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It's kinda the last bit of closure for the group following the end of the first season and the battle at Castle Fullmoon. Nelen and Simoni are able to go home now, maybe not to stay, but just being able to go means something to both of them (especially Nelen) after all that.\n\nIt was also for Stephy. In a world with ghosts, Sin Eaters, zombies, and such dead doesn't necessarily mean gone, and I wanted to do a bit more on his father for a while. Given that Roger Fullmoon was also based off my own abusive father this was in no small part a bit of schaudenfreude for me too. >:3\n\nAlso, kinda neat that my writing partner was quick on the uptake and worked out without my prompting what was going on in the park. I didn't outright tell him, but I did hint at it when I had the injuries that Roger gave Alice and Stephy suddenly come back as well as the phantom sounds (he missed that one. During the fight where Stephy and Trixie first met the group Dawn got thrown into that tree).\n\nHowever, there were other hints at things too... having to do with what Roger said, or rather, what he [i]didn't[/i] say.\n\nHehehe... >:3\n\nUpdate 4/24/2018: Been meaning to do this for a while, but it bugged the buggery out of me that Roger's original name was the same as my writing part... oh fuck it, my [i]boyfriend's[/i]. Roger was named that as, ironically enough, it was the name of my real life father who was extremely abusive to me growing up.\n\nYeah, thats right. I had the proxy for my abusive dad get torn limb from limb by a pissed off cyclops, then had his vengeful spirit thrown into the fires of Hell itself. My story, if I wanna have schaudenfreude I'm gonna have me a big freaking bowl of it. o_o\n\nBut it did bug me as I found out after we started that my then-writing-partner's-now-boyfriend's name was the same, so I changed it from what it was to Roger Fullmoon. Really just the first name I thought of.","description_bbcode_parsed":"Had the idea for this one for a while. It's kinda the last bit of closure for the group following the end of the first season and the battle at Castle Fullmoon. Nelen and Simoni are able to go home now, maybe not to stay, but just being able to go means something to both of them (especially Nelen) after all that.
It was also for Stephy. In a world with ghosts, Sin Eaters, zombies, and such dead doesn't necessarily mean gone, and I wanted to do a bit more on his father for a while. Given that Roger Fullmoon was also based off my own abusive father this was in no small part a bit of schaudenfreude for me too. >:3
Also, kinda neat that my writing partner was quick on the uptake and worked out without my prompting what was going on in the park. I didn't outright tell him, but I did hint at it when I had the injuries that Roger gave Alice and Stephy suddenly come back as well as the phantom sounds (he missed that one. During the fight where Stephy and Trixie first met the group Dawn got thrown into that tree).
However, there were other hints at things too... having to do with what Roger said, or rather, what he didn't say.
Hehehe... >:3
Update 4/24/2018: Been meaning to do this for a while, but it bugged the buggery out of me that Roger's original name was the same as my writing part... oh fuck it, my boyfriend's. Roger was named that as, ironically enough, it was the name of my real life father who was extremely abusive to me growing up.
Yeah, thats right. I had the proxy for my abusive dad get torn limb from limb by a pissed off cyclops, then had his vengeful spirit thrown into the fires of Hell itself. My story, if I wanna have schaudenfreude I'm gonna have me a big freaking bowl of it. o_o
But it did bug me as I found out after we started that my then-writing-partner's-now-boyfriend's name was the same, so I changed it from what it was to Roger Fullmoon. Really just the first name I thought of.","writing":"Late at night, along the rail lines, a train chugs its way northward towards the city of Cincinnati with some rather unusual passengers. While in New Orleans the group discovered that some preparations would be needed before Aisha would be able to petition the loa for their help. Unfortunately, this meant that they would be stuck waiting for them to be done and, for the moment, none of them knew how to deal with it… until Simoni turned on the TV in the hotel and realized what time of year it was as a Christmas special came on. They’d been so busy with everything that they’d totally lost track of time and hadn’t even realized that it was already December.\n\nHaving realized this they remembered Catherine telling Arja what she’d do if she didn’t see her daughter for the holidays. Since they were stuck waiting anyways they decided to catch a train north and pay Simoni and Nelen’s parents a visit. Natasha opted to stay behind as they’d be travelling by train and it’d be too hard to keep from getting sun on her and after Nelen did a quick trip back to India via the Wulfshead to pick up Alice and Nessa (being hunters they knew about the pub and were on the approved list) the group bought their tickets and boarded the train, which chugged away all day long until finally, late at night, they began to draw near to Cincinnati.\n\nSimoni is shaking like a leaf as the train draws nearer and nearer to Union Terminal station in Cincinnati, knowing it'll only be a few minutes now before she's somewhere she had honestly expected never to see again just a few short months ago. Nelen is nervous too, but he deals with it in a different way, his fingers jabbing away at his iPad screen as he tries to distract himself with Kingdom Rush. He was a big gamer when he was a teenager, used to always want to be the hero, probably why he was willing to enter a pact with Merihim to avenge his friend. These days he didn't play video games much anymore, if only because when real life involves demons, magic, monsters, and a fight for life, limb, and his very soul every week or so fighting Gannon to save Hyrule seems almost quaint by comparison.\n\nDawn is snoozing on one of the other cushions in the train, curled around her younger brother Dusk. She'd finally gotten over him stowing away with them, again, and figured that if he was with them here then he wasn't back in India trying to spy on the manticore or some other crazy thing. Besides them Stephy and Sammi were down in the next compartment along with Trixie, Alice, and Nessa. Patli had stayed behind in New Orleans as the snowy weather they were heading into would be pretty difficult for a hummingbird tonal to deal with. Beyond them it was just Arja and Drusilla in the car.\n\nThe clock on Nelen's iPad reads 1:30 AM as the train steams its way into the station, the building only ever used as a train station late at night due to the fact that it was actually the local history museum during the day. \"Well...\" he sighs, turning it off, \"I guess its time to go...\"\n\nDrusilla yawns loudly as the train pulls into the station, giving Arja a little shake awake. She hadn't been getting a ton of sleep lately, pregnancy on its own wasn't exactly easy to relax with, but with a Cyclops baby near the end of the term near every hour she was waking up with a kick or the like from the active child. \"Ngh, time to get off.\" she says as Arja nods, climbing over the Cyclops to grab for the bags. In the other compartment, Alice is nudged awake by Nessa, the girl jerking just a bit as her assistant hands her cane over to her. \"Wakey wakey, time to do Christmas stuff.\" she grins.\n\n\"Mgh, alright.\" Alice replies, kinda impossible to tell she's actually awake thanks to her thick black shades. \"No drinking though. We're guests and I don't care how devout or not they are, most people don't appreciate your theory that Jesus was a blood mage.\" \n\nNessa pouts at that, adjusting her gloves idly, \"Oh come on, he turned booze into blood, that's gotta be something…\" she protests as Sammi giggles, walking back into the compartment from another one further down. \n\n\"This train is fun!\" is all he says as he gathers his bags, Trixie rolling her eyes. \"Awesome, that's not ominous at all.\"\n\nStephy smirks and smacks his brother's arm, the fae boy pulling on a thin white jacket over his blue silk top, a long denim skirt ending at a pair of icy blue snowboots. He'd considered going in a teeshirt and jeans as these two knew him back when he was still human and in the closet, but Aunt Cathy had always been good to him and even stood up to her brother on a few occasions on his behalf. Besides, he might be able to trick mundanes or anyone who didn't know him, but the icy blue eyes, so-blonde-its-almost-white hair, and the points on his ears told anyone who knew of such things that he wasn't human anymore.\n\nThey head out into the hallway with their stuff slung over their backs or on wheels behind them, disembarking the train into the huge dome like station, the museum parts actually built underneath it in a massive sprawling basement, passing by a sign for the Omnimax Theater in the back of the building, as Simoni glances around, seeming to be hiding in the back of the group. Nelen was walking up front next to Drusilla, still trying to think of how in all the holy hell he was going to explain that to his mother. 'Good news and bad news mom! Good news, you're gonna be a grandma soon! The bad news... er... well... you see... if it helps it all got started because a magic cat got drunk...' probably wouldn't end well.\n\nSammi just giggles, hip bumping Stephy, \"Excited?\" he asks as he pulls his own coat on, not sticking his arms through the sleeves, just letting the thin white cloth drape over his shoulders, the other fae wearing a similar blue top, but snug black pants instead of a skirt, Sammi more leaning to play up androgyny and blended gender than full on crossdressing as his brother did, which would explain why he had a thin layer of ice blue lipstick on, along with white eyeshadow on his already fair skin. \"If anyone gives you trouble just point ‘em out, kay?\" he grins, sounding serious for once, genuinely a little worried for his brother coming back to a family he didn't exactly have the best memories with.\n\nTrixie nods as she joins them, the Texan girl carrying most of the bags. \"Yea, seriously if anyone gives you guff I'll knock em on their ass.\" she smiles, having gone for a much more simple outfit than the fae boys, a thick blue denim jacket with tan wool lining and a pair of baggy jeans, the bright red shirt she wore the only non-denim on her save for her sturdy looking brown leather cowboy boots.\n\nUp ahead of them Alice and Nessa were gathering their things, Nessa in her usual 'work outfit', the comfortable black suit with a white blouse under it, her heavy black leather gloves finally not looking out of place thanks to the cold air around them. Alice was dressed more casual, a long green skirt with black tights, along with a thick looking white sweater. She didn't usually cover her eyes at home, but in public it was easier to just wear her thick black shades, avoiding the occasional gawker. Her red and white cane sweeps in front of her as she walks. Really she didn't need it, and the cane served more as a way to hide her sword than anything, with her refined hunter senses letting her avoid most obstacles easily. Still, the cane helped her blend in, unlike the Fullmoons she was in a position where she could hide rather than walk around with a huge ‘I AM A HUNTER’ sign. \"Hey, Stephy, your uncle is... cool, yes?\" she asks, remembering her fight with his father, she always said if she had more time she probably could have gotten the better of him, but that was mainly ego talking, walking into a whole house of them was just a little intimidating.\n\nStephy smirks at Sammi, hip-bumping right back, \"If anyone gives me trouble they'll be taking their frost bitten bits home in a bag.\" he replies, \"I'm not the person I was when I left home anymore, you know that.\" he winks, though he probably wouldn't really do more than give them a few bad dreams... probably... maybe... okay maybe a couple guys who really really really deserved it... maybe, \"And yeah, Uncle Greg is fine. Don't worry Alice, he's not a Fullmoon in anything but name, and thats only because the old man wouldn't let Cathy marry him unless he took their name instead of the other way around. He's a mundane.\" he nods, \"He knows a bit about people on our side of things, but it’s mostly what Aunt Cathy told him and what he managed to pick up on his own.\" he replies.\n\nArja smiles, moving back to hang with Simoni, \"You ok?\" she asks, to which Simoni replies, \"Yeah, fine fine. I mean it’s only my mom 'n dad, nothing major. Not like I just up and vanished on them and wound up looking completely different almost got killed multiple times and ohgodstheretheyare!\" she eeps, ducking behind Arja as she recognizes her mother's large blue Grand Caravan outside. Nelen had warned her that they had a fairly big party coming and that the tiny Ford sedan car his dad drove wouldn't cut it... though its parked right behind her's as well. Seems they definitely planned ahead. Simoni almost jumps right up into the air as a sudden pressure lands on her shoulder, but its only Dusk, peering out at the vehicles, \"Whatcha all freaked out 'bout human?\" he asks, \"Just yer mom. What, afraid she's gonna give you a bath right infront of everyone or something?\" he asks as Simoni's eyebrows go up at that, then she remembers he's a cat, then she realizes what he thinks of as a bath and immediately pulls a Nelen, repressing that memory as hard and fast as she can.\n\nAjra smiles, squeezing Simoni's hand, \"I'm sure her main thoughts will be how happy she is to see you again.\" she replies, having only met the woman briefly before, but considering her past Fullmoon experiences, she was certainly at the top of the list of good ones. \"Just relax, I'm here, Nelen's here, even Stephy's here, we're all together.\" She says before leaning in to whisper, nodding subtly to Drusilla, \"Besides I doubt you'll be the drama bomb of the visit\" she giggles.\n\nSammi just grins to Stephy, kissing the boy's cheek, \"That's my baby brother.\" he giggles, Trixie nodding \"I gotta say, I was kinda shaky on this fae thing at first, but it really has changed you for the better…\" she smiles, \"You were always a great guy, but this made you finally see it too I guess.\" she winks, turning beet red as Alice lets out an 'aaaaaaw' from ahead of them.\n\nStephy blushes a bit too as they step outside, Simoni immediately letting out a yelp and pulling her coat tighter around her, her worry about seeing her parents again totally forgotten for a moment, \"GAH! Did it always get THIS cold around here in the winter?!\" she eeps as Nelen glances back at her, the mage wearing just his usual thin cloth jacket, \"Actually a bit milder than I remember.\" he shrugs as the van door opens and a redheaded woman steps out. She looks like Simoni did back when she was still Stephanie Fullmoon, just... older. The woman is close to her sixties now, with bright red hair that was only just starting to go gray here and there, bright green eyes, and freckles. She wasn't overweight, but she was a bit softer around the corners, currently wearing a thick green wooly sweater and jeans as she leans against the passenger side door. \"So, guess someone can keep their promises.\" smirks Catherine Fullmoon, looking at Arja as she says it, then clicking the remote as the doors unlock, \"Hop in kids.\" she nods as the other vehicle opens up and a man walks up to them. He's got brown eyes and graying hair, a goatee on his face, and he's wearing a Michigan State sweatshirt as he walks up to Nelen with a grin.\n\nNelen smirks right back at him, seeming to relax as he walks over and looks at his father, Gregory Fullmoon, formerly Greg Nagy before he had to change his name to marry Catherine. They look each other over as the older man chuckles and says, \"You look like crap y'know that? Seriously, I was in 'nam and I didn't come back with that many scars.\" he nods as Nelen smirks, \"You just went up against humans with guns in 'nam old man.\" he replies as his dad laughs, \"Fair point...\" he shrugs, the two grinning at each other before the older man almost tackles Nelen off his feet, the warlock letting out a whoomph of air as he smirks and pushes right back, grinning broadly, \"HAH! It’s good to see you again boy! Startin' to think I never would!\" he laughs as Nelen straightens up, giving him a light jab in the arm, \"You know Fullmoons don't die easy you old fart.\" he smirks, tossing his things in the car's trunk as he nods to Drusilla, Alice, and Nessa, \"You guys can ride with us in the back. House isn't more than a half hour from here.\" he smirks, the tension broken. Nelen looks more relaxed right now than he has since, well, ever.\n\nArja smiles, nodding to Catherine, \"I know things are… pretty awkward at times. But I do want both our families to be united, if that means the occasional trip to a far too cold place, that's fine.\" she says happily, the Indian girl shivering despite the heavy bright red jacket she was wearing with yellow mittens and boots. The girl not only grew up in a hot environment to begin with, but as a fire magic user nothing quite bothered her more than nice wet, cold, snow around her. Considering it'd be rude to toss a fireball into the back seat too she was stuck with her own 'inner fire' to warm her, which was currently being smothered by the American climate of winter.\n\nDrusilla giggles as she watches Nelen greet his father, smiling and waving to him, the Cyclops girl wearing a pair of large sunglasses, not actually able to hide her one large eye up close, but enough to prevent someone's passing glance from 'outing' her. \"I like your family already.\" she grins, the gang piling into the cars.\n\nThe group settles in and sets out, Simoni winding up riding shotgun in her mother's van while Nelen does likewise in his father's car. Simoni immediately turns the heater up as high as it'll go despite the protests from Stephy and Sammi, scooting down into her jacket until just her nose and eyes are visible as Catherine navigates the snow covered streets, the older woman glancing back up into the rear view mirror at the fae boys, \"So. Stephen, I see things have changed for you.\" she says in a sort of conversational tone as the fae blushes a bit, \"You could say that, yes...\" he replies, idly blowing icy wind around his legs to counteract the heater going full blast. \"Oh don't act all shy kid, Nelen's been keeping us up to date on you guys for a while now you know.\" she sighs, \"I daresay you're better off this way than with my brother,\" she adds 'mayherestinpeace' under her breath, \"I tried to point out to him a few times that he needed to stop worrying so much about dad's approval, but the man was even thicker skull'd than most Fullmoon boys. Told him he should've been happy with the son he had.\" she nods firmly, driving out onto a bridge over the Ohio River as they cross over into Kentucky.\n\nSammi nods, putting an arm around Stephy, \"He's doing really great. I mean seriously, he protected our holding against angry dragons without ever having to make a fist.” he nods, practically beaming, the boy liking being able to both brag and praise his brother at the same time. Trixie just giggles, nodding as well \"I know he was your brother an'all but, yeah, he's doin’ way better without him, never seen him so happy all the time.\" Arja just giggles, sighing happily as the heat hits her despite Sammi and Stephy's cold wind trying to fight it.\n\nShe just shrugs at Arja's words, not really wanting to talk about that any further it seems, glancing towards Simoni now as they drive through one of the older cities in the area, most of the buildings looking like something out of the twenties. \"See that building there kids?\" she asks, tapping on the glass, \"Old dance hall, they say President Grant danced there back in the 1800s, almost burnt down about ten years ago, bad wiring, but they managed to save it.\" she nods, heading down the road and pointing out various landmarks and such. The town gets more and more rural as they drive further, the roads getting less populated except for one massive burst right near a huge Wal-Mart, Catherine having to slam on the breaks to avoid a large pickup truck zooming past on the snow covered roads as Simoni eeps, Dusk almost flying off her shoulder from the force of the stop and causing Simoni to eep louder as the cat panics and clings to her the only way a cat knows how (i.e. claws).\n\nIn the car Nelen's dad glances at the cyclops in the backseat, \"So... you two...\" he mutters as Nelen almost chokes, \"W-what?! Dad!\" he stammers as his father rolls his eyes, \"Your mom might not notice yet, or pretend not to boy, but you can't fool your old man.\" he nods, \"How old are you?\" he asks, glancing in the mirror at Drusilla as Nelen groans and takes off his glasses, pulling his cap down over his eyes.\n\nDrusilla just smiles in her seat, pulling her glasses off, blinking a few times to readjust her eye. \"Fourteen in a couple months.\" she replies casually, clearly still not totally used to the human concepts of maturity. Her people, like most giantkin, spent very short times as proper 'children', didn't really do well for a race of massive size and power to have children that spent thirteen years weak and helpless. The average cyclops went from baby to child in a matter of just a few years, and then hit puberty quickly after to begin growing and developing proper muscles and structure and such. By her people's standards this was less 'bad touch' and more 'barely legal'...\n\n\"Oh!\" she gasps, seeing the mortified look in Nelen's face. \"No no! It's not anything weird like that! Trust me if he tried to rape me or something I could crush his head like a grape!\" she grins, flexing an arm.\n\nHis father sighs, \"Fourteen? Seriously Nelen...\" he frowns a bit as Nelen sighs, \"Look, it just kind of happened, okay Dad? She's a cyclops, they age faster than humans for one, and in her tribe it’s unusual to not have a few kids by her age.\" he grumbles, \"Besides, it’s nice to know someone who finds my scars attractive as opposed to throwing up when I take my shirt off.\" he adds under his breath. \"I get what you're saying son...\" his father replies, \"But your mother is the one we need to convince. I mean, human or not, you got a thirteen year old girl pregnant. Nelen you're practically old enough to be her father, you do realize that, right?\" he nods meaningfully, \"How exactly does that 'just happen'?\" he asks as Dawn, glances around from her place on Drusilla's lap, keeping quiet for now.\n\nDrusilla chuckles, poking Dawn's head, \"Our cat got into some stuff she wasn't supposed to and, while we were all having mass hallucinations, Nelen and I hooked up, but I assure you every time after that I was fully aware of everything.\" she smiles softly, petting Dawn’s head, \"I do love him, if that helps, he's going to be a wonderful father and I couldn't think of a better mate to have. He has the scars and history of a great warrior but... I also like his softer side. He is kind, and that's a rare trait in proper warriors. He's going to help shape our child into the best of both our worlds I think.\"\n\nGreg glances back at her, then smirks a bit, \"Heh, well... I like to think I raised him to know better than to do things like that but... how the hell does a cat getting into something cause that?\" he asks as Nelen quickly latches onto the change in subject and begins to explain Cheshire Cats and their physiology to his father, Dawn occasionally interjecting with her own comments as she picks up on Nelen's desire to keep the conversation distracted all the way back home, which by this point isn't more than a couple turns away as they pull into the driveway of a pretty normal looking two story brick house. \"... so anyways, Cheshires can induce hallucinations, but if they themselves become intoxicated somehow they lose control of it and...\" he blinks, looking back at the building as he falls silent. \"... and?\" asks Greg as he glances over, \"Son, you alright?\" he adds as Nelen nods slowly, \"Yeah... just... it’s been ten years. I guess I never really thought I’d come back.\" he replies quietly, climbing out and just looking over the building. It’s a plain house, built back in the 1980s, but in his case...\n\n\"You know, your mother made sure your rooms are just like you left them.\" says Greg quietly as Nelen simply nods, going to get his bags out of the car as snow blows around his ankles, Stephy immediately diving out from the car into the nearest drift and rolling around a bit cheering at how cool it feels after having the heater going full blast. Simoni looking up at the building as well for a long moment, then getting her things and walking inside with Arja.\n\nDrusilla nods at Greg, whispering so Catherine won’t hear, \"And no, seriously, if he ever tried anything abusive or mean I could just destroy him, Fullmoon or not.\" she giggles as she keeps petting Dawn the rest of the way.\n\nSammi is right behind Stephy, near diving headfirst into a snowbank as Arja climbs out over the two rolling fae princes, \"Nice place.\" she says with a smile, patting Simoni's back reassuringly.\n\nSimoni nods, the group getting settled in as Simoni takes Arja up to her old bedroom, the girl smiling as she looks around at the green bedspread, the stuffed animal pile in the corner she always said she'd get rid of when she got older and never did, her old computer, and so on. Nelen's room is just as preserved, old posters on the wall for PS2 games and some Anime that were popular right around the time Y2K was a big deal, a writing desk he used to do his homework on in high school (no computer, they weren't as cheap back then as they are today), and such. They stay up and talk for a while, but by now it's going on two thirty in the morning and they're all soon in bed.\n\nIts still a few days before Christmas and the house is pretty crowded the next day, it a pretty decent two-story building, but counting the two people who actually live there they make eleven or twelve (depending on what shape Dawn was in) people. Hence why Stephy suggests that he, Sammi, Trixie, Alice, and Nessa go out to see a movie or something to give the others time to catch up since there's so much to talk about. Nelen almost suggests Drusilla come with them, glancing towards his mother as he does, but Stephy quickly ducks out the door before he can suggest it.\n\n\"Whew...\" sighs Stephy as they climb into Greg's car (he lent them the keys since Nessa is old enough to drive), \"Makes you appreciate how big Rajesh's house is huh?\" he nods, watching the Christmas tree swaying in the window as Dawn and Dusk chase each other around the branches in cat form (they couldn't help it, some things are simply built in when you're a cat).\n\nTrixie giggles and nods, \"Yea, but it is kinda nice to be all cozy, reminds me of home again.\" she smiles, snuggling close with Stephy in the back seat as Sammi sits on the boy's other side, Alice taking shotgun as usual. \"So,\" Nessa smiles as she starts the car up, \"What do we wanna hit up today? Figure we should give them enough time for breathing room... and for Stephy's aunt to finish her heart attack when Drusilla inevitably lets the cat out of the bag.\" she giggles.\n\nStephy winces, \"Yeah... that's going to be awkward at best.\" he nods, \"I mean Aunt Cathy is pretty open minded, but that's a hard one to swallow.\" he sighs, leaning back and thinking, \"Well... we could catch a movie. There's a cinema about fifteen minutes from here give or take.\" he suggests, \"There's Florence Mall too, but that'll probably be pretty insane right now...\" he frowns, \"Oh, and the local chili restaurant I went to all the time as a kid is probably still...\" he pauses, then blushes, \"... well, maybe not. Spicy stuff and all that.\" he pouts, being a winter fae did come with some unexpected drawbacks, as much as he did like it.\n\nSammi giggles, patting Stephy's leg \"Yea, one of the few downsides huh?\" He teases as Nessa nods \"Let's hit the movies, should be something fun playing, and you two fairy boys can drink slushes or something\" she smiles, Alice nodding \"Sounds like a fun afternoon\" she grins before reaching back to pinch Stephy's cheek \"Of course any time I go out with my Stephy-wephy is fun!\" she giggles playfully, Trixie huffing and yanking Stephy closer to her at that, Alice taking to enjoying teasing Stephy like a younger brother since their reuniting much to Trixie's jealousy.\n\nStephy eeps at the pinch, giggling as he snuggles up to Trixe while the car sets off. It takes them a bit as it turns out the town has changed quite a bit in just a year. Things move (\"That old theater?\" said the woman working the gas station, \"It shut down months ago. It’s next door to the mall now.\") and new things come in (\"They opened a Half Price Books here?! I used to have to go all the way up into the city for one of those! Nessa! We're stopping!\" squeals Stephy.) but eventually they do make it to the movie theater, having to navigate their way past all the panicked last minute shoppers, the other moviegoers, and people who just want some halfway decent pasta for lunch (there's also an Olive Garden next door to the mall), but they finally arrive and are looking over the films on show.\n\nAlice smiles as she leans on the wall while the others look at movies. One advantage to her 'helpless blind girl' act was it made navigating crowds much easier. Just a few cane sweeps and people quickly give her and her 'helpers' a wide berth even in a crowded area. \"Find something with a good bit of talking at least.\" she smiles playfully. She could enjoy most movies, context cues and such helping her fill in the gaps, but things like special effects heavy action movies tended to turn into jumbled explosions and gunshots and not much else for her.\n\nStephy looks over the showings and makes a face, \"Krampus? They actually made a movie about that guy? Ugh, skip.\" he nods as his eyes scan the other titles, \"Hmm, another Hunger Games movie, a James Bond flick, a CGI movie about dinosaurs, something called The Night Before...\" he tilts his head, \"See anything that looks interesting?\" he asks Trixie and Sammi, none of the titles really grabbing his attention.\n\nSammi sticks his tongue out as well, \"Bleh, people need to stop acting like that guy's some terrifying demon thing. He's just a misanthrope who thinks kids are spoiled. Jerk ruins any winter ball he sneaks into too, so heads up for that.\" he replies with a little smirk. \"Hmmm, I hear Night Before is pretty funny, might be nice to laugh. Can't go wrong with Bond though but Alice may miss a lot there…\" he muses as Trixie nods, \"Oh!\" She says pointing to a poster for The Martian, \"That could be good, fun and plenty of talking.\"\n\nStephy tilts his head, \"A science fiction movie? Hehe, could be fun to sneak Bethandi into one of those sometime just so she can point out all the logic flaws with it.\" he giggles, \"Hmm... Sammi, is Night Before mostly visual humor or talky humor?\" he asks, glancing at Alice as he says it.\n\nSammi makes a 'so-so' motion with his hand, \"Got some visual stuff but it's Seth Rogan and all, pretty sure I read most of the jokes are just people talking.\" he explains as Alice nods at that \"I can work with that then.\" she says with a smile.\n\nStephy nods, \"Okay, lets do the Martian first, then we'll do Night Before.\" he nods. Martian looked pretty serious, so they could probably use a good laugh afterwards. In short order tickets are bought and the group winds up in their seats, Stephy sucking on a jumbo-sized icee in a way that would cause most people to wind up incapacitated from brain freeze after about five minutes or so.\n\nSammi smiles, sucking on one of his own as Alice follows behind, her and Nessa splitting a large popcorn while Trixie carries nachos for herself \"It's been forever since we just sat down and saw a movie, huh\" Trixie smiles, Nessa nodding, \"We needed a good break.\"\nStephy nods, leaning back as the movies play. The Martian is all sciencey and serious, while the Night Before is written by the guys who did South Park (thankfully they can bullshit their way past the R rating because of Alice and Nessa). As they leave he stretches and giggles, \"Mmm, that was nice…\" he nods, \"No weirdness or magic, just a chance to-\" he suddenly gets cut off as a large snowball comes sailing out of nowhere and smashes into the back of Trixie's head, the fae spinning around as he hears voices in the distance.\n\n\"Hah! See! I told you! Its that dyke cowgirl!\" laughs one of them, the other bending down and rolling another snowball as Stephy frowns, \"... well, so much for that.\" he huffs. The kids are ones he and Trixie knew from before, their old classmates, and the tall blonde Texan girl stands out around here. Another snowball comes flying towards them, then three more in quick succession as a few of the first guy's friends join in and Stephy snaps his fingers, a sudden gust of icy wind blowing the snowballs off course so they splatter harmlessly to their left.\n\nTrixie huffs as she shakes her head, brushing the snow out of her hair as she turns to face the boys. \"Yea I'm such a dyke you can ask your mom how I taste ya limp dicked bitches!\" she shouts back, the girl never really one to run away from a fight even before she got her magics. \"How about ya come over here and say that instead of throwing stuff like a wimp?\"\n\nStephy puts his hand on Trixie's shoulder, \"Hon, c'mon. They're just some jerks.\" he nods, mentally adding 'and they're mundanes and Nelen will get really upset if we cause trouble with a bunch of mundane kids', \"... and its just snowballs. Between Sammi and me we can make it so they can't actually hit us.\" he nods, \"They're not worth it.\" he nods, turning around as one of them calls out, \"Hey cowgirl! Where's that little faggy kid you used to hang out with? Finally dump him because he wasn't girl enough for ya?\" he sneers as Stephy's eye twitches. \"They're not worth it...\" he mutters again.\n\nTrixie looks about to go chase them down for insulting Stephy, but takes in a deep breath. When it was just her she was pretty content to just shout vulgar things and threaten, but Stephy would know people insulting him always was a trigger for her to go into full on anger mode...Still, he was right, this was supposed to be a vacation. She takes a few calming breaths before turning on her heel, holding her hand behind her and flipping the group off before putting her arm around Stephy and walking towards the car.\n\nStephy sighs and leans a bit into her, then blinks as he feels another round of snowballs coming at them. He sighs and whistles under his breath, a gust of wind blowing at them... revealing a few surprises tucked inside the snow. He yelps in sudden pain as he feels a stone smack into his shoulder, stumbling a bit and glancing back towards the laughing teenagers. He grits his teeth and stands up, Nelen would get really mad if he lost his cool around them and did something obviously magical to stop them, but right now it was really tempting.\n\nTrixie frowns as she sees the stone hit the snow, kissing Stephy's cheek and whispering, \"No magic... but I don't need magic…\" she says with a little smile before turning back around and charging at the boys \"Which one of you wants to eat the rocks and which of you wants me to shove em up his ass?!\"\n\nStephy gets to his feet and glances back at them, one of the boy's eyes narrowing a bit, \"Hey... wait... hey! That blonde chick! Hah! I think that is the little queer!\" he laughs, the boy recognizing Stephy's face enough beyond the fae transformation. \"Look guys! Little fag went full tranny over there! What a- AUGH!\" he yelps suddenly as he paws frantically at his mouth, \"MY TUNGH! MY TUNGH! TH' FUGH!?\" he yells, his tongue suddenly encased in a centimeter thick layer of ice as Stephy's eyes flash white for a moment, the fae taking several deep breaths, \"Okay, its time to go now. Right now.\" he nods.\n\nTrixie smirks a bit, stopping her charge as she sees Stephy's magic take effect, rather liking seeing the boy she once had to protect able to stand up for himself. \"Yea, try that shit again and your dick'll freeze off next!\" she taunts, sticking her tongue out before going back to Stephy, putting an arm around him again and leaning in to kiss him right on the mouth, \"My little damsel in distress doesn't need me anymore.\" she coos softly, smiling to the boy.\n\nStephy leans into the kiss, the rest of the boys making rather loud comments on it, but he does feel rather better after that, \"I wouldn't say that, but either way we should get going before they try to figure out why his tongue froze like that.\" he nods, the group heading back to the car and quickly driving off before they can incite them further. A frozen tongue was one thing, but he didn't want to lose his cool and go full wrathful winter fae on them, that would cause some big issues. Still, he lets out a long sigh as Nessa steers the car away from the mall, taking off his glasses and wiping his eyes a bit, \"Jerks... Been so long since I had to worry about someone acting like that around me that I forgot how bad it is...\" he frowns, then blinks as he notices the way they're going. \"Huh, hey Trixie. Looks like we're gonna go past the park. Y'know, the one where we met Arja and the others.\" he nods, cheering up a bit at that memory.\n\nSammi smiles, putting an arm around Stephy, \"You did really well controlling yourself.\" he grins as Trixie nods, perking up at the mention of the park. \"Oh! Wanna stop in? That'd be fun, I think there's a cart that has hot drinks this time of year too, yea? We can relax on a bench or something.\" she says as Nessa nods, \"Sounds like fun, to the park we go.\" she chuckles as Alice smiles, \"I love parks, nice and soothing…”\n\nStephy nods at the suggestion, then blinks and freezes in place before glancing out the window, \"... guys? Did you feel that?\" he asks, tilting his head. Something in the park had made his supernatural sense go ping, and not in a good way. He winces as he feels it again, a sudden sensation of... threat, danger, anger... something wrong.\n\nSammi blinks, \"Yea, something not good\" he says, Nessa frowning \"Alright, looks like we're working instead of drinking coa-coa, figures\" she says as she pulls in to park, climbing out to look around.\n\nStephy gets out as well as the sun starts to set, the group having slept in late after their long train ride and the time of watching two movies meant it was already heading towards nighttime. \"Huh, what was that...\" Stephy murmurs, his eyes scanning the trees along the park as he starts to walk inwards, his shoes crunching along the path as he does. Then pausing as he gets a strange tingling sensation on the back of his neck, as if he can feel something watching him.\n\nTrixie frowns as she looks around, reaching into her coat for her cards, just patting them for now \"This is kinda creepy, can't see anything but it feels like something's staring at us.\"\n\nStephy nods, walking along the path further, then freezes as he hears a loud smacking sound, the fae spinning around to face... a tree next to some bushes. He cautiously looks into them but finds nothing save for a rather surprised squirrel who immediately runs away. As he straightens up however he suddenly hears a loud crashing sound behind him revealing... nothing. Empty snow. He blinks, and when he opens his eyes... blood. Blood on the snow, blood on the trees, blood everywhere. The boy goes rigid as he stumbles back towards the others, \"Okay... not good... guys, are you seeing this?\" he asks, pointing at the blood-covered ground as he blinks again... and suddenly the snow is clean and white save for where they've been walking.\n\nTrixie shakes her head, \"Not seeing anything, what's up?\" she replies as Nessa nods, \"Nothing here, just the same creepy feeling as always.\" she adds, Alice also shrugging, \"I, like usual, didn't see anything odd at all, ever.\"\n\nStephy glances around, feeling suddenly very small and afraid. The whole park suddenly feeling dark and threatening to the young fae. The others can sense it too, a feeling of danger all around them... and then a sudden splash of pain shoots all along Alice's back and shoulders as if someone just doused her with scalding hot water!\n\nAlice yelps, stumbling forward and holding her back, \"Fuck!\" she cries out, Nessa springing into action yanking a glove off and reaching into her pocket for her obsidian edged pocket knife \"What's up, where'd it come from?\" she asks, Alice shaking her head, \"I have no idea!\"\n\nStephy's eyes are wide, the boy's head shooting back and forth as he tries to focus on where the sensations are coming from, but it feels like it's all around them! The trees, the ground, everywhere! \"Who are you!?\" he demands, \"Why are you doi-\" is as far as he gets before his head suddenly pitches backwards, his glasses falling to the ground as he clutches at his eye, gasping for breath as he falls to his knees. His eye is fine, not swelling or anything, but it feels like something just punched him hard in the face!\n\nNessa blinks, eyes going wide, \"Wait a minute, you said your dad died in a park. This is where it happened, isn’t it?\" she asks, remembering the day he came to Alice's house, when he used Alice's back to block one of her fire spells, and hit Stephy had enough to send his glasses flying. Alice growls at that, flicking her cane to remove the sheath part of it, holding up the iron sword with the silver edge she used. \"Fullmoon…\" she growls, picking up on Nessa's thoughts, \"Even dead you're a pussy who'd rather hit people who can't fight back...\"\n\nStephy struggles to his feet as he feels around for his glasses, finding them and sliding them on over his eyes, \"Alice... this is really bad.\" he nods, looking around. The painful blows, the bloody images, this wasn't just some random ghost phenomena... this was worse. \"A normal ghost can't do this much... not after just a year of being dead.\" he shakes his head as the trees begin to sway, an invisible wind picking up around them, \"He's a wraith!\" he yelps as, above them in the sky, one by one the stars begin to go dim, then vanish, as the moon's disk shrinks down further and further... barely a pinprick, the lights from the streets dying as well. Of course, Alice can't see it, but the others sure as hell notice.\n\nAlice's breath catches at that, but she keeps her stance up, frowning. \"Ok, we've fought wraths before Nessa…\" she says, the Aztec nodding as she cuts into her skin, the blood igniting in green, supernatural, flame, trying to cut through the darkness around them, \"Where, exactly, did he die? I'm gonna take a wild guess and say you guys didn't give him a proper honorable burial?\" Trixie frowns, shaking her head \"Come on, we'll take you.\" she nods, taking Stephy's hand firmly to walk to where the fight happened.\n\nStephy is trembling, staying as close to Trixie as he can, the fae boy feeling like he had all those years ago, the oppressive sensation of living near his father magnified a hundredfold by the ghostly aura filling the area, \"Um... dunno if that'll work Alice... his death was... well...\" he shudders, \"Messy...\" he nods. There's no sound, no noise from the traffic, no birds, no animals, no nothing... and then he notices the trees and feels his stomach roll. Hanging from them, like morbid Christmas decorations, are body parts. Limbs, bones, intestines, lungs, and other essential bits that all put together correctly make a living human being (or one of Lara's pet projects). When a cyclops kills someone in a rage they tend to spread it around, a lot.\n\nAlice nods, \"We just need the area the death actually happened. Wraths are bound to this world by chains, one of the strongest ones is where they died.\" She says as Nessa looks sympathetically at Stephy \"Another strong one is those they... had effects on...\" she says, rubbing her free hand over the boy's head.\n\nStephy nods, \"W-well, we didn't actually see it happen though... I mean... it was almost over by the time Trixie and I got there. They were ambushing Nelen and...\" he pauses as he hears another set of footsteps, then a voice that says 'I'm calm right now, but it's not easy so don't push it.'\n\n\"Right about here Alice.\" says Nelen, his eyes very red around the edges as he stomps loudly with his foot so the blind swordswoman can 'see' where he means. \"Roger grabbed Drusilla from behind and she... well... did what comes naturally to a cyclops.\" he nods as several more sounds of footsteps reveal Drusilla, Arja, and Simoni and, to Stephy's surprise, Catherine. The older woman wrapped up tight in a warm winter coat as she glares around the trees. \n\n\"Yep, this is my brother's handiwork alright. Little twerp always did love showing off.\" she frowns, \"Roger! I know it's you! Now stop this and come out where we can see you!\" she shouts, the wind picking up further as an angry roar starts to shake the trees.\n\nAlice looked about to strike at the steps, but was stopped by Nessa, \"Glad to see you guys, these things are rough to deal with the brute force way.\" She says, Alice nodding along. \n\nDrusilla was smirking, looking into the darkness defiantly, \"I dunno…\" she says loud enough to be heard well, \"I tore him up before, I bet I could again... Maybe that's why he's a spirit now, too ashamed of being beaten by a little girl to move on?\"\n\nThe roar grows louder then and Nelen spins around, \"Drusilla! Don’t draw his att-\" but he gets cut off by a blow that feels like it came from a truck knocking him flying as Drusilla is suddenly grabbed around the throat by an unseen hand, the force lifting her right off the ground as the wind becomes a gale. \n\n\"YOU!\" roars the wind, the invisible hand around Druislla's neck resisting even her efforts to remove it. \"YOU BITCH! YOU KILLED ME!\" snarls the voice of Roger Fullmoon loud enough to make their eardrums ache even as it sounds as if it's coming from a great distance.\n\nDrusilla wheezes as she's choked by the invisible force, hands clawing at her neck despite it, \"Yea I did!\" she gasps out, \"And now my friends are gonna kill ya again, and again, and again, till there's nothing left!\" she says, face turning red. The Cyclopi were known as brutes, and raiders, but they had a form of honor, and everything she heard about Roger went against that honor.\n\nThe invisible force starts to tighten as Simoni frantically tries to wake up her brother and slowly, despite Drusilla's own incredible strength, it becomes hard for her to breathe, the wraith beginning to strangle her with it's ghostly hands the meaty bits on all the trees start to move, snaking down past the group as Stephy makes a sudden sound of disgust before piling themselves up infront of Drusilla and forming a familiar looking man... well... human... well... human-ish. Take Lara, remove all her stitches and keep her together somehow, and fill her with enough hatred and vitrol to burn down a house by glaring at it, and then make her big, male, and Irish and you might get an idea of what is holding Drusilla by the neck.\n\nDeath was not kind to Roger Fullmoon. All the tears and wounds on his body ooze blood as he sneers at the cyclops through ruined lips, his hatred and anger almost a physical force in the air, practically setting it alight. \"You little shits ruined everything...\" he growls, \"Broke Dad's sword, smashed the castle, but now... now I'm gonna...\" he glares, Simoni letting out a wind-blast... but it goes right through him. Catherine, disgusted by what she sees, tries to aid her daughter with her own magic, but Roger's body isn't really [i]real[/i], the wraith just a manifestation of his terrible anger. Stephy... the fae boy is on his knees, clutching at his stomach and looking like he might be sick, his eyes wide and terrified at the sight of his dead father before him bringing back every memory of childhood abuse, every beating, every punishment for perceived wrongs, every ounce of shame he felt, and writing them across his brain in red hot images.\n\nAlice winces, not needing eyes to feel the raw hate and rage that congealed to make this creature. \"Stephy…\" she whispers, turning her head towards the boy, kneeling down next to him, \"Stephy you have to focus on me, you're his chain in this world.\" she insists.\n\nTrixie frowning, but nodding, putting a hand on the boy's shoulder, \"Come on Steph, what are you scared of? This coward?\" she adds, rubbing her boyfriend's shoulder, \"You faced dragons! You've come so far, all because you're free of him. Are you going to let him undo all of that just because he's too much of a pussy to die like a man?\" \n\nSammi nods, glaring at the figure, a creature of pure negative emotions was like... rotting trash to a fae, it was disgusting, a sick form of what they should enjoy... \"Yeah, look at him! He wasn't even enough of a man to hate you honestly. He was just scared what DADDY would think!\" he sneers, trying to get Roger's attention away from Drusilla, \"How pathetic is that? A grown man terrified of making daddy angry. Hey, is daddy mad you couldn't even handle some kids, let alone be the heir apparent? I mean, I was SCARED of Franklin, he was a force of nature... I'm just disgusted by you...\"\n\nStephy tries to shake it off, slowly forcing himself to his feet, \"I... Its...\" he shakes his head, trying to clear it... but its not just him causing it, Roger's powers as a wraith are forcing him to remember it, drawing power from his anguish. Stephy shakes his head harder, \"G... get out of my HEAD!\" he yells, a sudden burst of icy air shooting out from him as his skin turns white, his ears becoming sharper and longer as his fae aspect is drawn forth, the icy chill pushing back the hot rage coming from Roger, \"I'm not afraid of you anymore! I'm not your's to torture anymore! GET [i]OUT[/i]!\" he yells as the wind picks up, the ice and snow pressing against the wraith as it's ghostly body begins to turn blue, ice forming on it.\n\nStephy grins, then falters as suddenly the ice begins to melt, the wraith stepping forward, still holding the struggling cyclops by the throat as her face begins to turn blue. \"You little shit... I'm your father boy! I'll make you a proper Fullmoon if I have to kill you to do it!\" he snarls.\n\nStephy shakes for a moment, then glaring right back with icy-white eyes, \"NO! You're not my father anymore! You don't deserve to be!\" he shoots back, the ice and snow swirling, pressing back against Roger's burning aura as the ghostly hand suddenly ices over and goes numb, Drusilla falling to the ground as the wraith stumbles.\n\nDrusilla takes in a few deep breaths, rubbing her neck as Arja moves forward, \"He's right, you're not. At least I could respect Franklin as a warrior, he was a monster but when Simoni and I fought him it was a legend, something to go down in history as the power of the gods clashed... When you got torn apart we laughed, it was a joke.\" she snarls, her eyes flashing yellow and sparks coming from between her teeth. \n\nTrixie nods, grip tightening on Stephy's shoulder, \"Stephy did too!\" she adds, \"He did [i]cartwheels and cheered[/i] when he realized it was you, because it meant he was free! Do you really think you have any power over him anymore? No one mourned your death, we [i]celebrated[/i] it!\"\n\nAs she talks, Nessa chants in her native tongue, eyes glowing green as she holds the ball of fire out at the wraith. The group was just to keep him busy, Stephy's outburst enough to weaken his chain to the world. \"You're not a man, not even a ghost,\" she growls softly \"Just a miserable ball of rage and hate bound to this world by the chains he made. Those chains are gone, Fullmoon, it's time to drift away!\" She thrusts her still bleeding hand out at that, a gout of green flame sent at him as hands from the ground burst free, trying to literally pull him kicking and screaming into the underworld.\n\nFor a moment, it looks like they could succeed, but then Roger stomps down with one ghostly foot and roars, punching forward, the hands shatter and break as the flame smashes against his spectral fist, vanishing into embers as he stomps forward, \"NO! NOT THIS TIME!\" he growls, Stephy's aura of ice and snow suddenly shattering as he strides forward, the snow melting under his feet as the ground begins to blacken from the sheer heat of his rage. \"I will have my revenge! Your puny little Aztec crap doesn't have the power to stop me!\" he spits at Nessa, gesturing with a hand as a sudden invisible hammer-blow to her stomach sends her sprawling. Stephy glares, trying to refocus his will and generate more ice and snow to combat his ghostly father's anger and rage, but it's like trying to hold a snowball under a blowtorch... and then Nelen sits up, grins, and suddenly Roger is flying backwards with the warlock's hand around his throat.\n\nStephy blinks, noticing that Nelen is holding a ghost somehow... then he almost falls out of his fae form as he realizes it's not [i]Nelen[/i] doing it when the mage looks back over his shoulder, his eyes a bright bloody red, and grins, \"Man! Does it smell [b]amazing[/b] here or what?!\" cackles Merihim.\n\nArja frowns, \"Great, you're out, I hate to say it but this may actually be useful…\" she says. \n\nNessa nodding at her, \"Of course, his spirit rider can attack another spirit.\" she smirks. \n\nDrusilla sighing loudly, \"Wonderful... Blood demon!\" She says firmly to her husband's possessed form \"You want to play? You're holding a spirit of rage and hate, one that thinks it's stronger than any other, probably thinks it can beat you even, right, Fullmoon? You're stronger than some heretic demon god, aren't you?\" she says as Nessa smirks a bit. \"He did seem pretty sure that he was stronger than other 'puny' magics...”\n\nMerihim looks back at the struggling ghost of Roger Fullmoon, then back at the others, \"This? Nah.\" he shrugs, then backhands the struggling ghost across his jaw. \"He knows me... well, maybe not [i]me[/i], but look at this guy. Full of enough rage and hate to become a wraith in a year? Oh they'll [i]love[/i] him... Love him to, hah, pieces.\" he grins ominously as the ghost begins to struggle harder, punching fruitlessly against the arm holding it. \"Wraith and wrath are only one letter apart y'know, and this guy, oh man this GUY! Like a feast in spectral flesh!\" he grins, taking a deep breath in through his mouth and nose as, suddenly, the burning aura weakens considerably. \"Y'know why your underworld trick didn't work girl?\" he asks Nessa, \"... 'cause he's not supposed to go there.\" he nods, turning back to Roger as the ghost's eyes widen in terror. \"He was a Catholic, he had a [i]compact[/i] with the boys upstairs... and he [i]broke[/i] it by committing the sin of wrath.\" he grins like a mouth full of barbed wire.\n\nNessa smirks lightly, nodding, \"Well, forgive me then, if you have a better home for him. I'm but a humble servant of the gods, I have no right to stand in the way.\" she says with a soft chuckle.\n\nSimoni shudders as she watches despite herself, Merihim's appearances always left her unnerved, and Catherine seems rather disgusted by the sight of her son's possession... but Stephy watches on, his face betraying nothing as he keeps his aura wide enough to protect them from the remains of Roger's. \"... so do it then.\" he nods to Merihim as the demon smirks, then holds his free hand out over the snow and pushes some of his substance onto the ground, the crimson liquid that makes up his body forming a large circle. \n\n\"Right, you had your fun Roggie, hid from us for a whole year... but now it's time to go...\" he sneers, snapping his fingers. There's no ceremony, no big chanting, no sacrifice of anything, being a demon he's able to pop open the door whenever he wants.\n\nWhen it does open however its worse, so much worse, than anything Roger did. Stephy cries out and forces his magic to keep going as hard as he can to keep out the sensations coming out of the portal, but even then some of it gets through. Screams, the stench of blood and offal, the sounds of pain and agony both verbal and physical, the heat, the suffering... Roger's wrath was a small spark compared to the aura of Hell itself coming out of the portal. The wraith screams, literally screams in fear, and tries frantically to claw his way free as Merihim holds him out over the portal, \"Tell the boys hi for me, would ya?\" he smirks, then he lets go. There's a moment where Roger is loose, but only a moment before he's suddenly dragged down, his ghostly hands clutching at the hole for a few precious seconds before they slip free and the gate slams shut.\n\nMerihim looks around once he's gone, sniffs at the air, then gags, \"UGH! Shit, Christmas time already? DISGUSTING!\" he spits, \"Fuck this noise, wake me in January. I'm going back to sleep.\" he nods, Nelen's eyes rolling back as they turn white again, the warlock stumbling and almost falling over.\n\nSammi near buckles over when the door opens, the surge of negative emotions and suffering enough to make even a true fae stumble. Trixie just sighs, holding both boys up by the collars, \"Come on guys.\" she winces, face twisted in disgust as well. \"Let's stay upright for the big finale…\" she sighs.\n\nNessa shakes her head, \"There's no NICE way to send someone to the darker realms, but man... that was rough.\" she sighs before looking to Stephy, \"You ok?\" she asks as Drusilla goes to check on Nelen.\n\nStephy is on the ground, shaking, breathing in big gulps of the winter air now that both Roger's aura and the... nightmare... coming out of the portal are gone. \"... dizzy, exhausted, feel like I'm gonna be sick... but... he's gone. Totally gone. You don't come back from that.\" he nods, \"I-I'll be fine.\" he sighs, leaning back in the snow as Nelen leans onto Drusilla, his head ringing after what he just did. \n\nCatherine looks at Simoni, then at the spot where the Hellgate was, then frowns, \"So... is this normal for you kids?\" with a huff, folding her arms in a disapproving way.\n\nArja makes a 'so-so' motion with her hand, \"Less demons and portals to Hell, usually, but yea, the whole fighting monsters that are hurting people, that's kinda our bag these days.\"\n\nShe frowns, then sighs and rubs at her forehead, \"Forget I asked...\" she grumbles as Stephy gets to his feet and sighs, \"Lets get out of here...\" he nods, then pauses, \"Wait... why did you guys come out here anyways?\" he asks\n\nSimoni stares at him, \"Are you kidding!? We felt that all the way at the house!\" she says in an incredulous tone.\n\nNelen nods, rubbing at his eyes, \"Yeah, mom stood up and just said, 'He's back, we're going to the park, now.' and we all climbed into the van and came out.\" he adds as Catherine blushes.\n\n\"Well, I may not use it all the time like you kids, but I'm still a Fullmoon. I can tell when something magic is going on, and besides... he's... well... he was my brother. You... you just [i]know[/i] when a sibling is up to some trouble.\" she nods firmly.\n\nAlice nods, \"Well, we're glad you were here. Wraiths are dangerous for even trained hunters, as much of a burden that demon is, he was a valuable tool here.\" she smiles, rubbing Stephy's head lightly, \"Thank you for the help.\"\n\nStephy just nods, \"Mm... I'd like to go back to the house and take a nap after that I think...\" he murmurs as the group heads back to the parking lot, the fae boy silent for most of the trip. When they arrive back at the house he goes to the guest room that he's sharing with the others, changes into his pajamas, and flops down onto his sleeping bag (the bed is only big enough for two, even if they want to share it's a matter of size), closing his eyes and opening them in Arcadia, at Sera's castle. He doesn't say anything as he appears, simply heading straight for her quarters, opening her door, and hugging her tightly around the waist, pressing his face against her as he cries softly.\n\nIce has to be hard, but sometimes water will flow even in the heart of winter.","writing_bbcode_parsed":"Late at night, along the rail lines, a train chugs its way northward towards the city of Cincinnati with some rather unusual passengers. While in New Orleans the group discovered that some preparations would be needed before Aisha would be able to petition the loa for their help. Unfortunately, this meant that they would be stuck waiting for them to be done and, for the moment, none of them knew how to deal with it… until Simoni turned on the TV in the hotel and realized what time of year it was as a Christmas special came on. They’d been so busy with everything that they’d totally lost track of time and hadn’t even realized that it was already December.
Having realized this they remembered Catherine telling Arja what she’d do if she didn’t see her daughter for the holidays. Since they were stuck waiting anyways they decided to catch a train north and pay Simoni and Nelen’s parents a visit. Natasha opted to stay behind as they’d be travelling by train and it’d be too hard to keep from getting sun on her and after Nelen did a quick trip back to India via the Wulfshead to pick up Alice and Nessa (being hunters they knew about the pub and were on the approved list) the group bought their tickets and boarded the train, which chugged away all day long until finally, late at night, they began to draw near to Cincinnati.
Simoni is shaking like a leaf as the train draws nearer and nearer to Union Terminal station in Cincinnati, knowing it'll only be a few minutes now before she's somewhere she had honestly expected never to see again just a few short months ago. Nelen is nervous too, but he deals with it in a different way, his fingers jabbing away at his iPad screen as he tries to distract himself with Kingdom Rush. He was a big gamer when he was a teenager, used to always want to be the hero, probably why he was willing to enter a pact with Merihim to avenge his friend. These days he didn't play video games much anymore, if only because when real life involves demons, magic, monsters, and a fight for life, limb, and his very soul every week or so fighting Gannon to save Hyrule seems almost quaint by comparison.
Dawn is snoozing on one of the other cushions in the train, curled around her younger brother Dusk. She'd finally gotten over him stowing away with them, again, and figured that if he was with them here then he wasn't back in India trying to spy on the manticore or some other crazy thing. Besides them Stephy and Sammi were down in the next compartment along with Trixie, Alice, and Nessa. Patli had stayed behind in New Orleans as the snowy weather they were heading into would be pretty difficult for a hummingbird tonal to deal with. Beyond them it was just Arja and Drusilla in the car.
The clock on Nelen's iPad reads 1:30 AM as the train steams its way into the station, the building only ever used as a train station late at night due to the fact that it was actually the local history museum during the day. "Well..." he sighs, turning it off, "I guess its time to go..."
Drusilla yawns loudly as the train pulls into the station, giving Arja a little shake awake. She hadn't been getting a ton of sleep lately, pregnancy on its own wasn't exactly easy to relax with, but with a Cyclops baby near the end of the term near every hour she was waking up with a kick or the like from the active child. "Ngh, time to get off." she says as Arja nods, climbing over the Cyclops to grab for the bags. In the other compartment, Alice is nudged awake by Nessa, the girl jerking just a bit as her assistant hands her cane over to her. "Wakey wakey, time to do Christmas stuff." she grins.
"Mgh, alright." Alice replies, kinda impossible to tell she's actually awake thanks to her thick black shades. "No drinking though. We're guests and I don't care how devout or not they are, most people don't appreciate your theory that Jesus was a blood mage."
Nessa pouts at that, adjusting her gloves idly, "Oh come on, he turned booze into blood, that's gotta be something…" she protests as Sammi giggles, walking back into the compartment from another one further down.
"This train is fun!" is all he says as he gathers his bags, Trixie rolling her eyes. "Awesome, that's not ominous at all."
Stephy smirks and smacks his brother's arm, the fae boy pulling on a thin white jacket over his blue silk top, a long denim skirt ending at a pair of icy blue snowboots. He'd considered going in a teeshirt and jeans as these two knew him back when he was still human and in the closet, but Aunt Cathy had always been good to him and even stood up to her brother on a few occasions on his behalf. Besides, he might be able to trick mundanes or anyone who didn't know him, but the icy blue eyes, so-blonde-its-almost-white hair, and the points on his ears told anyone who knew of such things that he wasn't human anymore.
They head out into the hallway with their stuff slung over their backs or on wheels behind them, disembarking the train into the huge dome like station, the museum parts actually built underneath it in a massive sprawling basement, passing by a sign for the Omnimax Theater in the back of the building, as Simoni glances around, seeming to be hiding in the back of the group. Nelen was walking up front next to Drusilla, still trying to think of how in all the holy hell he was going to explain that to his mother. 'Good news and bad news mom! Good news, you're gonna be a grandma soon! The bad news... er... well... you see... if it helps it all got started because a magic cat got drunk...' probably wouldn't end well.
Sammi just giggles, hip bumping Stephy, "Excited?" he asks as he pulls his own coat on, not sticking his arms through the sleeves, just letting the thin white cloth drape over his shoulders, the other fae wearing a similar blue top, but snug black pants instead of a skirt, Sammi more leaning to play up androgyny and blended gender than full on crossdressing as his brother did, which would explain why he had a thin layer of ice blue lipstick on, along with white eyeshadow on his already fair skin. "If anyone gives you trouble just point ‘em out, kay?" he grins, sounding serious for once, genuinely a little worried for his brother coming back to a family he didn't exactly have the best memories with.
Trixie nods as she joins them, the Texan girl carrying most of the bags. "Yea, seriously if anyone gives you guff I'll knock em on their ass." she smiles, having gone for a much more simple outfit than the fae boys, a thick blue denim jacket with tan wool lining and a pair of baggy jeans, the bright red shirt she wore the only non-denim on her save for her sturdy looking brown leather cowboy boots.
Up ahead of them Alice and Nessa were gathering their things, Nessa in her usual 'work outfit', the comfortable black suit with a white blouse under it, her heavy black leather gloves finally not looking out of place thanks to the cold air around them. Alice was dressed more casual, a long green skirt with black tights, along with a thick looking white sweater. She didn't usually cover her eyes at home, but in public it was easier to just wear her thick black shades, avoiding the occasional gawker. Her red and white cane sweeps in front of her as she walks. Really she didn't need it, and the cane served more as a way to hide her sword than anything, with her refined hunter senses letting her avoid most obstacles easily. Still, the cane helped her blend in, unlike the Fullmoons she was in a position where she could hide rather than walk around with a huge ‘I AM A HUNTER’ sign. "Hey, Stephy, your uncle is... cool, yes?" she asks, remembering her fight with his father, she always said if she had more time she probably could have gotten the better of him, but that was mainly ego talking, walking into a whole house of them was just a little intimidating.
Stephy smirks at Sammi, hip-bumping right back, "If anyone gives me trouble they'll be taking their frost bitten bits home in a bag." he replies, "I'm not the person I was when I left home anymore, you know that." he winks, though he probably wouldn't really do more than give them a few bad dreams... probably... maybe... okay maybe a couple guys who really really really deserved it... maybe, "And yeah, Uncle Greg is fine. Don't worry Alice, he's not a Fullmoon in anything but name, and thats only because the old man wouldn't let Cathy marry him unless he took their name instead of the other way around. He's a mundane." he nods, "He knows a bit about people on our side of things, but it’s mostly what Aunt Cathy told him and what he managed to pick up on his own." he replies.
Arja smiles, moving back to hang with Simoni, "You ok?" she asks, to which Simoni replies, "Yeah, fine fine. I mean it’s only my mom 'n dad, nothing major. Not like I just up and vanished on them and wound up looking completely different almost got killed multiple times and ohgodstheretheyare!" she eeps, ducking behind Arja as she recognizes her mother's large blue Grand Caravan outside. Nelen had warned her that they had a fairly big party coming and that the tiny Ford sedan car his dad drove wouldn't cut it... though its parked right behind her's as well. Seems they definitely planned ahead. Simoni almost jumps right up into the air as a sudden pressure lands on her shoulder, but its only Dusk, peering out at the vehicles, "Whatcha all freaked out 'bout human?" he asks, "Just yer mom. What, afraid she's gonna give you a bath right infront of everyone or something?" he asks as Simoni's eyebrows go up at that, then she remembers he's a cat, then she realizes what he thinks of as a bath and immediately pulls a Nelen, repressing that memory as hard and fast as she can.
Ajra smiles, squeezing Simoni's hand, "I'm sure her main thoughts will be how happy she is to see you again." she replies, having only met the woman briefly before, but considering her past Fullmoon experiences, she was certainly at the top of the list of good ones. "Just relax, I'm here, Nelen's here, even Stephy's here, we're all together." She says before leaning in to whisper, nodding subtly to Drusilla, "Besides I doubt you'll be the drama bomb of the visit" she giggles.
Sammi just grins to Stephy, kissing the boy's cheek, "That's my baby brother." he giggles, Trixie nodding "I gotta say, I was kinda shaky on this fae thing at first, but it really has changed you for the better…" she smiles, "You were always a great guy, but this made you finally see it too I guess." she winks, turning beet red as Alice lets out an 'aaaaaaw' from ahead of them.
Stephy blushes a bit too as they step outside, Simoni immediately letting out a yelp and pulling her coat tighter around her, her worry about seeing her parents again totally forgotten for a moment, "GAH! Did it always get THIS cold around here in the winter?!" she eeps as Nelen glances back at her, the mage wearing just his usual thin cloth jacket, "Actually a bit milder than I remember." he shrugs as the van door opens and a redheaded woman steps out. She looks like Simoni did back when she was still Stephanie Fullmoon, just... older. The woman is close to her sixties now, with bright red hair that was only just starting to go gray here and there, bright green eyes, and freckles. She wasn't overweight, but she was a bit softer around the corners, currently wearing a thick green wooly sweater and jeans as she leans against the passenger side door. "So, guess someone can keep their promises." smirks Catherine Fullmoon, looking at Arja as she says it, then clicking the remote as the doors unlock, "Hop in kids." she nods as the other vehicle opens up and a man walks up to them. He's got brown eyes and graying hair, a goatee on his face, and he's wearing a Michigan State sweatshirt as he walks up to Nelen with a grin.
Nelen smirks right back at him, seeming to relax as he walks over and looks at his father, Gregory Fullmoon, formerly Greg Nagy before he had to change his name to marry Catherine. They look each other over as the older man chuckles and says, "You look like crap y'know that? Seriously, I was in 'nam and I didn't come back with that many scars." he nods as Nelen smirks, "You just went up against humans with guns in 'nam old man." he replies as his dad laughs, "Fair point..." he shrugs, the two grinning at each other before the older man almost tackles Nelen off his feet, the warlock letting out a whoomph of air as he smirks and pushes right back, grinning broadly, "HAH! It’s good to see you again boy! Startin' to think I never would!" he laughs as Nelen straightens up, giving him a light jab in the arm, "You know Fullmoons don't die easy you old fart." he smirks, tossing his things in the car's trunk as he nods to Drusilla, Alice, and Nessa, "You guys can ride with us in the back. House isn't more than a half hour from here." he smirks, the tension broken. Nelen looks more relaxed right now than he has since, well, ever.
Arja smiles, nodding to Catherine, "I know things are… pretty awkward at times. But I do want both our families to be united, if that means the occasional trip to a far too cold place, that's fine." she says happily, the Indian girl shivering despite the heavy bright red jacket she was wearing with yellow mittens and boots. The girl not only grew up in a hot environment to begin with, but as a fire magic user nothing quite bothered her more than nice wet, cold, snow around her. Considering it'd be rude to toss a fireball into the back seat too she was stuck with her own 'inner fire' to warm her, which was currently being smothered by the American climate of winter.
Drusilla giggles as she watches Nelen greet his father, smiling and waving to him, the Cyclops girl wearing a pair of large sunglasses, not actually able to hide her one large eye up close, but enough to prevent someone's passing glance from 'outing' her. "I like your family already." she grins, the gang piling into the cars.
The group settles in and sets out, Simoni winding up riding shotgun in her mother's van while Nelen does likewise in his father's car. Simoni immediately turns the heater up as high as it'll go despite the protests from Stephy and Sammi, scooting down into her jacket until just her nose and eyes are visible as Catherine navigates the snow covered streets, the older woman glancing back up into the rear view mirror at the fae boys, "So. Stephen, I see things have changed for you." she says in a sort of conversational tone as the fae blushes a bit, "You could say that, yes..." he replies, idly blowing icy wind around his legs to counteract the heater going full blast. "Oh don't act all shy kid, Nelen's been keeping us up to date on you guys for a while now you know." she sighs, "I daresay you're better off this way than with my brother," she adds 'mayherestinpeace' under her breath, "I tried to point out to him a few times that he needed to stop worrying so much about dad's approval, but the man was even thicker skull'd than most Fullmoon boys. Told him he should've been happy with the son he had." she nods firmly, driving out onto a bridge over the Ohio River as they cross over into Kentucky.
Sammi nods, putting an arm around Stephy, "He's doing really great. I mean seriously, he protected our holding against angry dragons without ever having to make a fist.” he nods, practically beaming, the boy liking being able to both brag and praise his brother at the same time. Trixie just giggles, nodding as well "I know he was your brother an'all but, yeah, he's doin’ way better without him, never seen him so happy all the time." Arja just giggles, sighing happily as the heat hits her despite Sammi and Stephy's cold wind trying to fight it.
She just shrugs at Arja's words, not really wanting to talk about that any further it seems, glancing towards Simoni now as they drive through one of the older cities in the area, most of the buildings looking like something out of the twenties. "See that building there kids?" she asks, tapping on the glass, "Old dance hall, they say President Grant danced there back in the 1800s, almost burnt down about ten years ago, bad wiring, but they managed to save it." she nods, heading down the road and pointing out various landmarks and such. The town gets more and more rural as they drive further, the roads getting less populated except for one massive burst right near a huge Wal-Mart, Catherine having to slam on the breaks to avoid a large pickup truck zooming past on the snow covered roads as Simoni eeps, Dusk almost flying off her shoulder from the force of the stop and causing Simoni to eep louder as the cat panics and clings to her the only way a cat knows how (i.e. claws).
In the car Nelen's dad glances at the cyclops in the backseat, "So... you two..." he mutters as Nelen almost chokes, "W-what?! Dad!" he stammers as his father rolls his eyes, "Your mom might not notice yet, or pretend not to boy, but you can't fool your old man." he nods, "How old are you?" he asks, glancing in the mirror at Drusilla as Nelen groans and takes off his glasses, pulling his cap down over his eyes.
Drusilla just smiles in her seat, pulling her glasses off, blinking a few times to readjust her eye. "Fourteen in a couple months." she replies casually, clearly still not totally used to the human concepts of maturity. Her people, like most giantkin, spent very short times as proper 'children', didn't really do well for a race of massive size and power to have children that spent thirteen years weak and helpless. The average cyclops went from baby to child in a matter of just a few years, and then hit puberty quickly after to begin growing and developing proper muscles and structure and such. By her people's standards this was less 'bad touch' and more 'barely legal'...
"Oh!" she gasps, seeing the mortified look in Nelen's face. "No no! It's not anything weird like that! Trust me if he tried to rape me or something I could crush his head like a grape!" she grins, flexing an arm.
His father sighs, "Fourteen? Seriously Nelen..." he frowns a bit as Nelen sighs, "Look, it just kind of happened, okay Dad? She's a cyclops, they age faster than humans for one, and in her tribe it’s unusual to not have a few kids by her age." he grumbles, "Besides, it’s nice to know someone who finds my scars attractive as opposed to throwing up when I take my shirt off." he adds under his breath. "I get what you're saying son..." his father replies, "But your mother is the one we need to convince. I mean, human or not, you got a thirteen year old girl pregnant. Nelen you're practically old enough to be her father, you do realize that, right?" he nods meaningfully, "How exactly does that 'just happen'?" he asks as Dawn, glances around from her place on Drusilla's lap, keeping quiet for now.
Drusilla chuckles, poking Dawn's head, "Our cat got into some stuff she wasn't supposed to and, while we were all having mass hallucinations, Nelen and I hooked up, but I assure you every time after that I was fully aware of everything." she smiles softly, petting Dawn’s head, "I do love him, if that helps, he's going to be a wonderful father and I couldn't think of a better mate to have. He has the scars and history of a great warrior but... I also like his softer side. He is kind, and that's a rare trait in proper warriors. He's going to help shape our child into the best of both our worlds I think."
Greg glances back at her, then smirks a bit, "Heh, well... I like to think I raised him to know better than to do things like that but... how the hell does a cat getting into something cause that?" he asks as Nelen quickly latches onto the change in subject and begins to explain Cheshire Cats and their physiology to his father, Dawn occasionally interjecting with her own comments as she picks up on Nelen's desire to keep the conversation distracted all the way back home, which by this point isn't more than a couple turns away as they pull into the driveway of a pretty normal looking two story brick house. "... so anyways, Cheshires can induce hallucinations, but if they themselves become intoxicated somehow they lose control of it and..." he blinks, looking back at the building as he falls silent. "... and?" asks Greg as he glances over, "Son, you alright?" he adds as Nelen nods slowly, "Yeah... just... it’s been ten years. I guess I never really thought I’d come back." he replies quietly, climbing out and just looking over the building. It’s a plain house, built back in the 1980s, but in his case...
"You know, your mother made sure your rooms are just like you left them." says Greg quietly as Nelen simply nods, going to get his bags out of the car as snow blows around his ankles, Stephy immediately diving out from the car into the nearest drift and rolling around a bit cheering at how cool it feels after having the heater going full blast. Simoni looking up at the building as well for a long moment, then getting her things and walking inside with Arja.
Drusilla nods at Greg, whispering so Catherine won’t hear, "And no, seriously, if he ever tried anything abusive or mean I could just destroy him, Fullmoon or not." she giggles as she keeps petting Dawn the rest of the way.
Sammi is right behind Stephy, near diving headfirst into a snowbank as Arja climbs out over the two rolling fae princes, "Nice place." she says with a smile, patting Simoni's back reassuringly.
Simoni nods, the group getting settled in as Simoni takes Arja up to her old bedroom, the girl smiling as she looks around at the green bedspread, the stuffed animal pile in the corner she always said she'd get rid of when she got older and never did, her old computer, and so on. Nelen's room is just as preserved, old posters on the wall for PS2 games and some Anime that were popular right around the time Y2K was a big deal, a writing desk he used to do his homework on in high school (no computer, they weren't as cheap back then as they are today), and such. They stay up and talk for a while, but by now it's going on two thirty in the morning and they're all soon in bed.
Its still a few days before Christmas and the house is pretty crowded the next day, it a pretty decent two-story building, but counting the two people who actually live there they make eleven or twelve (depending on what shape Dawn was in) people. Hence why Stephy suggests that he, Sammi, Trixie, Alice, and Nessa go out to see a movie or something to give the others time to catch up since there's so much to talk about. Nelen almost suggests Drusilla come with them, glancing towards his mother as he does, but Stephy quickly ducks out the door before he can suggest it.
"Whew..." sighs Stephy as they climb into Greg's car (he lent them the keys since Nessa is old enough to drive), "Makes you appreciate how big Rajesh's house is huh?" he nods, watching the Christmas tree swaying in the window as Dawn and Dusk chase each other around the branches in cat form (they couldn't help it, some things are simply built in when you're a cat).
Trixie giggles and nods, "Yea, but it is kinda nice to be all cozy, reminds me of home again." she smiles, snuggling close with Stephy in the back seat as Sammi sits on the boy's other side, Alice taking shotgun as usual. "So," Nessa smiles as she starts the car up, "What do we wanna hit up today? Figure we should give them enough time for breathing room... and for Stephy's aunt to finish her heart attack when Drusilla inevitably lets the cat out of the bag." she giggles.
Stephy winces, "Yeah... that's going to be awkward at best." he nods, "I mean Aunt Cathy is pretty open minded, but that's a hard one to swallow." he sighs, leaning back and thinking, "Well... we could catch a movie. There's a cinema about fifteen minutes from here give or take." he suggests, "There's Florence Mall too, but that'll probably be pretty insane right now..." he frowns, "Oh, and the local chili restaurant I went to all the time as a kid is probably still..." he pauses, then blushes, "... well, maybe not. Spicy stuff and all that." he pouts, being a winter fae did come with some unexpected drawbacks, as much as he did like it.
Sammi giggles, patting Stephy's leg "Yea, one of the few downsides huh?" He teases as Nessa nods "Let's hit the movies, should be something fun playing, and you two fairy boys can drink slushes or something" she smiles, Alice nodding "Sounds like a fun afternoon" she grins before reaching back to pinch Stephy's cheek "Of course any time I go out with my Stephy-wephy is fun!" she giggles playfully, Trixie huffing and yanking Stephy closer to her at that, Alice taking to enjoying teasing Stephy like a younger brother since their reuniting much to Trixie's jealousy.
Stephy eeps at the pinch, giggling as he snuggles up to Trixe while the car sets off. It takes them a bit as it turns out the town has changed quite a bit in just a year. Things move ("That old theater?" said the woman working the gas station, "It shut down months ago. It’s next door to the mall now.") and new things come in ("They opened a Half Price Books here?! I used to have to go all the way up into the city for one of those! Nessa! We're stopping!" squeals Stephy.) but eventually they do make it to the movie theater, having to navigate their way past all the panicked last minute shoppers, the other moviegoers, and people who just want some halfway decent pasta for lunch (there's also an Olive Garden next door to the mall), but they finally arrive and are looking over the films on show.
Alice smiles as she leans on the wall while the others look at movies. One advantage to her 'helpless blind girl' act was it made navigating crowds much easier. Just a few cane sweeps and people quickly give her and her 'helpers' a wide berth even in a crowded area. "Find something with a good bit of talking at least." she smiles playfully. She could enjoy most movies, context cues and such helping her fill in the gaps, but things like special effects heavy action movies tended to turn into jumbled explosions and gunshots and not much else for her.
Stephy looks over the showings and makes a face, "Krampus? They actually made a movie about that guy? Ugh, skip." he nods as his eyes scan the other titles, "Hmm, another Hunger Games movie, a James Bond flick, a CGI movie about dinosaurs, something called The Night Before..." he tilts his head, "See anything that looks interesting?" he asks Trixie and Sammi, none of the titles really grabbing his attention.
Sammi sticks his tongue out as well, "Bleh, people need to stop acting like that guy's some terrifying demon thing. He's just a misanthrope who thinks kids are spoiled. Jerk ruins any winter ball he sneaks into too, so heads up for that." he replies with a little smirk. "Hmmm, I hear Night Before is pretty funny, might be nice to laugh. Can't go wrong with Bond though but Alice may miss a lot there…" he muses as Trixie nods, "Oh!" She says pointing to a poster for The Martian, "That could be good, fun and plenty of talking."
Stephy tilts his head, "A science fiction movie? Hehe, could be fun to sneak Bethandi into one of those sometime just so she can point out all the logic flaws with it." he giggles, "Hmm... Sammi, is Night Before mostly visual humor or talky humor?" he asks, glancing at Alice as he says it.
Sammi makes a 'so-so' motion with his hand, "Got some visual stuff but it's Seth Rogan and all, pretty sure I read most of the jokes are just people talking." he explains as Alice nods at that "I can work with that then." she says with a smile.
Stephy nods, "Okay, lets do the Martian first, then we'll do Night Before." he nods. Martian looked pretty serious, so they could probably use a good laugh afterwards. In short order tickets are bought and the group winds up in their seats, Stephy sucking on a jumbo-sized icee in a way that would cause most people to wind up incapacitated from brain freeze after about five minutes or so.
Sammi smiles, sucking on one of his own as Alice follows behind, her and Nessa splitting a large popcorn while Trixie carries nachos for herself "It's been forever since we just sat down and saw a movie, huh" Trixie smiles, Nessa nodding, "We needed a good break."
Stephy nods, leaning back as the movies play. The Martian is all sciencey and serious, while the Night Before is written by the guys who did South Park (thankfully they can bullshit their way past the R rating because of Alice and Nessa). As they leave he stretches and giggles, "Mmm, that was nice…" he nods, "No weirdness or magic, just a chance to-" he suddenly gets cut off as a large snowball comes sailing out of nowhere and smashes into the back of Trixie's head, the fae spinning around as he hears voices in the distance.
"Hah! See! I told you! Its that dyke cowgirl!" laughs one of them, the other bending down and rolling another snowball as Stephy frowns, "... well, so much for that." he huffs. The kids are ones he and Trixie knew from before, their old classmates, and the tall blonde Texan girl stands out around here. Another snowball comes flying towards them, then three more in quick succession as a few of the first guy's friends join in and Stephy snaps his fingers, a sudden gust of icy wind blowing the snowballs off course so they splatter harmlessly to their left.
Trixie huffs as she shakes her head, brushing the snow out of her hair as she turns to face the boys. "Yea I'm such a dyke you can ask your mom how I taste ya limp dicked bitches!" she shouts back, the girl never really one to run away from a fight even before she got her magics. "How about ya come over here and say that instead of throwing stuff like a wimp?"
Stephy puts his hand on Trixie's shoulder, "Hon, c'mon. They're just some jerks." he nods, mentally adding 'and they're mundanes and Nelen will get really upset if we cause trouble with a bunch of mundane kids', "... and its just snowballs. Between Sammi and me we can make it so they can't actually hit us." he nods, "They're not worth it." he nods, turning around as one of them calls out, "Hey cowgirl! Where's that little faggy kid you used to hang out with? Finally dump him because he wasn't girl enough for ya?" he sneers as Stephy's eye twitches. "They're not worth it..." he mutters again.
Trixie looks about to go chase them down for insulting Stephy, but takes in a deep breath. When it was just her she was pretty content to just shout vulgar things and threaten, but Stephy would know people insulting him always was a trigger for her to go into full on anger mode...Still, he was right, this was supposed to be a vacation. She takes a few calming breaths before turning on her heel, holding her hand behind her and flipping the group off before putting her arm around Stephy and walking towards the car.
Stephy sighs and leans a bit into her, then blinks as he feels another round of snowballs coming at them. He sighs and whistles under his breath, a gust of wind blowing at them... revealing a few surprises tucked inside the snow. He yelps in sudden pain as he feels a stone smack into his shoulder, stumbling a bit and glancing back towards the laughing teenagers. He grits his teeth and stands up, Nelen would get really mad if he lost his cool around them and did something obviously magical to stop them, but right now it was really tempting.
Trixie frowns as she sees the stone hit the snow, kissing Stephy's cheek and whispering, "No magic... but I don't need magic…" she says with a little smile before turning back around and charging at the boys "Which one of you wants to eat the rocks and which of you wants me to shove em up his ass?!"
Stephy gets to his feet and glances back at them, one of the boy's eyes narrowing a bit, "Hey... wait... hey! That blonde chick! Hah! I think that is the little queer!" he laughs, the boy recognizing Stephy's face enough beyond the fae transformation. "Look guys! Little fag went full tranny over there! What a- AUGH!" he yelps suddenly as he paws frantically at his mouth, "MY TUNGH! MY TUNGH! TH' FUGH!?" he yells, his tongue suddenly encased in a centimeter thick layer of ice as Stephy's eyes flash white for a moment, the fae taking several deep breaths, "Okay, its time to go now. Right now." he nods.
Trixie smirks a bit, stopping her charge as she sees Stephy's magic take effect, rather liking seeing the boy she once had to protect able to stand up for himself. "Yea, try that shit again and your dick'll freeze off next!" she taunts, sticking her tongue out before going back to Stephy, putting an arm around him again and leaning in to kiss him right on the mouth, "My little damsel in distress doesn't need me anymore." she coos softly, smiling to the boy.
Stephy leans into the kiss, the rest of the boys making rather loud comments on it, but he does feel rather better after that, "I wouldn't say that, but either way we should get going before they try to figure out why his tongue froze like that." he nods, the group heading back to the car and quickly driving off before they can incite them further. A frozen tongue was one thing, but he didn't want to lose his cool and go full wrathful winter fae on them, that would cause some big issues. Still, he lets out a long sigh as Nessa steers the car away from the mall, taking off his glasses and wiping his eyes a bit, "Jerks... Been so long since I had to worry about someone acting like that around me that I forgot how bad it is..." he frowns, then blinks as he notices the way they're going. "Huh, hey Trixie. Looks like we're gonna go past the park. Y'know, the one where we met Arja and the others." he nods, cheering up a bit at that memory.
Sammi smiles, putting an arm around Stephy, "You did really well controlling yourself." he grins as Trixie nods, perking up at the mention of the park. "Oh! Wanna stop in? That'd be fun, I think there's a cart that has hot drinks this time of year too, yea? We can relax on a bench or something." she says as Nessa nods, "Sounds like fun, to the park we go." she chuckles as Alice smiles, "I love parks, nice and soothing…”
Stephy nods at the suggestion, then blinks and freezes in place before glancing out the window, "... guys? Did you feel that?" he asks, tilting his head. Something in the park had made his supernatural sense go ping, and not in a good way. He winces as he feels it again, a sudden sensation of... threat, danger, anger... something wrong.
Sammi blinks, "Yea, something not good" he says, Nessa frowning "Alright, looks like we're working instead of drinking coa-coa, figures" she says as she pulls in to park, climbing out to look around.
Stephy gets out as well as the sun starts to set, the group having slept in late after their long train ride and the time of watching two movies meant it was already heading towards nighttime. "Huh, what was that..." Stephy murmurs, his eyes scanning the trees along the park as he starts to walk inwards, his shoes crunching along the path as he does. Then pausing as he gets a strange tingling sensation on the back of his neck, as if he can feel something watching him.
Trixie frowns as she looks around, reaching into her coat for her cards, just patting them for now "This is kinda creepy, can't see anything but it feels like something's staring at us."
Stephy nods, walking along the path further, then freezes as he hears a loud smacking sound, the fae spinning around to face... a tree next to some bushes. He cautiously looks into them but finds nothing save for a rather surprised squirrel who immediately runs away. As he straightens up however he suddenly hears a loud crashing sound behind him revealing... nothing. Empty snow. He blinks, and when he opens his eyes... blood. Blood on the snow, blood on the trees, blood everywhere. The boy goes rigid as he stumbles back towards the others, "Okay... not good... guys, are you seeing this?" he asks, pointing at the blood-covered ground as he blinks again... and suddenly the snow is clean and white save for where they've been walking.
Trixie shakes her head, "Not seeing anything, what's up?" she replies as Nessa nods, "Nothing here, just the same creepy feeling as always." she adds, Alice also shrugging, "I, like usual, didn't see anything odd at all, ever."
Stephy glances around, feeling suddenly very small and afraid. The whole park suddenly feeling dark and threatening to the young fae. The others can sense it too, a feeling of danger all around them... and then a sudden splash of pain shoots all along Alice's back and shoulders as if someone just doused her with scalding hot water!
Alice yelps, stumbling forward and holding her back, "Fuck!" she cries out, Nessa springing into action yanking a glove off and reaching into her pocket for her obsidian edged pocket knife "What's up, where'd it come from?" she asks, Alice shaking her head, "I have no idea!"
Stephy's eyes are wide, the boy's head shooting back and forth as he tries to focus on where the sensations are coming from, but it feels like it's all around them! The trees, the ground, everywhere! "Who are you!?" he demands, "Why are you doi-" is as far as he gets before his head suddenly pitches backwards, his glasses falling to the ground as he clutches at his eye, gasping for breath as he falls to his knees. His eye is fine, not swelling or anything, but it feels like something just punched him hard in the face!
Nessa blinks, eyes going wide, "Wait a minute, you said your dad died in a park. This is where it happened, isn’t it?" she asks, remembering the day he came to Alice's house, when he used Alice's back to block one of her fire spells, and hit Stephy had enough to send his glasses flying. Alice growls at that, flicking her cane to remove the sheath part of it, holding up the iron sword with the silver edge she used. "Fullmoon…" she growls, picking up on Nessa's thoughts, "Even dead you're a pussy who'd rather hit people who can't fight back..."
Stephy struggles to his feet as he feels around for his glasses, finding them and sliding them on over his eyes, "Alice... this is really bad." he nods, looking around. The painful blows, the bloody images, this wasn't just some random ghost phenomena... this was worse. "A normal ghost can't do this much... not after just a year of being dead." he shakes his head as the trees begin to sway, an invisible wind picking up around them, "He's a wraith!" he yelps as, above them in the sky, one by one the stars begin to go dim, then vanish, as the moon's disk shrinks down further and further... barely a pinprick, the lights from the streets dying as well. Of course, Alice can't see it, but the others sure as hell notice.
Alice's breath catches at that, but she keeps her stance up, frowning. "Ok, we've fought wraths before Nessa…" she says, the Aztec nodding as she cuts into her skin, the blood igniting in green, supernatural, flame, trying to cut through the darkness around them, "Where, exactly, did he die? I'm gonna take a wild guess and say you guys didn't give him a proper honorable burial?" Trixie frowns, shaking her head "Come on, we'll take you." she nods, taking Stephy's hand firmly to walk to where the fight happened.
Stephy is trembling, staying as close to Trixie as he can, the fae boy feeling like he had all those years ago, the oppressive sensation of living near his father magnified a hundredfold by the ghostly aura filling the area, "Um... dunno if that'll work Alice... his death was... well..." he shudders, "Messy..." he nods. There's no sound, no noise from the traffic, no birds, no animals, no nothing... and then he notices the trees and feels his stomach roll. Hanging from them, like morbid Christmas decorations, are body parts. Limbs, bones, intestines, lungs, and other essential bits that all put together correctly make a living human being (or one of Lara's pet projects). When a cyclops kills someone in a rage they tend to spread it around, a lot.
Alice nods, "We just need the area the death actually happened. Wraths are bound to this world by chains, one of the strongest ones is where they died." She says as Nessa looks sympathetically at Stephy "Another strong one is those they... had effects on..." she says, rubbing her free hand over the boy's head.
Stephy nods, "W-well, we didn't actually see it happen though... I mean... it was almost over by the time Trixie and I got there. They were ambushing Nelen and..." he pauses as he hears another set of footsteps, then a voice that says 'I'm calm right now, but it's not easy so don't push it.'
"Right about here Alice." says Nelen, his eyes very red around the edges as he stomps loudly with his foot so the blind swordswoman can 'see' where he means. "Roger grabbed Drusilla from behind and she... well... did what comes naturally to a cyclops." he nods as several more sounds of footsteps reveal Drusilla, Arja, and Simoni and, to Stephy's surprise, Catherine. The older woman wrapped up tight in a warm winter coat as she glares around the trees.
"Yep, this is my brother's handiwork alright. Little twerp always did love showing off." she frowns, "Roger! I know it's you! Now stop this and come out where we can see you!" she shouts, the wind picking up further as an angry roar starts to shake the trees.
Alice looked about to strike at the steps, but was stopped by Nessa, "Glad to see you guys, these things are rough to deal with the brute force way." She says, Alice nodding along.
Drusilla was smirking, looking into the darkness defiantly, "I dunno…" she says loud enough to be heard well, "I tore him up before, I bet I could again... Maybe that's why he's a spirit now, too ashamed of being beaten by a little girl to move on?"
The roar grows louder then and Nelen spins around, "Drusilla! Don’t draw his att-" but he gets cut off by a blow that feels like it came from a truck knocking him flying as Drusilla is suddenly grabbed around the throat by an unseen hand, the force lifting her right off the ground as the wind becomes a gale.
"YOU!" roars the wind, the invisible hand around Druislla's neck resisting even her efforts to remove it. "YOU BITCH! YOU KILLED ME!" snarls the voice of Roger Fullmoon loud enough to make their eardrums ache even as it sounds as if it's coming from a great distance.
Drusilla wheezes as she's choked by the invisible force, hands clawing at her neck despite it, "Yea I did!" she gasps out, "And now my friends are gonna kill ya again, and again, and again, till there's nothing left!" she says, face turning red. The Cyclopi were known as brutes, and raiders, but they had a form of honor, and everything she heard about Roger went against that honor.
The invisible force starts to tighten as Simoni frantically tries to wake up her brother and slowly, despite Drusilla's own incredible strength, it becomes hard for her to breathe, the wraith beginning to strangle her with it's ghostly hands the meaty bits on all the trees start to move, snaking down past the group as Stephy makes a sudden sound of disgust before piling themselves up infront of Drusilla and forming a familiar looking man... well... human... well... human-ish. Take Lara, remove all her stitches and keep her together somehow, and fill her with enough hatred and vitrol to burn down a house by glaring at it, and then make her big, male, and Irish and you might get an idea of what is holding Drusilla by the neck.
Death was not kind to Roger Fullmoon. All the tears and wounds on his body ooze blood as he sneers at the cyclops through ruined lips, his hatred and anger almost a physical force in the air, practically setting it alight. "You little shits ruined everything..." he growls, "Broke Dad's sword, smashed the castle, but now... now I'm gonna..." he glares, Simoni letting out a wind-blast... but it goes right through him. Catherine, disgusted by what she sees, tries to aid her daughter with her own magic, but Roger's body isn't really real, the wraith just a manifestation of his terrible anger. Stephy... the fae boy is on his knees, clutching at his stomach and looking like he might be sick, his eyes wide and terrified at the sight of his dead father before him bringing back every memory of childhood abuse, every beating, every punishment for perceived wrongs, every ounce of shame he felt, and writing them across his brain in red hot images.
Alice winces, not needing eyes to feel the raw hate and rage that congealed to make this creature. "Stephy…" she whispers, turning her head towards the boy, kneeling down next to him, "Stephy you have to focus on me, you're his chain in this world." she insists.
Trixie frowning, but nodding, putting a hand on the boy's shoulder, "Come on Steph, what are you scared of? This coward?" she adds, rubbing her boyfriend's shoulder, "You faced dragons! You've come so far, all because you're free of him. Are you going to let him undo all of that just because he's too much of a pussy to die like a man?"
Sammi nods, glaring at the figure, a creature of pure negative emotions was like... rotting trash to a fae, it was disgusting, a sick form of what they should enjoy... "Yeah, look at him! He wasn't even enough of a man to hate you honestly. He was just scared what DADDY would think!" he sneers, trying to get Roger's attention away from Drusilla, "How pathetic is that? A grown man terrified of making daddy angry. Hey, is daddy mad you couldn't even handle some kids, let alone be the heir apparent? I mean, I was SCARED of Franklin, he was a force of nature... I'm just disgusted by you..."
Stephy tries to shake it off, slowly forcing himself to his feet, "I... Its..." he shakes his head, trying to clear it... but its not just him causing it, Roger's powers as a wraith are forcing him to remember it, drawing power from his anguish. Stephy shakes his head harder, "G... get out of my HEAD!" he yells, a sudden burst of icy air shooting out from him as his skin turns white, his ears becoming sharper and longer as his fae aspect is drawn forth, the icy chill pushing back the hot rage coming from Roger, "I'm not afraid of you anymore! I'm not your's to torture anymore! GET OUT!" he yells as the wind picks up, the ice and snow pressing against the wraith as it's ghostly body begins to turn blue, ice forming on it.
Stephy grins, then falters as suddenly the ice begins to melt, the wraith stepping forward, still holding the struggling cyclops by the throat as her face begins to turn blue. "You little shit... I'm your father boy! I'll make you a proper Fullmoon if I have to kill you to do it!" he snarls.
Stephy shakes for a moment, then glaring right back with icy-white eyes, "NO! You're not my father anymore! You don't deserve to be!" he shoots back, the ice and snow swirling, pressing back against Roger's burning aura as the ghostly hand suddenly ices over and goes numb, Drusilla falling to the ground as the wraith stumbles.
Drusilla takes in a few deep breaths, rubbing her neck as Arja moves forward, "He's right, you're not. At least I could respect Franklin as a warrior, he was a monster but when Simoni and I fought him it was a legend, something to go down in history as the power of the gods clashed... When you got torn apart we laughed, it was a joke." she snarls, her eyes flashing yellow and sparks coming from between her teeth.
Trixie nods, grip tightening on Stephy's shoulder, "Stephy did too!" she adds, "He did cartwheels and cheered when he realized it was you, because it meant he was free! Do you really think you have any power over him anymore? No one mourned your death, we celebrated it!"
As she talks, Nessa chants in her native tongue, eyes glowing green as she holds the ball of fire out at the wraith. The group was just to keep him busy, Stephy's outburst enough to weaken his chain to the world. "You're not a man, not even a ghost," she growls softly "Just a miserable ball of rage and hate bound to this world by the chains he made. Those chains are gone, Fullmoon, it's time to drift away!" She thrusts her still bleeding hand out at that, a gout of green flame sent at him as hands from the ground burst free, trying to literally pull him kicking and screaming into the underworld.
For a moment, it looks like they could succeed, but then Roger stomps down with one ghostly foot and roars, punching forward, the hands shatter and break as the flame smashes against his spectral fist, vanishing into embers as he stomps forward, "NO! NOT THIS TIME!" he growls, Stephy's aura of ice and snow suddenly shattering as he strides forward, the snow melting under his feet as the ground begins to blacken from the sheer heat of his rage. "I will have my revenge! Your puny little Aztec crap doesn't have the power to stop me!" he spits at Nessa, gesturing with a hand as a sudden invisible hammer-blow to her stomach sends her sprawling. Stephy glares, trying to refocus his will and generate more ice and snow to combat his ghostly father's anger and rage, but it's like trying to hold a snowball under a blowtorch... and then Nelen sits up, grins, and suddenly Roger is flying backwards with the warlock's hand around his throat.
Stephy blinks, noticing that Nelen is holding a ghost somehow... then he almost falls out of his fae form as he realizes it's not Nelen doing it when the mage looks back over his shoulder, his eyes a bright bloody red, and grins, "Man! Does it smell amazing here or what?!" cackles Merihim.
Arja frowns, "Great, you're out, I hate to say it but this may actually be useful…" she says.
Nessa nodding at her, "Of course, his spirit rider can attack another spirit." she smirks.
Drusilla sighing loudly, "Wonderful... Blood demon!" She says firmly to her husband's possessed form "You want to play? You're holding a spirit of rage and hate, one that thinks it's stronger than any other, probably thinks it can beat you even, right, Fullmoon? You're stronger than some heretic demon god, aren't you?" she says as Nessa smirks a bit. "He did seem pretty sure that he was stronger than other 'puny' magics...”
Merihim looks back at the struggling ghost of Roger Fullmoon, then back at the others, "This? Nah." he shrugs, then backhands the struggling ghost across his jaw. "He knows me... well, maybe not me, but look at this guy. Full of enough rage and hate to become a wraith in a year? Oh they'll love him... Love him to, hah, pieces." he grins ominously as the ghost begins to struggle harder, punching fruitlessly against the arm holding it. "Wraith and wrath are only one letter apart y'know, and this guy, oh man this GUY! Like a feast in spectral flesh!" he grins, taking a deep breath in through his mouth and nose as, suddenly, the burning aura weakens considerably. "Y'know why your underworld trick didn't work girl?" he asks Nessa, "... 'cause he's not supposed to go there." he nods, turning back to Roger as the ghost's eyes widen in terror. "He was a Catholic, he had a compact with the boys upstairs... and he broke it by committing the sin of wrath." he grins like a mouth full of barbed wire.
Nessa smirks lightly, nodding, "Well, forgive me then, if you have a better home for him. I'm but a humble servant of the gods, I have no right to stand in the way." she says with a soft chuckle.
Simoni shudders as she watches despite herself, Merihim's appearances always left her unnerved, and Catherine seems rather disgusted by the sight of her son's possession... but Stephy watches on, his face betraying nothing as he keeps his aura wide enough to protect them from the remains of Roger's. "... so do it then." he nods to Merihim as the demon smirks, then holds his free hand out over the snow and pushes some of his substance onto the ground, the crimson liquid that makes up his body forming a large circle.
"Right, you had your fun Roggie, hid from us for a whole year... but now it's time to go..." he sneers, snapping his fingers. There's no ceremony, no big chanting, no sacrifice of anything, being a demon he's able to pop open the door whenever he wants.
When it does open however its worse, so much worse, than anything Roger did. Stephy cries out and forces his magic to keep going as hard as he can to keep out the sensations coming out of the portal, but even then some of it gets through. Screams, the stench of blood and offal, the sounds of pain and agony both verbal and physical, the heat, the suffering... Roger's wrath was a small spark compared to the aura of Hell itself coming out of the portal. The wraith screams, literally screams in fear, and tries frantically to claw his way free as Merihim holds him out over the portal, "Tell the boys hi for me, would ya?" he smirks, then he lets go. There's a moment where Roger is loose, but only a moment before he's suddenly dragged down, his ghostly hands clutching at the hole for a few precious seconds before they slip free and the gate slams shut.
Merihim looks around once he's gone, sniffs at the air, then gags, "UGH! Shit, Christmas time already? DISGUSTING!" he spits, "Fuck this noise, wake me in January. I'm going back to sleep." he nods, Nelen's eyes rolling back as they turn white again, the warlock stumbling and almost falling over.
Sammi near buckles over when the door opens, the surge of negative emotions and suffering enough to make even a true fae stumble. Trixie just sighs, holding both boys up by the collars, "Come on guys." she winces, face twisted in disgust as well. "Let's stay upright for the big finale…" she sighs.
Nessa shakes her head, "There's no NICE way to send someone to the darker realms, but man... that was rough." she sighs before looking to Stephy, "You ok?" she asks as Drusilla goes to check on Nelen.
Stephy is on the ground, shaking, breathing in big gulps of the winter air now that both Roger's aura and the... nightmare... coming out of the portal are gone. "... dizzy, exhausted, feel like I'm gonna be sick... but... he's gone. Totally gone. You don't come back from that." he nods, "I-I'll be fine." he sighs, leaning back in the snow as Nelen leans onto Drusilla, his head ringing after what he just did.
Catherine looks at Simoni, then at the spot where the Hellgate was, then frowns, "So... is this normal for you kids?" with a huff, folding her arms in a disapproving way.
Arja makes a 'so-so' motion with her hand, "Less demons and portals to Hell, usually, but yea, the whole fighting monsters that are hurting people, that's kinda our bag these days."
She frowns, then sighs and rubs at her forehead, "Forget I asked..." she grumbles as Stephy gets to his feet and sighs, "Lets get out of here..." he nods, then pauses, "Wait... why did you guys come out here anyways?" he asks
Simoni stares at him, "Are you kidding!? We felt that all the way at the house!" she says in an incredulous tone.
Nelen nods, rubbing at his eyes, "Yeah, mom stood up and just said, 'He's back, we're going to the park, now.' and we all climbed into the van and came out." he adds as Catherine blushes.
"Well, I may not use it all the time like you kids, but I'm still a Fullmoon. I can tell when something magic is going on, and besides... he's... well... he was my brother. You... you just know when a sibling is up to some trouble." she nods firmly.
Alice nods, "Well, we're glad you were here. Wraiths are dangerous for even trained hunters, as much of a burden that demon is, he was a valuable tool here." she smiles, rubbing Stephy's head lightly, "Thank you for the help."
Stephy just nods, "Mm... I'd like to go back to the house and take a nap after that I think..." he murmurs as the group heads back to the parking lot, the fae boy silent for most of the trip. When they arrive back at the house he goes to the guest room that he's sharing with the others, changes into his pajamas, and flops down onto his sleeping bag (the bed is only big enough for two, even if they want to share it's a matter of size), closing his eyes and opening them in Arcadia, at Sera's castle. He doesn't say anything as he appears, simply heading straight for her quarters, opening her door, and hugging her tightly around the waist, pressing his face against her as he cries softly.
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