered in every expression he made and it only made this worse. because she wanted to be angry. she was angry. but underneath it was this awful relief that made her feel sick.

"i came here with a friend..." she admitted quietly after a long silence. "away from mom and dad. they brought me here as far away as i could get.." her eyes flicked back up to him then, red-rimmed and disbelieving. "then they left me here. alone."

another silence stretched between them before she laughed once under her breath, humorless and unsteady.

"supernatural beings," she repeated softly, like the words themselves sounded ridiculous in her mouth. "malcolm, do you hear yourself?" but even as she said it, there wasn't conviction behind it anymore. not after everything she'd already seen since arriving here. not after him standing in front of her when he was supposed to be dead.

josie swallowed hard, blinking rapidly again. "i don't even know who you are right now... what you are right now."

Emira nodded along as Josie continued on. Her life had drastically changed in the last few months. Suddenly, her problems went from trying to get promoted at work or finding time to do what she loves to now making sure she doesn't die when a hellhound is unleashed. You know, little things like that. Although her life hadn't been normal from the start. Her dad only made her believe that the things she felt weren't more than what they actually were.

She could tell this girl wasn't bluffing, that she genuinely had this sensation. It wasn't comforting in the slightest. "Oh great," Emira nodded, mostly mumbling to herself. "So it's inevitable. I guess you're giving me some time to prepare for the worst ... or the best, so thanks for that." The witch looked to her, digging her toes deeper into the sand. "I don't know if it's okay with it. I think they've just gotten used to the feeling of something lurking around the corner."

"honestly, i'm still trying to figure out if all of this is the worst or the best too." because what was she supposed to call this? terrifying? life-changing? insane? all of the above?

her brows pinched slightly at the other woman's words. gotten used to it. josie couldn't imagine that feeling ever becoming normal, but maybe that was easy to say when she'd only just had her entire reality ripped out from under her. "i think that's the part that freaks me out the most," she admitted quietly. "everybody here acts like danger is just... background noise."

she let out a slow breath through her nose, shaking her head once. "where i'm from, if something feels wrong, people leave or freak out. here everybody just stays and learns how to live with monsters lurking around corners apparently. guess in time i'll get used to it too?"

"I'd say it needs another lighthouse, but that'd be a bit too much, wouldn't it?" Rae Elle asked. Overkill. Too bright, especially if the rotation of the lights got out of sync. "I guess it's got a job to do that's a little solitary."

Rae hummed. "I get that, sugar. It's hard. Everything that's been goin' on ain't easy even if you have been in town for a bit. I can't imagine how it feels bein' new." She wondered how new this woman was. It was one thing to be new to town; that was bad enough. But there were frequently people who were new to this world. "You got any folks here? Friends? Family? That always makes the adjustment easier, I've learned. Hard to be a lighthouse when you got folks to lean on."

josie let out a quiet laugh at that, though it lacked any real amusement behind it. her gaze drifted back toward the lighthouse for a moment, watching the slow sweep of light across the water. "yeah. i think one is enough. any more than that and it'd probably drive everybody insane."

her shoulders lifted slightly in a half shrug before falling again. tired. heavy. she looked like somebody carrying far more than she knew what to do with. "i actually just reconnected with my brother," she admitted after a second, voice quieter now. uncertain. "or... something like that." the words tasted strange in her mouth, not even close to enough to explain what had happened. "it's not exactly going well."

josie pressed her lips together briefly, eyes dropping toward the ground. "and the friend i came here with kind of just... left me here." abandoned felt too dramatic. too honest. but it sat in her chest all the same. "so i guess right now i'm not really leaning on anybody."

There was something dreamy-eyed and wistful about the other woman that Rae Elle didn't quite want to disagree with. A bubble she didn't want to burst. It was just a lighthouse to her, but she'd been living with magic, actual magic, that the mundane world made by people around her wasn't really magical. To her, there was magic in nature. There was magic in the earth that she'd sank her fingers into and pulled from the ground. A lighthouse, though, was just a lighthouse.

"I s'pose it looks a little lonely out there by itself. Singular tree still standin' in a forest. This one's just got a big light swingin' around." Rae breathed out a soft laugh. "Oh, I think this town's way more than all that." Not always in a good way. "What's got you feelin' all contemplative, sugar?"

josie let out a small breath at that, eyes drifting back toward the distant sweep of light as it cut through the dark again. “yeah… lonely,” she echoed, but softer, like she wasn’t entirely sure she meant the lighthouse anymore. her arms folded loosely across her chest, more for comfort than anything else, thumb rubbing absently at her sleeve.

she hesitated when rae asked, her mouth parting like she might say something real—something heavier... but the words never quite made it out. instead, she gave a small shrug, gaze dropping to the ground for a second before lifting again. “i don’t know… just feels like everything’s crazy lately.” a faint, almost apologetic smile tugged at her lips. “i think i’m just… adjusting. new place, new everything.” another pause, quieter this time. “it gets kind of lonely, you know?”

"Bonjour." The gentle promise of summer's approach offered longer hours of daylight, filtering now through the windows, and while the steady flow of shoppers had waned by this hour, Ignacio was busying himself with tidying. Idle hands were dire things, he had learned long ago, and by keeping busy, not unlike a bee, he did not need to linger on the gloomier clouds gathering over Lunar Cove. Looking up with his broom in-hand when he heard the little bell over the door jingle, the pixie offered a smile. "May I help you find something? It is the season for orange blossom honey.

josie hadn’t meant to get distracted the second she walked in, but the soft golden glow of the jars caught her eye before anything else. she drifted closer almost instinctively, fingers hovering near one of them like she might absorb the sweetness just by proximity. “oh!” her voice came out quieter than intended, a small, almost sheepish smile tugging at her lips. “you had me at orange blossom honey, i’m not gonna lie.” she glanced up at him then, a little more grounded, though her attention kept flickering back to the display. she brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, shifting her weight as she remembered why she’d actually come in. “i’m... uh, I teach in town,” she added, gesturing vaguely like that explained everything. “i was thinking about bringing my class somewhere different for a field trip, something hands-on, you know? but now i’m kind of thinking they might just watch me buy out your entire stock.” a soft laugh slipped out, a hint of something warmer than she’d felt in days.