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RAVENHURST 1ST YEAR CHAPTER ONE: ORIENTATION


Ravenhurst ST

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The weekend back home was bittersweet. It was glorious running and climbing through the mountains she had grown up in, reinvigorating her after a week in a new school in a new state... that was also magical. But while Ravenhurst may have made sure Kaitlin's father could support himself while she was attending the magical academy, he wasn't doing much better.

Kaitlin picked him up in his drunken stupor and got him into the tub to clean himself up. While he was doing that then shuffled into his woodworking shop to get some work done under his daughter's glower, Kaitlin picked up all the empty bottles and glasses, did the dishes and several loads of laundry. Afterwards, she did a grocery run and cooked him dinner. She told him some about what it was like at Ravenhurst, but he didn't seem to believe her or was even really listening and she just didn't want to push it.

But she was going to find a way to make him better, make him the man he used to be, the man that she knew was still inside him.

One foot on the bottom of the cart, Kaitlin used the other to carefully propel herself and the cart down the aisles, adding things to the cart with deliberation to what they needed and cost and trying to not let the muzak drive her insane. The stipend for food felt very generous to her, but due to her experiences, she couldn't but be conservative and look for whatever deal she could. She didn't give a damn if Warren laughed at her for clipping coupons.

Going to school here under the enchantment was... weird, not bad, just different. Back home, she had been one of the most athletic girls in school, if far from the biggest, until relatively recently anyway. Over the last year and half, she'd grown half a foot taller. She was taller than average now, and undeniably the buffest girl in Dubois and people had noticed the change.

Billy had been one of her best friends. A year older than she was and her closest neighbor near her age, they had spent a fair bit of time together, climbing and running and horsing around. She'd been starting to crush on him a little, but things had changed as she had, especially after learning about her magic. She'd always been the quicker of the two, and while Billy had been athletic and wiry, he wasn't tall. Now, she was an inch taller than he was, and considerably stronger, and he seemed to resent her for it.

It hurt.

But at Middlebury High, everyone seemed to have always known her to be the most athletic and muscular girl in school, and just took it for granted. As if they had never known her as any other way, despite having never known she had existed before a week ago. Very odd and it was taking a bit to get used to, especially the way some of her part-time classmates seemed familiar with her and with prior events she wasn't aware of, but it did make blending in easier, to be sure.

Humming to herself, Kaitlin came to the end of an aisle and turned her cart to go down the next.

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'Whatever' was Warren word of the century.  No matter where they went together or how they bonded, it was always 'whatever' eventually.  Shopping for food was no different.  Warren was a thief and they all knew it, not a clepto (he didn't steal from them), but when one of the ladies saw something they liked... it mysteriously ended up in the house eventually.  Ugh, and the hacking!  He never stopped cracking people's networks.  When they were out he'd control the auto sprayer for the produce section... why?!  Who does that?!  He always had money and they all knew it was stolen, so when they shopped they steered clear from him in case he was getting arrested soon.

That and he ate like a guy who'd given up on life.

"Captain Crunch... Steakhouse Funyuns... Spaghetti O's... Red Vines... well, that was easy."  He sighed looking completely underwhelmed.  He maneuvered through the market and found Kaitlin looking at what appeared to be food one had to cook... how quaint.  "What the hell  is that?" He asked.

"It's a roast," She replied dryly.  She knew he knew, but his ability to act ignorant in all things civilized was quickly becoming his second most used talent, aside from being a jerk.  "Warren, it boggles my mind that you are a genius par excellence, and yet you have no clue how to shop for groceries."

He shrugged.  "Never really had to.  We always sorta eat on the move, chips and a sandwich from a store, y'know.  I can cook, I just... I dunno, don't."

"You can cook?" She raised her brow, smirking skeptically.

"It's just following directions and understanding the maillard reaction."  He spoke with a nerdy cool, like that rocker dude science teacher that you knew would make class fun.

She set the roast into the buggy.  "Dare I ask... what's the maillard reaction?"

"The Maillard reaction is a chemical reaction between an amino acid and a reducing sugar in a form of non-enzymatic browning," He was sending a text, or hacking something, (who knew?) while he was reciting the definiion.  His ability to multitask she figured came from his work as a program coder.  "The reactive carbonyl group of the sugar interacts with the nucleophilic amino group of the-"

"It's makes things taste good."  She cut him off.

"Yeah,"  He looked up swaying his arms out wide.  "That's what I just said,"  He snapped his fingers and pointed at her.  "I just realized I forgt something... chocolate milk."

"I swear, your heart is gonna give out before you're thirty,"  She shook her head.

"If I'm lucky!"  He shouted down the isle way as he walked off to grab yet more food that would inevitably leave him trapped in a basement playing female characters on World of Warcraft in his late forties.  Still though, as the days went on he was talking more.

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Safyre was putting some nice looking pork cutlets in the basket, the three had decided to shop separately to keep the arguing to a minimum. Suddenly the Sorceress stiffened as someone called her name.

“Hey Safyre!” a fair haired boy of sixteen, good looking and well dressed for a commoner was standing at the end of an aisle, his hand casually shoved in his pockets. “How are things going?” He asked.

Safyre let her eyes slide from the meat in her hand to the boy in the aisle. Her face betrayed little of her moment of shock, though a good observer could have noticed the slight widening of her eyes, or the tightening of her fingers on the cutlet.

They're not supposed to remember me, I thought.

"Jayce," she replied. "Just...shopping."

She took in his posture, especially his hand in his pocket. Was he nervous? Or holding something?

A ward, or fetish maybe, protecting him from the spell. But where would someone like him get something like that?

"I'm a little surprised you remember me, actually."

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"Remember you? Well we do have three classes together and face it, your kinda hard not to notice" The boy blushes when he says that last bit.

As fate moves at that precise instant Kaitlin comes out of the aisle next to the one Jace is on and less than a second later Warren come upon the scene as well.

Jace has a very surprised and embarrassed look now, "Wow, this is a surprise. Hi...Kat? And Warren, right?"

Spoiler

Jace should not remember any of the kids.

 

At the lake house...

Blue and Gray were missing. Cheshire had woken after a deep sleep full of disturbing dreams she couldn't remember to find the windowsill where Blue had taken to sleeping empty and the pillow by her head vacant of the familiar  weight of Gray. A slight panic filled her heart then she heard laughter from out side of the window.

Peering out onto the deck below Cheshire saw Siobhan but more importantly she saw Gray and two squirrels playing on the deck and Blue was crouched several yards away on the railing. Cheshires eyes widened there were two blue birds, sitting, one on each side of Blue, watching the playing of the rodents.

Siobhan had gotten up early as was her wont, to tend her rapidly growing garden as the ritual of the past six mornings she has found curious seeds deposited by her friendly squirrels. Today Gray followed her down from the bedroom she shared with Cheshire. Siobhan had noticed that Cheshire had tossed and turned a lot during the night so she let her sleep. A strange thing occurred when Gray at come out onto the deck after Siobhan, the squirrels had run off only to return a few minutes later carrying acorns which they brought to Gray. Siobhan watched as Gray inspected them and returned two to the squirrels and kept the rest for himself.

This scene played itself out several times and so engrossed Siobhan that she did not notice Blues appearance nor the arrival of the flanking birds.

Spoiler

if there are any questions please ask

 

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"Yeah," Warren replied, his deep tone took on that alert street though timbre the ladies had only heard a couple times in the last several weeks.  "Why is it a surprise?  People shop in markets, this is a market, small town nowhere Vermont.  Seems pretty legit to me... unless you and your family don't go shopping in a market for food, in which case yeah, I'd have to consider that surprising."

Sure he could have made a big deal out of it all, but if the kid was seeing through the magic he didn't believe in anyway, that just helped to prove him right.  For now though, he decided already he didn't like Jace because the kid would rather stand there stuttering and muttering like an idiot instead of getting to the point.  While everyone was distracted though he slipped his chocolate milk into the basket in an attempt to trick Safyre to pay for it.

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Cheshire watched Grey boss the squirrels around and Blue take up a flanked sentry position. It was weird, but then so was wandering around with a rat and an ocelot, so go figure. Eventually, restlessness and curiosity got the better of her and she quickly dressed and made her way outside. She leaned against the railing near where Blue was, content to continue watching at least for now. 

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Typically wearing her heart on her sleeve, Kaitlin looked as surprised as Jayce did, though instead of embarrassed she seemed more discomfited. They weren't supposed to be remembered outside of school, or noticed or whatever. Had they done something to mess up the enchantment? She didn't know about the others, but the only enduring spell she routinely cast was Pain For Gain, and that was only when she was exercising, she unwove it when out and about.

The overly athletic girl also thought it was odd that Jayce seemed to stumble over their names. When they had gone to Middlebury, everyone had seemed familiar with them after meeting them for the first time. Spenser had said something about interacting with people from school outside the influence of the enchanted aura, but she couldn't remember exactly what. Something about it not working later?

"Um.. hey, Jayce," Kaitlin said far from smoothly then forcing a chuckle, shooting Warren a quick, cross glance. "Heh, heh, yeah, funny, how we're all out shopping at the same time. What are the odds?"

 

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At the Supermarket...

Jace gave a glance at Kat's bare arms and bulging biceps and swallowed hard, "Uh yeah that's what I was thinking." he glanced back at Safyre his blush deepening.

 

At the lakehouse...

Blue watched Cheshire lean against the rail, then glanced at the two bird. both immediately took wing and tweeting loudly swept away toward the nearest woods.

At the sound of the tweets the two squirrels jumped and dodged around behind Grey. Grey for his part stared at Blue up on the rail and Blue seemed to smirk at the rat before jumping off the and darting off around the side of the house.

The two Sorcerers watched the whole strange scenario play out.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Safyre gave Warren a quick glance, then looked back at Jace. This was going to be inconvenient as hell, but it would be irresponsible to just shrug this off and walk away. The school would need to be informed their spell wasn't working correctly, and Jace might need some kind of supplementary ensorcellment, and it would probably be very useful for everyone if more details were known...and since they couldn't very well just ask him here and now...

"Jace," the tall blonde said peremptorily, "I have no plans this weekend. Would you like to go see a movie or something?"

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Warren wasn't even trying to hide his smile.  "Nothing."  He said as calmly as one could trying to obfuscate a gaping a grin on face.  "Just, when you drain the body of it's soul to slake your desire for consuming happiness... don't dump it somewhere obvious, I don't want the cops waking us up at all hours of the night.  Aside from that have fun."

He tapped the corner of his mouth.  "Might wanna touch up your scowl a bit and put a bit more hate around your eyes and... what do you shade with?  Is that misery or self-loathing?  I prefer a little 'diffidence' around my cheek bones, really makes them pop and does a wonder at pulling in those 'I wanna fix what's broken' types.  You kids have fun."  His pointed a finger at Safyre sternly using a mocking fatherly tone.  "Don't stay out too late, young lady.  We've laughter to quell in the morning.  Joy doesn't ruin itself, we need you sharp."

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"We'll have to compare notes on body-dumping sometime," Safyre replies stonily. "I expect you could teach me a thing or two about that...if nothing else. Oops..."

She picked the chocolate milk carton out of her cart and dropped it at his feet. "...you dropped something."

With that, Safyre turned her cart around and pushed it towards the checkout lines. Already she was regretting it. Warren could get under her skin, but that didn't mean she had to let him know it like that. Damnit!

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Their weird meeting and Safyer's even weirder decision to ask Trace out on a date passed the young shoppers returned to the Ravenhurst Lake House.

Matt and Maria were off somewhere else probably being the perfect school toadies that they were while the rest of the Lake House kids were once again gather on the back porch around the grill where Kaitlen was doing up some burgers for lunch.

It was a warm Saturday afternoon an Indian summer if ever there was one and most of the kids were taking advantage with shorts and sandals, all except 3J who was wearing a baggy pair of camo cargo pants what looked like a combat boots that had been new during the Vietnam war, and a long sleeved sweat shirt which was living up to it's name if the tiny beads of moisture on her forehead was any indication.

Everyone was talking of doing their own thing, Kat cooking, Warren playing his computer games and 3J reading.

"Okay this is weird guys," said the chubby girl as she closed the old book she had been reading," this is a register of all the students and student groups since the founding of the school in 1687."

"Yep that weird all right imagine a book at a prep-school with a historical register of students. Absolutely amazing find there 3J." drawled out Warren, not even pausing or looking up from his game.

"Not the book dufuss, what i found in it." she shot back glaring at the infuriating boy.

"What did you find?" asked Kat.

3J looked over at the one person here she thought of as a friend. "There are no brown groups listed in any year."

 

 

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Cheshire was enjoying the good weather not just with shorts and sandals, but also because it meant she could be outside with Blue and Grey more - not that Grey seemed to care all that much, but Blue would get moody if she was cooped up all day just because her human didn't have an appropriate layer of fur to keep her warm on any given day.

"That's...what, did they just erase them out? I mean, Barbie and Ken knew about them, so obviously they were here." Cheshire leaned over the back of 3J's chair to take a glance at the registry herself. "Do they list the other students by color group?" 

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3J nods as she flips pages so Cheshire can see "Yep, every single entry. From 1687 to 2017." She flips the page and shows Cheshire the entry for this year and points at several of the names. "Theres Tammy the girl who made her nose grow Shes a green.  And here is Safyre's cousin the little dick, purple."

3J closes the book and hands it to the other girl. "None of us are in there."

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Warren was loving it.  Detroit was already cold as balls so being able to chill on he deck and eat burgers while hacking into Siobhan's lap top was like the gods of old were finally smiling down on him.  As for Siobhan... she was too nice, that girl had to have porn stashed somewhere, probably the good stuff too.

"Who cares?"  Warren asked, still focusing on his 'game'.  "Okay, obviously you do, but what about people that matter, like... everyone else that isn't you, for example.  Maybe the brown group is some sort experimental thing... they use them as a way to incorporate us into other groups later, based on academic achievements, virgins we've sacrificed, or love potions we've brewed... who knows.  Within a few months we'll probably be in some other group, so they never bother writing it down."

"I'd be easier to believe there was some conspiracy going on if the woman presenting it wasn't decked out in winter clothes when it's 90 degrees outside... that's the sorta thing that costs you credibility in the 'good judgement calls' department." 

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Kaitlin gave Warren a warning look as she placed a plate with a pair of burgers and a baked potato on it in front of him. So 3J was self-conscious about not being as thin or athletic as the others girls in Brown group, so what? As long as she didn't pass out from overheating. Warren didn't have to rub her nose in it.

"Maybe..." Kaitlin commented doubtfully in regards to Warren's supposition. "But they already have people in the registry from our year. I don't see why they would omit us now just to add us in later."

The athletic girl, actually barefoot and loving the unusually warm weather, went around the deck passing out her group-mates plates before sitting down with her, three burgers and two stuffed baked potatoes. Ice rattled in the pitcher as she poured herself a big glass of lemonade.

"Brown group is definitely a thing," Kaitlin said, nodding at Cheshire, "though what that thing is, who knows? I didn't sound like there's a Brown Group every year. We can ask Spenser about it. Maybe there's another registry for Brown Group?

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  • 2 weeks later...

3J nodded "Yeah they were in the library when i was there about an hour ago doing some research for the dean."

Everyone looked at her with that 'how do you know that' look. She shrugged "I'm pretty good at not being noticed in case you hadn't noticed. Anyway I overheard them explain to Mrs Gellert when they were asking for some books.

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"Nope, didn't notice," Warren said, closing his laptop.  "You're kinda easy to ignore, except, y'know, when you're sitting there heaving in a puddle of your own sweat because you wear winter clothes when it's a hundred degrees outside.  Christ girl, get over your hang ups."

He got up and walked over to where she was sitting and reading.  He leaned over her shoulder, probably the closest 3J had been to a guy her whole life and being an asshole had nothing to do with the fact that Warren was damn sexy in that bad boy way.  "Lemme see," his deep voice sounded serious, more so than usual.  He read the page she was referring to, flipped forward a page and flipped back a page.  "Three, I dunno... this is weak as far conspiracy theories go, we need more than just Barbie and Ken sharing a few words in the kitchen and poor book keeping."

"I know, Warren," 3J rolled her eyes, trying to distance herself from him but he was currently smothering her like a guy in those soft-core Demon Hunter novels.  "It's weak, and you don't care, and it's lame.  I get it, thanks for being unhelpful."

"Don't get your bloomers in a knot, Thickness."  Warren flipped the pages again with a slight hope that it might turn up something, but it really didn't.  "I said it was weak, and we'd need more.  I may not believe in all this HooDoo going on around here, but a good conspiracy chase would give me something to do."

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3J slams the book shut and squeezes out of the seat sliding around Warren. "You are such an asshole and I am not the person you want to be fucking with."

She glares at the rest of the group. "Something is going on and we are all involved despite what this idiot says, despite whether you all want to admit it or not. Something. Is. Going. On."

She stomps to the stairs and spins back to face them all crushing the book to her chest her face red with anger and embarrassment. "First all of us are brought here and put in a group that clearly doesn't exist officially." Then she starts pointing at them one by one starting with Siobhan. "Someone or thing is giving you magic seeds using the forest animals as a delivery service." Her hand slides to Kaitlin. "You keep getting the feeling your being watched or followed when your in the woods and you keep seeing things in the damn lake. And you," She stabs the finger at Cheshire, " You couldn't even see what was going on this morning with your pets. That rat was treating those squirrels like slaves making them give it their acorns oh it was so cute while that thing you call a cat was getting ready to attack it using birds as a fucking as an army. Since when do cats command birds?" She huffs for breath her eyes just daring anyone to speak before she points at Safyre. And you , your, your....your just a bitch," then finger points at Warren and everyone can see the little sparkle of electricity lining her black polished nail. "And you, Warren so scared of everything that you can't even admit the truth. You are simply pitiful."

Finished she stomps up the stars making as much noise as possible untill the kids in the living room hear the sound of a door slamming.

 

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Warren rolled his eyes, officially pissed.  "Oh, for fucks sake, do they pull women aside and give you special classes in this last word bullshit and storming away and slamming doors?  I'm so fucking tired of these games you ladies play."

"I'll go ta-" Cheshire started to say but Warren raised his hand to silence her as he walked to the stairs.

"No, this one's mine.  I'm tired of this sewing circle bullshit you girls have, you're a bunch of drama queens and I'm tired of it."

He walked upstairs and knocked on her door.  "Three Jay, if you're done throwing a tantrum we're not going to find out anything if you're hiding in here.  Was that your great plan?  Gt pissed, throw some insults, then go into hiding?  Now I'm gonna go down stairs and get my shit together.  Dry your eyes, change your damn clothes for fucks sake, and meet me down stairs so we can figure this shit out.  I'll give you fifteen minutes and I'm leaving without you."

He turned and walked away only to spin on his heel and give the door a few more taps.  "And really, I do so love these talks of ours... fifteen minutes, Pumpkin."

He skipped down the stairs walking past the other ladies to collect his laptop.  Kat glared him.  "You're not allowed up there, Warren, you know that."

"Seriously?"  Was all he mustered as he closed the lid and walked into the kitchen.  "She'll either come down or not, frankly, I don't give a shit.  This is actually kind of interesting, so I'm gonna go take a look and see what I can dig up."

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Kaitlin stalked into the kitchen after Warren, putting the dishes in the sink with more force than necessary. Then she grunted in irritation as she moved the dishes from the sink to the dishwasher. Back home, the only dishwasher she and her father had were those with two hands. She narrowed her amber eyes at Warren as she continued her glare.

"If you think we're playing games, I just want to point out you're playing them too, pushing buttons just to see what reactions you can get. Really, taunting 3J on her weight?"

Kaitlin shook her head in exasperation, her blond and black ponytail bobbing behind her broad shoulders... Even if she did see his point about 3J layering up despite the unseasonably warm weather. She had wondered more than once if 3J was feeling extra self-conscious sharing a room with a girl athletic and fit as she was. Kaitlin had offered to help her exercise, but 3J had demurred.

"Look, despite what you may think, spending that much time on actively playing mindgames with you would be exhausting. Now, I happen to agree that some weird shit is going on and am actually glad - well, glad isn't the right word, but you being interested too will actually be a help. You're... smart," the muscular girl admitted - it didn't even sound grudging. "So can you forget about the deadline for now and let me run upstairs to get 3J before taking off without us? Otherwise, we're just gonna be several groups trying to figure out the same thing."

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"I got a better idea, Kat,"  Warren said calmly.  "How about you actually give her the fifteen minutes.  There is nothing wrong with Three Jay, her weight, her neurosis, hang ups, they're all in her head.  And all you and world the around her does is constantly coddle and reassure he that it's okay to throw her little tantrums so you guys hug her and reassure her that everything will be okay."

"But instead of waiting to see what happens, you's rather rush up there and rod her of the opportunity to set her priorities in order on her own.  To overcome and over power assholes like me and get done what needs to be done despite how shitty the world around her is being.  It's called tough love, hun.  Stop pampering her."

He opened the fridge and popped open a can of carbonated caffeine.  "S'all good Kat, I'll wait.  Besides, I talked some shit to her, and she talked some shit to me.  Even Steven.  If she's so far off her rocker that she has to make things more extreme than that... then she's not really the sort of person I want getting my back if this entire conspiracy thing turns out to be a thing."

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"Lets see. Warren being as big a prick as he possibly can, Kaitlin white knighting, Jane spazzing out, Cheshire's oblivious, and I'll be the one actually handling something important. Nice to see us settling into roles."

"...and on that note, I'll be in the library," Safyre said dryly. "Please mop up any blood before I get back. It is not my turn to deal with that this week."

She turned and headed for the door.

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Cheshire rolled her eyes at Safyre. "I'm not oblivious, I just don't really care. Warren's an ass and we all know that. If 3J wants to let him ride her drama llamas, that's her deal." She grabbed her own soda from the fridge and opened it. "I'm willing to give her the fifteen to pull her shit together, since she's the only one that's actually taken the time to look into this with any thought. But you go ahead, Safyre. You'll need the extra time to find a ladder for that horse of yours."

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Warren out stretched his hand, pointing it in the direction Cheshire.  "Thank you.  I stand corrected, one of you possesses some sense.  And mad props for beating me to the high horse joke."  He raised his can in a toast to her snark.

He tucked his laptop in his book bag and few other things, popping his phone off the charger he swiped the screen and killed time waiting for Three Jay.

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"What's wrong with plants?" Siobhan said as she stood there, confused.

"And the animals are just nice. They brought acorns, but Grey would give them back some too. They weren't slaves. They were just being nice."

Siobhan sighed at the exchanges and shook her head.

"You know, she probably already feels a bit insecure and alone, so letting her sit up there, feeling even moreso is not how you help things." she said as she walked over and up the stairs. Once to 3J's door she knocked lightly.. cautiously. 

"Hey. It's Siobhan. Mind if I come in?" she asked through the door and bit her bottom lip, unsure if she should try the door even if no reply comes.

 

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Even with her limited knowledge of magic, it was pretty clear that the ritual 3J was casting was malicious. Black candles and pentagrams were rare good things. She closed the door behind her and leaned against it for a moment as she tried to think about what to do.

"Stop it!" she said as firmly as she could, while still trying to keep her voice down so as to not alert the others.

She tried to remember what she had reflexively done in Mr. Spencer's off to extinguish the small fire, and then waved her hand like she had done before. A blast of chilled air rushed from her hand to 3J and her ritual, snuffing the candles with a hiss and coating them, and 3J's knees, with frost.

"Don't sink down to his level. You do that and he wins." she said as she timidly kicked over some of the extinguished candles and then crouched down to hug 3J.

"You are better than that. Better than him. He think's he's tough, but people who have to act tough generally aren't. You have a strength he will never have. Come on. Don't do this." she said, wrapping her arms around 3J.

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3J was in the zone the magic was coursing through her. She didn't hear the knock or Siobhan calling to her, didn't hear the door open and ddin't even hear Siobhan gasp or what she said then. But she did feel the magic wind which snuffed her summoning candles and then the hug as the other girl knelt knocking her candles askew. "What the .....!"

 

1 hour ago, Siobhán Berrigan said:

"Don't sink down to his level. You do that and he wins." she said as she timidly kicked over some of the extinguished candles and then crouched down to hug 3J.

"You are better than that. Better than him. He think's he's tough, but people who have to act tough generally aren't. You have a strength he will never have. Come on. Don't do this." she said, wrapping her arms around 3J.

3J's eeys were wide as her trance was broken and it took her several seconds of being hugged to orientate her head. "What have you done?" She took in the scattered candles the slight lacing of frost. She pushed Siobhan away "get off of me"

"I stopped you from making  a terrible mistake. Cursing Warren won't make you feel any better." Siobhan explained

"I wasn't cursing Warren I was summoning a spirit to question. Jesus Christ!" She picks up one of the candles which is broken. "You don't need all this to hex someone, this is necromancy. And now I'll have to get a new candle to do it all over."

She huffs and puffs but leverages her self to her feet. and glares at Siobhan then her look softens a bit. "What shampoo do you use? Your hair smells really nice."

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Kaitlin wanted to throw Warren into the lake and throw Safyre in after him. It was infuriating that he had a point. She hated bullies, but didn't understand someone being unwilling to even attempt to defend themselves. Could standing up for 3J rob her of the chance for standing up for herself, or at least being able to endure Warren? She was uncertain.

"You don't have to be a dick about it," Kaitlin muttered as she crossed the kitchen and got herself a glass of water. She downed it quickly then poured herself another. Leaning against the counter, arms folded, she took her time with the second glass. "So... 3J did have a point with the pets - friends, whatever - the animals acting weird and I have been seeing things out of the corner of my eye. I'm used to the woods - it's not nerves making me imagine stuff. Warren, snark and stubborn denial aside, have you noticed... weird? Y'know, besides being at Hogwarts with magic you don't believe in all over the place?"

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"That's just it," He replied, leaning against the island in the kitchen to face Kat.  "Everything around here is weird.  I'm not sure what the established baseline of normal is because all of you are so far from my version of normal that I have no basis of comparison.  You guys never actually try to be normal, it's always magic his, spell that, spirits, curses, the list goes on.  And the bragging about yourselves... it never ends.  You guys can't go one conversation without reminded everyone one else about how great with you are with a particular magic.  It's sickening.  I mean, come on you invited me to hunt boars and bears... in Vermont.  There are no boars in Vermont, wild pigs, yes.  Plus, there are only about five thousand bears left in this state and you wanna go punch one in the face and eat it because, and I quote 'they're assholes'."

He sipped his drink and shook his head.  Kat was surprised that there was no snark in his voice, no sarcasm or jabs.  He was carrying a legit conversation with her and it almost felt... intimidating?  His deep voice and carefully spoken words he was a like a different man.  Was this the man that remained hidden under all the baggage that each of them came to this place with?  "So honestly... please, by all means... tell me where the bar for weird is set."  Warren sighed and set his can down.  "Look, I know you guys think I'm a dick, for the most part, by the world's standards I am.  Anyone who has been through what I have would have some coping skill issues too, but the truth is, girl, I'm not a bad guy.  Three Jay is bullied, and all she does is run from it.  If this whole magic thing is real, and I'm not saying it is, then she will snap eventually.  Super villain level shit, and I don't want that.  Under all her neurosis and issues... she's not a bad girl, kinda sweet honestly.  She's a personality, attractive in an Adele kinda way, and she's intelligent.  So, I'll push, and she'll hate me... but I'm as mean as they come, so if she can learn to stand up to me and accept how wonderful she really is as a person, then all those others out there who try to bring her down won't stand a chance.  And when the smoke clears, she'll have all of you.  We'll sacrifice one enemy and she gains the value of four friends... the math is sound."

"That's what tough love is, Kat."  He crossed his arms and looked o the floor.  It seemed like he was thinking of what to say next, but instead looked back at her and smiled.  "It's being the worst possible version of yourself to show someone else how strong they can be."

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Cheshire snorted. "Warren, that is grade A bullshit. You want to be a dick, own it, but don't do....whatever the hell this is. Being a jerk isn't 'tough love'. You're not helping her by tearing her down and then claiming 'but it builds character!'. You want to help her have thicker skin? Then actually be a friend and help her stand up to real bad guys."

She shook her head, completely amazed at the guy's rather odd logic chain for acting like an ass; she threw out her empty can in the trash. To Kait she said, "As for the animals, they've always been weird as shit. At least Grey and Blue have. Chalk it up to whatever, probably just proximity to our own bizzaro crap.  Keep a Discovery Channel log of it if you want, maybe you can get some extra credit for it or something. Right now, I want to look into why we don't officially exist to the school. That's got me a whole hell of a lot more concerned than whatever Animal Planet conspiracy the cat and the rat are up to." 

She made her way over to the stairs and called up to Siobhan and 3J, "Ladies, you coming down anytime this week? We've got conspiracies to unravel and I seriously have no idea how late the library is open!"

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"It's just TRESemmé, actually. You can share mine if you want and I will get us each a bottle." Siobhan said, actually glad she has mis-read things.

"I'm sorry I ruined your spell or summoning or whatever. It's just, I know you are good with curses, and Warren has been a particular ass lately and you were really upset. I mean, I'd be lying if I said the thought had not crossed my mind at times." she admitted.

"I misread things, but I was afraid that you were doing something you'd regret. I really am sorry though. I misjudged you and assumed the worst, out of my own fear I guess, rather than having faith that you were better than that. I mean, I knew it, but the black candles spooked me." she said, taking a seat on the floor across from 3J.

"I truly am sorry." she said, looking into 3J's eyes and then looking down at the floor, clearly a bit ashamed and embarrassed

"I know it does not fix things, but I'll get you new candles. I mean, I broke them and all." Siobhan said and then looked up with a somewhat confused a fearful expression.

"Wait. I am not cursed, am I? for breaking the candle or interrupting your spell or something?"

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