Beyond Evolution

In the wailing darkness behind the barrier, eldritch creatures struggled to force themselves through the widening crack. Spines, tentacles, a lashing tongue, all of them withdrawn with a shriek of rage as the being attached to it found itself still trapped. Their fury was building. But there was one Elder God with a strange aura of calm, moving through the maelstrom almost gently until it -- she -- finally reached the opening.

Gaea. The Great Mother, the Bright Lady, the World. Sister of Cthon, but while her brother and the other Elder Gods had degenerated she had held on to something pure inside herself. Now, as she drew close enough to the breach, she reached out.

The book had always been a vessel, and it had emptied itself of the dark energy drawn from the Coven days ago, feeding the weakness in the barrier. Now, empty of intent, it became a vessel for Gaea. She reached through it to the Coven that had first found it, to the girl whose soul still powered what was left of the barrier and kept it from collapsing completely. She poured her knowledge into it. It had held the spells the that had drawn power for the Elder Gods, but it had also held the spells that saved the world from the Hellfire Club's destruction, and it held the spells that could save the world again. She just had to guide the right people to them.

(Open to Coven, Inferno Kids + Amy)

So we're not all posting a hundred journal entries. ...Yes we include ourselves in that >_>

“It’s just over here,” Tilly explained, as if Callie wasn’t likely familiar with the location of every plant and flower on the school’s grounds. She was too preoccupied to think through what she was saying though, chewing on her lip so hard that there’d be a bruise there by the next day.

All she’d done was take a little catnap. Tilly had been up and out the door early this morning, as usual, the sun only starting to crawl over the horizon by the time she’d made her way down to the little stretch of land the admins had generously allowed her to use as a vegetable patch. She came here at dawn on a daily basis, plucking out weeds, freshening up the earth, watering whatever she had growing this season, sometimes just chattering quietly to the buds as if they could hear and understand her, which she was certain they could. She’d been doing that today, sitting cross-legged at the edge of the vegetable garden, mumbling away cheerfully until her voice slowed to a drawl and she drifted off into dreamland.

She must only have been asleep for a handful of minutes, surely? Yet when she woke, the scene before her had changed completely. The smattering of flowers at the perimeter of the patch had wilted as if their petals were suddenly made of lead, the earth looked dry and dusty, and the fresh green of the budding veggies had soured, turned brown. There were even splodges of rot on display here and there. Tilly was horrified. More than that, she was baffled. She had years of experience in farming and horticulture under her belt; she knew what she was doing. It didn’t seem possible that she could have made a mistake serious enough to wipe out the whole garden, especially not this fast.

Still in denial that this had happened at all, Tilly had brushed herself off and marched through the school until she tracked down Callie, the one person best placed to provide an answer as to what may have happened here. Leading the older girl out to the garden, it was immediately clear that she hadn’t dreamt the withering of the vegetable patch. There it was, a sea of sickly brown.

“Can you still feel them?” she asked Callie nervously, looking up at her with round and anxious eyes. “Is it my fault? Did I do something wrong?”

[ CALLIE ]

"Everybody ready?" They were holding hands in a circle, and while that wasn't necessary Yana found it a little comforting. She wouldn't be able to go with them to the temple -- she couldn't even teleport near it thanks to her partially-lost soul -- so she would offer them what comforts she could.

Everyone had a bag packed with necessities, enough for a long trip which is what they'd anticipated. Illyana would do what she could to order demons away from them, but she had no doubt that one or two would test their luck anyway.

In a blink, they had portalled from the school to somewhere in Limbo's plains. Yana's castle was a dot in the distance. "This is as far as I can go." It infuriated her that there were places she wasn't allowed, in her own dimension, but the power that the temple had been giving off had been growing strongly. Like it was waiting for them.

"Good luck." She hugged each of the girls, one by one. "I'll see you when you get back."


(Rapid fire for the coven! They'll be gone until Sunday night, roughly two weeks in Limbo-time.)

You know what to do!

After the month they'd had, Xavier's deserved a day or two when nothing went wrong. No rats in the walls, no blobs oozing through the hallways. No shirime popping out to sexually harass anyone. Nothing pumpkin-flavored that wasn't supposed to be that way. Just a couple of nice, normal days where everyone could have a good time and enjoy the Halloween season before it was over.

And finally, this weekend the universe was going to provide.

The Student Council's efforts paid off in a perfect Halloween Dance, just the right mix of spooky and cute, costumes strongly encouraged. A few team members were on duty throughout the night, keeping an eye out for trouble, but for once there wasn't any. Maybe an unsuccessful attempt to spike the punch. The Creepers' Ball the next night had plenty of trouble, Yana's imps saw to that -- but it was all the fun kind, anyone trying to cause the not-fun kind would be tossed right back out of Limbo. And the Samhain circle, both the coven's private ritual and the celebration open to all, was all celebration with no uninvited guests. For this weekend at least, everything was actually going the way it was supposed to.

(Open to everyone!)

WHO: Sabrina Yoo (GUST) & Callie Betto (DRYAD)
WHERE/WHEN: Sabrina's room, a couple of weeks ago after Shiv's arrival!
WHAT: Make-up. Life. Forcing Jamie to talk about two of her own characters at the same time.

( “It’s like meeting a CELEBRITY, Callie!” Sabrina emphasized, as if somehow her friend didn’t quite grasp that this was SHIV BEAUTY of all people and thus deserved the pedestal. )