27 Suns

--- Jon ---

“What’s with you and sticking to the rooftops lately?” He asked, watching his ma leap across the gap between two buildings.

“Don’t know.” His ma admitted with a shrug as he did the same. “Think I might just be sick of people after all of the political bullshit at the office.”

“Language.” He chided before frowning. “How long do you think this office drama is going to last?”

“Well they’re set to raid the first Dealer Warehouse tomorrow, and then they want to try hitting the other over the weekend.” His ma explained thinking it through as she jogged to the side of the roof. “And then they’ll make a big news spectacle of how they’re cleaning up crime, when they’re only pulling this off due to some Mask rather than any success on their own.”

“So another week or two.” He couldn’t help but grimace, having inherited his mother’s disdain for politics regardless of how nice he tried to be, (or how much talent De Sade claims I have.)

“Unless something happens and knocks some sense into everyone.” His Ma sighed.

“Well if it’s going to happen, October ‘s the month for it to happen.” He told her. “Especially if they feel the need to prep as early as they do.”

“Maybe.” His Ma smirked, shaking her head at the idea. “Here’s hoping the crazy comes early this year. Come on race you back to the house.”

Scene Consequences

-Gained 2XP to Mobility

--Currently: Lv. 6 (4/14)

---

Sitting on a bench with his backpack next to him as he waited, he read the latest ‘relationship’ book from the librarian that he was seriously beginning to doubt actually knew what he was talking about despite so quickly pushing books in his direction. (Then again I couldn’t finish reading the last three of these things.)

He might not finish this one either with the way it was going.

From what he could tell this story essentially boiled down to a Romeo and Juliet style knock-off, that revolved around two teenagers in a relatively bad part of town coming from two rival neighborhoods and supposedly falling in love despite the fact that they’d barely had one conversation with each other and the fact that the other was already dating someone, who was apparently someone they shouldn’t have started dating anyway and…

He pinched the bridge of his nose, before closing the book with a sigh.

(Yeah, I don’t feel like reading about two idiots getting themselves killed because they can’t tell the difference between love and lust.) Now that he thought about it this -like the sexism thing- was a disturbingly common trend amongst the various books he’d been getting from the library over the last few weeks.

Guy and girl see each other, barely interact and then fall madly in love while proclaiming how special the girl is compared to other girls and how despite being a bit of jerk the guy is nice at heart and should be forgiven for all of his jerkiness because (if this garbage is where other teenagers are getting their ques no wonder everyone considers my generation nothing but a bunch of short-sighted idiots.)

-Gained 1 XP to Awareness

--Currently: Lv. 8 (9/18)

---

A part of him regretted that this book was now going to be on his library checkout records, but he quickly dropped that line of thought as he turned towards Ying walking up to his bench.

“Your footsteps are still too loud.” It was one of the few things he just couldn’t seem to help her with no matter how many lessons they had. (Then again neither of her affinities are really ‘subtle’ so I guess that tracks.)

Ying rolled her eyes with an amused smirk. “Sorry, I haven’t really had need for stealth training in the city.”

“What are you talking about? The city is a great place for stealth training.” He frowned, poking at the sleeping fairy in his bag. “You have so many sounds to hide behind, there’s crowd blending, and the elevation is a whole other level when you add the rooftops.”

“Right, what was I thinking?” Ying huffed with an amused tone as she took a seat on the other side of his backpack. “So, how have things been?”

“Well, enough.” He shrugged, as Pix poked her head out of his bag before bursting out of it and flying circles around Ying upon catching sight of her second favorite human.

“It’s good to see you too Pix.” Ying laughed, as the little fairy latched onto her face trilling happily all the while. “And since I can’t trust Jon to be honest, how have things really been?”

(Hurtful.) He frowned, priding himself on his honesty. (As well as my ability to keep secrets despite said honesty.)

He grimaced before shaking his head.

“You alright?” Ying asked, her eyes narrowing with a stern sort of concern.

“Fine, just… Just had a run in with a certain… madness inducing… associate a few days ago.” He admitted with a sigh.

Ying stilled as Pix sat on her shoulder. “The Cheshire?”

He shook his head. “The Man in the Mask.”

Ying gave a sigh of relief before saying, “So there’s no insanity near Santa Rosa then?”

“None that I’ve come across.” He nodded, before grimacing. “Then again I haven’t really been looking for any either.”

“And you shouldn’t be,” Ying glared. “You barely survived dealing with the Beast.”

“The Beast is what happens when an idiot cult starts feeding and worshipping something from the void.” He pointed out with a shake of his head. “The individual Corrupted were much closer to Insanity’s base level.” Or that was the impression the Man in the Mask had given him during his more… stable moments.

“Perhaps.” Ying shrugged, not sounding like she believed it.

(Which is fair given the source.)

“Speaking of cults though, have you heard about the one in New Haven?” Ying asked with a wry grin.

He blinked. “No? But why are you looking into cults?”

“After Blackwell I wanted to know what the nearest threats of that kind are.” Ying explained in a way that made perfect sense to anyone who’d survived an eldritch horror show. “Anyway, this cult has apparently spent the last couple of years gaining traction in the city ever since someone kicked the local mafia in the teeth.”

“Okay, but why is that our problem?” He felt the need to ask, having dealt with enough cults between De Sade’s and the Beast’s. (One country town should not produce half a dozen cults…)

Sighing, he shook his head before reminding Ying that, “New Haven is two, maybe three, cities away. Even if they have a… similar problem, it’ll fall to the local Heroes’ Guild, Arcane Association, Sanctuary branch, or local Hunter Agencies.” None of which had been able to set up a proper shop in Blackwell thanks to De Sade’s family keeping a leash on things.

“Ah, but it’s who they’re worshipping that flagged them.” Ying half smiled and half grimaced.

“Who?” He frowned.

“The Cheshire.”

“Never step foot in New Haven, got it.” He did not want to know what a cult worshipping that thing would get up to.

“Figured it was fair warning.” Ying nodded alongside Pix, both knowing his… odd relationship with the Man in the Mask and his… elements.

“Still that tells me what he’s up to when he’s not personally giving me nightmares, not how you’ve been in particular.” He told Ying, wanting to talk about something other than the eldritch entity that had a vested interest in him.

“Ah, when we talked earlier I told you how I managed to convince my mother to give me more free time.” Ying reminded him with a fanged smile as her eyes flashed. “So now I plan the majority of my own days.”

“That is good news.” He agreed, before letting his own eyes narrow. “Though you didn’t really tell me how you got her to agree to that.”

Ying grimaced. “I slipped up?”

“Mm-hmm.” He nodded. “Eyes and teeth.”

“Damn. I thought I was getting better at that.” Ying admitted, putting a hand to her teeth before sighing. “I didn’t go too far, but I did threaten to out myself as a Deviant if she didn’t give me more time to myself.”

“Was that a good idea?” He couldn’t help but ask. “I mean you’ve said before that-”

“-my mother is an anti-Deviant bitch, who would likely disown me for said Deviancy.” Ying finished for him, even as Pix gave her a comforting pat on her cheek.

He grimaced himself now. “Yeah…”

“Don’t worry things didn’t escalate that far.” Ying assured him, pulling her legs onto the bench and hugging them. “While our relationship hasn’t improved any, it hasn’t become noticeably worse either. What’s more she’s more scared of it getting out that I’m a Deviant given how the circles she runs with are.”

“Still long-term…”

“It was going to get out one way or the other. Better on my terms than someone else’s.” Ying shrugged in a way that told him she’d rather end that line of inquiry then and there.

Of course, he couldn’t do that.

“Just remember if you need anything I’ve got your back, if you need I’m sure I can talk Ma into letting you stay in my room while I sleep on the couch.” It was the least he could do for her all things considered.

“That’s nice of you Jon.” Ying gave him a soft smile before it took a… edge of sorts to it. “Bold too, given how you’re inviting me to your bed.”

He gave her an unimpressed look. “That still a problem too?”

“You have no idea.” Ying deflated, rubbing at her face. “I thought puberty was bad before the magic overclocked it.”

He could only give her a there-there pat on her shoulder, at least until Pix started flying circles around both of them while aggressively tweeting about something.

“I think she’s telling us to quit with the mopy stuff.” He chuckled as the little fairy flew in front of his face and began nodding vehemently.

“Well, in that case how about we talk about something more interesting than problems we can’t do much about at this phase.” Ying suggested, turning towards him. “How have your more… mystical studies been going?”

“Well enough.” He supposed. “I’ve mostly spent the last couple of weeks focusing on Pix’s magic problems.”

“Magic problems?” Ying asked with a frown.

“You haven’t noticed?” He blinked. “The amount of magic in the city is significantly lower than it was back in Blackwell. On her first real use of it she ended up burning through her magical supply in a matter of minutes.”

“No, I hadn’t noticed.” Ying admitted with a fair bit of concern. “I suppose since I was more focused on not using my powers I didn’t notice that there was less power to work with.”

“That’s plausible.” He nodded thinking about it. “Then again it could also be a difference in spell systems between humans and fairies, and that’s before accounting for your… situation.”

“I suppose a Corrupted-Incarnate would bend a few of the natural rules.” Ying agreed, letting a bit of electricity dance between her fingers. “Especially considering both what I’m working with and what I was corrupted by.”

“Yeah, but even if your magic is acting up on your end, I’ve managed to figure out a few things that have been helping Pix. Though I’m not sure how much good the Contracting thing will do for you.” There was an entire section in De Sade’s books about making contracts with people, but he was also fairly certain those contracts revolved around ‘taking’ power rather than ‘giving’ it. (Still something I can look into later.)

“Contracting?” Ying asked curiously, before watching him summon Pix to his side from three feet away and nodding in understanding. “Ah, that Arcane art. I’ve heard of it before but never seen it in person.”

“It’s something both De Sade and Miss Edna suggested in their books, though between the two I prefer Miss Edna’s explanation of it being the ‘magic of friendship’.” He smiled, getting a huff of amusement from Ying.

“Of course you would. But still if I can’t make use of it I suppose it’s a low priority for the moment.” Ying told him, her hands crossed beneath her chin and resting on her knee. “What else have you been working on?”

“Well I’ve made this batch of potions that should increase the amount of magic someone generates, though it only lasts for a couple of days.” He explained pulling a vial one of such potion from his backpack.

“Still impressive.” Ying assured him, holding the potion to the light. “And definitely useful in an environment that can be considered magically dry.”

“I think it’s less that Santa Rosa is dry and more that Blackwell was soaking.” He felt the need to point out, to which Pix landed on top of Ying’s head and stuck a tongue out at him. “Then again I guess that is a… matter of perspective.”

“I’m sure it is.” Ying agreed, taking no measures to hide her amusement.

“At the same time I learned how to make these.” He told her showing her one of the notecards he’d drawn his (makeshift) MP charge spell script on. “I need Pix’s help with it, but it essentially gives the user an instant burst of magic to their reserves, though using it more than once a day could be… bad.”

“Yes, overclocking one’s life energy sounds like it could prove harmful.” Ying grimaced.

“Yeah, but between these, my Contracting thing, and the magic garden Pix set up in my room she seems to be doing pretty well as far as her magical reserves go.”

The little fairy nodded along with him before taking flight once more and flying little circles here and there as she made mushroomless fairy circles in the grass.

“Well I suppose that’s good, and if I ever have any magical problems of my own, you’ll be the first I contact to solve them.” Ying told him as she watched their mutual fairy friend having fun.

“And I’ll be happy to help.” He promised her. (It’s the least I owe you.)

Scene Consequences

Quest Completed: Pix’s Power Problems: While they still aren’t quite to where they once were, Pix’s magic supply is in a much more manageable place for the little fairy. (And Ying as well.)

-Grown closer to Pix and Ying.

-Gained 1 Magic Perk Point

--Can be spent on any Perk with the Magic tag.

-Ying has joined the party.

--Due to her own obligations Ying will only be available for 3 actions a week. (Excluding Socials and Events.)