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Mod Journal for St. Margaret's. ([info]saintly_mods) wrote in [info]st_margarets,
@ 2015-11-07 14:34:00

Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Entry tags:character: adina pruitt, character: ambriel triádhos, character: andrei dantură, character: ashton hartley, character: barclay grisholt, character: ben proctor, character: caitlin gray, character: claire fox, character: cressida hallowfen, character: dallas gurule, character: daniela vazquez, character: davian rivera, character: elspeth macnab, character: emily elwood, character: hayden jordan, character: jack cavanaugh, character: jae song, character: james weatherby, character: jasper prescott, character: johnathan tohquah, character: leon vincent, character: lucia avery, character: micah kaden, character: minerva lawton, character: paxton rivera, character: rider therrian, character: sara martin, character: sorin antonescu, character: thierry gravois, location: around town, location: dining hall, location: hydra dorm, location: kitsune dorm, location: ladon dorm, location: pegasus dorm, location: school grounds, location: sphinx dorm, location: the caves, location: the circle, location: the courtyard, location: the graveyard, location: the infirmary, location: the library, location: the woods, npc: headmistress menides, npc: hunters (bethany & martin)

Thread: Parasites
WHO: Cressida possessed by Hecate, then EVERYONE!
WHEN: Saturday evening, right after dinner time
WHERE: The hunter’s lair, the school, the graveyard, the woods
NPCs: Ms. Menides, hunters

Hecate was known by a number of names, depending on the civilization. The word "goddess" was simply a label placed upon her, though whether she was a goddess or not was arbitrary. Especially now that the whole world hung in a dangerous balance. Beings like Hecate no longer made themselves known and many of them existed as entities now that the rest of the world, and their chief believers, relied more on science than they did on faith. So for Hecate to come into this world, it would take a great deal of magic, and a figure of great faith. Faith did a funny thing to a person. Made them susceptible to serving as a host because he or she would be willing to do it. And in Cressida Hallowfen, Hecate found an extremely willing host.

She'd kept an eye on the witch since she was just a girl. Hecate bestowed Cressida with her first familiar. A Cretan hound that Cressida would affectionately called Argos. Never once had Cressida's faith wavered, even when it lost her a future with the man she loved and perhaps still loved in a way. Such willingness to bend to Hecate's need and her position at the school, so close in proximity to an old friend of Hecate's, made Cressida not just a willing host, but a perfect host.

So when Cressida finally laid down to rest from her long labours spent with other witches to track down the intruders, Hecate acted. Cressida was there still, somewhere in the recesses of this mind, but the psyche was dominated by Hecate, goddess of magic. Wearing a robe over the night gown, she walked barefoot with not only Lord Byron at her heels, but other members of the canidae family that felt the strong influence of Hecate. Foxes primarily and even a wolf that wandered into the area. They surrounded her as sentinels until the possessed form of Cressida saw the Fury.

"Tisiphone," she stated in a voice that was Cressida's but layered with another voice. Like two people speaking simultaneously. Cressida's appearance itself looked different too. In some lights she looked like Cressida and in others her hair was darker, like a moonless night, and her eyes a midnight blue flecked with stars. Even her nose at certain angles appeared different. Grecian, much like the dress that shimmered violet over the dark blue of Cressida's robe.

***

Ms. Menides balled her right hand into a fist. It was done. Before her lay the smoldering remains of the hunters that had dared trespass her school, had dared take the life of one of hers. The ones that had dared, somehow, to bind her in this mortal body and deprive her of her visionary qualities. Her eyes reverted from an intense, furious white to their normal dark shade as her fury abated. For now.

It had been all thanks to Ms. Jordan. She had been able to track the hunters, pinpoint their location. Then Cressida had taken over, gathering the witches among the faculty and calling in help at Nazar. They’d done a powerful scrying ritual, finding the hunters right there, in Camden. At her door. When Cressida had given Ms. Menides the information, the fury had said very little. Possessed by an eerie, unnatural calm, Ms. Menides had risen from her chair and had said but one word, in fact. “Come.”

You cannot stop the Fury.

Ms. Menides had walked into their lair, as easy as if their magic and their locks weren’t even there. She had surprised them, talking at their kitchen table, and Ms. Menides had narrowed her eyes. They began talking, shouting, but Ms. Menides hadn’t listened. The time for talking was done. She had simply shown her true self to them, and then she had let them burn.

“Tisiphone.”

Ms. Menides blinked, feeling a quaint feeling she hadn’t felt in a very long time. Surprise. Huh. She turned around, tipping her head to the side. “Lady Hecate,” she said, giving a sage nod to the woman who was more than Ms. Hallowfen. “It has been a while since I let myself go like that.”

***

It had been some time since Hecate spoke with the Fury. Centuries. Millennia, actually. Years passing to others as an eternity but for Hecate it was an instant. Old didn't even been to describe the ages of the Fury and the Witch Goddess. There was a glimmer of a smile there before her eyes rested upon the destruction left behind. Hell has no Fury. St. Margaret's did. Did the students there even have a passing idea of what sort of woman their headmistress was? Likely not. The smile on Hecate's fast didn't last though and faded as quickly as it arrived.

"There has not been reason to," Hecate said, stepping forward and drawing closer to where Ms. Menides stood, "But it is not over. I come bearing a warning." Magic was a very broad term and words like sorcery and witchcraft also attached themselves to Hecate. The face shifted a little to another, the same dark blue of the eyes but white like the burning of a dying star shimmered, "Something is coming."

It was so vague but Hecate could only see so much. Whatever it was, it was unlike anything she'd ever seen before. As much as people wished and desired for gods to know all, they unfortunately did not. For even "gods" were limited and Hecate found herself frustratingly so.

***

In the graveyard, something stirred. Something not from this world. It had waited for this, waited for the fury to fuel their plan. And now she had. The time had come. This was their chance.

It looked alien. A quadrupled being with a long, forked tail, with sharp claws and teeth. It looked like it was made of skin, bones and muscle, barely any meat on its frame, bones sticking out at every angle. Spindly and thin, but it moved like a predator, more determined than even a cat. And, what was worse, there was intelligence in its amber eyes.

Its tailed flicked. A fissure in the air appeared, seeming to spring up from the broken headstone. It started out small, a tiny tear, but it ripped itself open. Soon, it was large enough. The one on this end let out a little keen as the first of the host jumped through. And then another. And another.

Soon, an army had formed. Not just small ones, as large as a human, but some were bigger and bulkier, the size of minivan. They gathered quietly, looking at the castle as they did. And soon, they had determined there were enough. In the light of the setting sun, they took off: towards the castle. Towards the dorms. This is where they would start.

And through the portal, more kept coming…

***

Bethany and Martin were casualties. However, before their fiery end, their signal had been reached by the other hunters of their Order and those individuals were moving in fast. They had been waiting for this, sign of the Otherworldly ones to try again to break through to this realm. Martin had taken a risk with the vampire to lure them out, and it had worked, but he’d paid for it with his life. They were clever, the beings from the other dimension. The chameleon scout had successfully coaxed the rage from the fury to power their portal.

Hunters from all over were closing in. They knew what was coming. They’d seen it happen in other worlds. Their Order was made up of witches who were in tune with the earth, sensitive to its changes, and the earth itself powered their travels so that most of them arrived just as the portal was tearing wide open.

This wasn’t just a threat to St. Margaret’s. Their whole world was at risk of invasion if they couldn’t stop the flood. The hunters would set aside old grudges and join forces with the Academy to face this greater threat. The enemy of your enemy is your friend.

***

Ms. Menides blinked her eyes. She Knew. Her sense was back, but it didn’t make her feel relieved. She now knew what she had unleashed. “I have been a fool,” she whispered. “We have to get back to the school. Immediately.”

She reached for her phone and, as she strode off, she began calling her faculty. Micah. Micah was most likely to be in the dining room.


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Fall Onto Earth: Ambriel & John
[info]holier_than_you
2015-11-10 12:14 am UTC (link)
Ambriel swerved through the trees, a bright beacon that kept cutting down all the enemies he could find. He rose to the sky and disappeared into the castle, using one of the broken windows. A few moments later, a monster was thrown out of another one, a large oak waiting for it and snapping its neck. Two more followed, before Ambriel emerged again, swooping down low to clear the walls of any stragglers.

Ambriel didn't see the one hanging under an archway. It jumped out from above, landing on the angel. Ambriel swerved, scraped against the wall, before managing to turn and shake the parasite off before the angel crashed into the ground. Ambriel to return to the air, but something big and strong grabbed him by the ankle. Before he could respond, he was swung, right into the thick, strong wall of the academy.

Before the brute could crush the angel, the large oak intervened again. Ambriel laid in a heap at the base of the wall, his arm at an odd angel, his wings disheveled. The divine light had gone out of them.

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Fall Onto Earth: Ambriel & John
[info]pauwau
2015-11-11 09:39 pm UTC (link)
When the circle broke, John made his way back towards the castle. He wasn't stupid enough to believe he was some kind of hero, able to save people or even save himself should one of those things attack him. Sure, the witch had a few tricks, stopgap things really, to buy him sometime, but John was a healer, not a killer. He'd be dead meat if one of them got to him.

The trees were moving all around them and John dodged aside as one charged past. He was marveling, having never witnessed something like this or knowing anyone who had. There were no stories told by the elders about armies of trees who came to aid their ancestors. It was an incredible sight.

John was almost to the castle entrance, where he spotted Leon fighting with Andrei and the giant centaur warrior who also served as their gentle school nurse. He ran up the steps, about to dart inside only to be halted by the spread wings of a black crow swooping in front of him. John stopped short, looking at his Spirit Guide in confusion. Was he not meant to go inside to safety? The crow flew to the side and John watched it fly along the wall of the castle, cawing back at him, and the young witch knew he was meant to follow.

Taking one more glance into the castle, John sighed and turned away from the entrance. He ran after the crow, trusting in his Spirit Guide to know what was needed of him, and it wasn't long before he found the crow resting beside the fallen angel. John's mouth dropped open in shock. First, to see the angel up close when before he had only witnessed Ambriel flying in the sky, but second, it didn't take a trained healer to know that Ambriel was in bad condition and needed immediate help.

The crow cawed and took flight again, going to roost on a ledge above the angel as John approached and fumbled for his medicine bag. "Ambriel, can you hear me? Don't move." John pulled red clay from his bag and touched it to his own brow in a horizontal line, then the back of each hand. Earth. Grounded. Centered. He knelt beside Ambriel, assessing what he was looking at and trying to keep his own fear and panic down. Could he do this alone? Should he go for help?

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Fall Onto Earth: Ambriel & John
[info]holier_than_you
2015-11-12 09:00 am UTC (link)
The angel liked to think he was an invincible warrior, aglow with the holy light of divine justice. The Lord would protect him. Last time he got this zealous, that same Lord had tried to teach him this lesson with a broken arm. The lesson hadn't stuck, and this time, the damage was a lot more serious.

It started with the bruises, the cuts and the broken ankle. Far more serious was the broken wing, which had snapped when Ambriel crashed against the wall. Finally, the angel had three broken ribs and a heavy concussion.

In short, the angel was broken. It was fortunate that was out cold for it.

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Fall Onto Earth: Ambriel & John
[info]pauwau
2015-11-13 06:21 pm UTC (link)
"Ambriel." John said his name again more insistently and reached out to feel for a pulse, watch for breath. The angel was somehow alive. John looked up and around, wondering how far he fell from, what had taken him down from the sky, if it was still lurking around. John's training wasn't finished yet. He couldn't do this alone. He couldn't...

But he had to. There was no one else to get and Ambriel might not survive long enough to wait. The crow cawed again. "Heal. Heal. Heal."

Whatever danger might still be lurking nearby to finish the angel, John had to risk it. He was a healer, not a warrior. He had to do what he was good at despite the dangers. John gulped and took his medicine bag off his shoulder. Leaning over Ambriel, John shifted him, arranging his legs, arms, head, lining up his spine: not broken. Neck: not broken. Head: bleeding. That was the most worrying part. Matted bloody blonde hair showed John where the angel must have smacked against something hard. John tipped Ambriel's head slightly, focusing, bowing his own head and then opened the channel within himself that would pour out healing energies.

Just get him stable. Just get him stable enough to live. Someone else could take over, someone more powerful, more capable. John's healing power pulsed into Ambriel. John's fingers rested on the angel's face like a blind person reading how someone looked. He could almost feel the injuries, read where they were, what they were, and see them with a sixth sense that others didn't have and that John didn't know how to describe. John didn't have extensive medical knowledge, but he had his instincts and he felt the flesh, pouring energy into Ambriel to heal the skull. John veered away from touching the brain, but his warm healing energy flowed through him to close the fracture, fuse thin skull fragments back together, and knit the skin of the scalp back together.

John sat back on his heels, panting, and opened his eyes. From the outside, it didn't seem as though he'd done anything, but John's magic told him otherwise. He smiled to himself. He had this.

A knife from the medicine bag cut Ambriel's shirt away and John removed the sacred red paint. With it, he quickly dipped his fingers and chanted a song, low under his breath, to the spirits. He painted on Ambriel with his fingers as he sang. The designs were specific to the Cherokee Medicine Men and the paint itself was consecrated. Lastly, John painted two stripes on his own cheek. He drew a deep breath, picked up another item from his bag that looked like a musical instrument of some kind, and began shaking it. The rattling sound accompanied his song.

Next, John touched the wings. He was torn between reverence and practicality, but finally settled on the latter and put a boot on Ambriel's shoulder and pulled. The wing bone cracked, grinding against itself, and then set back into place. He then gently took the wing bone between his hands, once again opening himself to pour healing magic through. His singing/chanting remained soft and low as he worked. The wing was badly broken and John knew he couldn't heal it completely, not now, not yet. But he could heal it enough to keep it stable and not worse.

John's voice faltered as the power left him and flowed into Ambriel, and he blinked. Dizzy. Someone screamed in the moving forest and John looked up. "Ambriel. We have to get inside."

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Fall Onto Earth: Ambriel & John
[info]holier_than_you
2015-11-16 09:39 pm UTC (link)
Later on, the angel would be angry with himself for losing consciousness. For not being part of the battle as long as he could, for not saving as many as he could. For getting injured. In short, he would rage against the heavens for not enjoying divine protection. Because an angel shouldn't get hurt when fighting for a right cause. Ambriel didn't know how he knew this, but he felt it to be true.

But perhaps Ambriel's Lord worked in more mysterious ways than that. And perhaps it was due to the Lord that right now, as John worked him over, as John set his wing, Ambriel wasn't awake for it.

Ambriel groaned as he came to, feeling fuzzy. Weird. He didn't know where he was, but then he heard the screams, the shouts, the sounds of battle. An innate instinct awoke in him, and he jumped up, wanting to draw a sword that wasn't there. Bad move. He stood on his bad ankle and tried to move his broken wing, causing pain to shoot through him. He collapsed against John. He grunted, not wanting to retreat. He also knew he couldn't fight anymore. With his big blue eyes, almost faded out from pain, he said: "My... my sword?"

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Fall Onto Earth: Ambriel & John
[info]pauwau
2015-11-18 11:18 pm UTC (link)
John fell backwards when Ambriel got so quickly to his feet. He stared up at the shirtless angel with the barely healed wing in surprise and then alarm before scrambling to his own feet to catch him. "Easy, take it easy, you've had a bad fall."

John had seen pained expressions before. He trained with the best in his tribe on healing, and that meant seeing a lot of pain and even death. But Ambriel's eyes weren't just pained, they were resisting defeat. Somehow that was worse than the pain. Something about a sword? John glanced quickly around and spotted the weapon sunk into the earth by the blade, the hilt still visible. "There. Is that your sword?"

Keeping Ambriel upright, John hooked his own bag with his toe and picked it up, catching the strap to sling it over his shoulder. "Come lean on the wall. I'll get your sword. And then I'm helping you inside the castle to the other healers, okay?" He guided Ambriel closer to the wall of the castle. "You're going to be alright, but you can't fight anymore."

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Fall Onto Earth: Ambriel & John
[info]holier_than_you
2015-11-21 11:41 am UTC (link)
Ambriel was about to protest that he could fight, that he could still battle. He could. He could! But when he moved, he felt that everything hurt, from his toes to the tips of wings. And the tide of the battle had turned, the trees driving the creatures back to where they belonged. For Ambriel, the battle was over.

Sometimes, the universe just said no.

The angel sagged against the wall, nodding. "Okay," he said, quietly. "I will have to..." Ambriel shook his head. Everything throbbed. Hurt. He could feel tears forming in his eyes, anger and frustration and pain bottling inside of him. He really wanted to... To crash. To sleep.

He'd been defeated. "Okay."

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Fall Onto Earth: Ambriel & John
[info]pauwau
2015-11-28 10:32 pm UTC (link)
"Hold that thought." John made sure Ambriel would stay upright against the wall and then jogged over to the sword. How did one handle a sword? John rubbed his hands together and circled it before reaching for the handle. It was much heavier than he expected, and yet lighter than it should be. He held the hilt with both hands, blade down, and carried it back to Ambriel. It was probably still very sharp, even if it was covered in gore from chopping through dozens of those things. John was careful not to injure himself on it.

When he got back to Ambriel, John wrapped the blade in the angel's shirt. It was already a ruined garment. "There." John tried a smile. Ambriel just looked so sad like that. Broken and bleeding. John presented the sword to the angel. "Better? What were you going to say?"

John moved closer to tuck himself under Ambriel's arm and take on the angel's weight, holding his arm over his shoulders. Slowly, they began to move towards the entrance of the castle again.

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