Trail 53: Demons, Candy, and Making Ma Proud

--- Jon ---

While continuing to shift through his Demonology books he found a concerning section, that if he was reading right meant that most Demons, being a spiritually possessed concept of sorts, were not actually attached to their physical bodies but used their bodies as anchors for their more spiritually based power. (Meaning even if you killed a Demon’s body, it would still be able to reform if it managed to gather enough power.)

That was something he did not like the idea of.

Mostly because it meant (killing Horror will accomplish nothing…)

With a bitter taste in his mouth he continued to skim through the book before finding a section that relieved his growing worries on the matter.

(‘While one would believe this makes the destruction of a Demon’s body pointless in face of the truth of their regenerative abilities, one must also remember that this reformation process drains a Demon’s power. And it is in the absolute loss of this power that Demon would face its true death.

Additionally, while Demons do not require their physical body to exist most will spend their own power to maintain and mend their vessels, something that can make a successful killing of said Demon much more permanent.

Now you must wonder if a Demon can simply rebuild a body, why not allow theirs to be destroyed in the face of a predator and simply begin anew rather than wasting power healing it?

This is due not simply to the pride of the Demon but to the fact that rebuilding their bodies takes as much time as it does power. Time during which their ability to feed and gather resources for their continued existence will prove significantly more difficult without a physical anchor to traverse the world and seek their concepts out. Which in turn could lead to the Demon starving to death over the course of their rebuilding process.’)

“Okay, okay…” He nodded, going over all of that once more. “So it’s less immortality and more like… injuring an animal and waiting for them to bleed out rather than a clean kill.”

It wasn’t exactly what he wanted to read, but it was also significantly better than he’d been suspecting a few moments prior.

Scene Consequences

-Thanks to DeSade’s books gained 2XP to Demonology instead of 1.

-Due to recent events Trait Triggered: Insane Beast or Mad Man, Still A Hunter.

--For studying recent prey gained 1 additional XP to Demonology.

---*Skill Rank Up* Demonology: Lv. 4 (1/10)

---

“Come on kiddo, you need to get out of the house.” Miss Edna told him as she dragged him away from his books. (Hopefully, without noticing what I was reading…)

“What are you talking about? I leave the house every day.” He frowned, not feeling like school.

“You go to the hospital every day.” His second mother clarified. “We both know just going back and forth between here and the hospital isn’t exactly healthy.”

“That’s not-” He was half through with the lie when someone started knocking on his door.

His eye twitched as he turned towards the door, before looking through the peephole and finding his neighbor Alliyah standing in front of the door looking a little nervous as she adjusted her glasses.

Figuring this was as good an excuse as any to get out of talking about him cutting classes he opened the door and gave the girl a curious look.

“Oh, h-hey Jon.” Alliyah greeted him as she messed with her backpack straps. “I um, I noticed you haven’t been going to uh,school the last few days and… with everything with your… mom…” The other teen grimaced matched his own, though he felt they had different reasons for said grimaces. “Anyway! I was wondering if, maybe… you needed a ride… to school?”

He could feel the look Miss Edna was giving him from behind.

“That’s kind of you but-” He felt the look intensify, likely via adding magic to it. “I’m going to need a second to get my things.” He finished through grit teeth and a forced smile.

Alliyah immediately perked up and nodded. “Th-that’s no problem! We’ll be downstairs waiting on you.”

“Thanks.” He nodded back as he closed the door before banging his head on the door. (Yeah, thanks a lot…)

“Hey, it’s not that bad.” Miss Edna tried to assure him despite essentially forcing this on him. “Trust me this will be good for you.”

(Sure it will…)

---

Sometime after they’d dropped off all of the younger Jeffersons he found the car pulling to a stop as he laid half slumped across the now empty back seat, just barely climbing out of his thoughts for the sound of police sirens and a few curses out of Mr. Jefferson’s mouth.

“How can I help you officer?” Mr. Jefferson asked, audibly forcing a smile into his voice.

“License and registration.” The officer told the man quite plainly, looking through the window at Aliyah before looking in the back seat where he found himself instinctively adjusting so that his face would be hidden from the cop.

“Of course officer.” Mr. Jefferson nodded before reaching for the glove box and pausing.

“Is there a problem?” The officer asked.

“Sir, I have a legally registered firearm in my glovebox.” Mr. Jefferson admitted. “When I reach in there I am not going for my gun. I am going for my paperwork to hand over to you, sir.”

“I see…” The officer narrowed his eyes. “I’m going to need you to step out of the car.”

“Fuck.” Mr. Jefferson quietly cursed, before looking at his daughter. “Sweetie everything is going to be alright, I just need you to stay calm, okay?”

Alliyah gave her father a nervous nod, clearly the furthest thing from calm.

“Hands on the vehicle.” The officer told Mr. Jefferson, his attitude making something in Jon’s stomach twist at a sight he knew his Ma would-

(...)

He reached into his backpack and slid both of his gloves on, before swiping an old ketchup packet off the floor and climbing out of the vehicle as silently as he could. Once out, he used the car door to block the officer from the camera on the cop car just long enough for him to swiftly and subtly undo the holster before withdrawing the officer’s gun as the man patted down Mr. Jefferson.

A gun that he promptly kicked under the officer’s own car with his boot as he squirted some of the ketchup into his mouth, before loudly closing the door and leaning against the Jefferson’s car.

Mr. Jefferson’s eyes widened upon seeing him. “Jon, don’t-”

“And who are you?” The officer asked with a glare, his hand above the empty holster.

“You know I remember my Ma complaining about racist cops in the city.” He opened, polishing his nails on his shirt despite the gloves on his hands. “It’s a shame you’re profiling like this. Makes the honest cops look bad.”

“I’m not profi-” The cop froze, finally noticing his empty holster.

“Oh, I hope not. My Ma would be so disappointed to find out that not even a week without her around you people are starting to act up.” He sighed before giving the sympathetic look. “Though I’m sure after everything with the Halloween Haunt, you’re just stressed and this is a clear misunderstanding either on your part or mine.”

“And who exactly is your ‘Ma’?” The Officer mocked reaching for his backup taser.

“Minerva Whitaker.” He smiled, showing off his red stained teeth just out of sight of the man’s body cam.

The officer immediately paled, putting two and two together.

(Good to know that story circulated.) He’d had a feeling between his Ma’s reputation and his handling of the Creeps a few rumors would’ve circulated. Rumors he knew his Ma would waste no time in making use of. (So why shouldn’t I?)

“Now since this is all a clear misunderstanding, I’m sure you’re going to let me and my Ma’s good friend Mr. Jefferson here go on about his day?” He asked-(well, more ordered really)- the officer.

The officer’s grip on his taser seemed to increase.

“Come on, don’t be a Creep.” He told the man, as he felt the Beast in his head beginning to eye up the (pig) in front of him.

“R-right, heh-heh, just, uh, just a misunderstanding.” The officer nodded, moving his hand from the taser.

“Glad to hear it.” He smiled once more, the red having been cleaned from his teeth, something that he just knew would mess with the officer’s head as he stepped a little too close. “So we’re free to go, yes?”

“Y-yeah.” The officer agreed, backing away from him in a hurry.

---

The car was silent for a moment as they all sat there, before Mr. Jefferson eventually worked up the nerve to say, “That was…”

“Shameful.” He interrupted. “Not even a week without their internal affairs agent keeping them in line and they start acting up. No wonder Ma was transferred here.”

(At least I was able to pick up some of the slack for her.) He couldn’t help but think as Mr. Jefferson got the car moving once more, before a smile worked its way onto his face as that thought gave him a warm feeling. (You know what? Miss Edna was right. This was good for me.)

Scene Consequences

-Grown a bit closer to the Jeffersons. (Who may or may not be a little wary of him now. (Or one of them is anyway.))

-Jon will now start going to school again.

-Gained 1XP to Psych Warfare and Stealth.

--Currently: Psych Warfare Lv. 5 (5/12) and Stealth Lv. 7 (11/16).

---

“Maybe I’m just stressed or… overreacting from the whole Halloween Haunt thing…” He admitted after telling his Ma about everything that had happened that morning. “But I saw the way the Officer was acting and… it was just so different from how I know you’d have handled it. Then again, I don’t think you’ve ever actually pulled anyone over for anything short of a murder suspect.”

He was silent for a moment as he watched his Ma, some part of him desperately hoping this would be when she chimed in with some kind of smart remark.

One he knew wouldn’t come as her eyes remained shut.

(“I’ve always told you they me need me to keep them on a tight leash to keep them all clean.”) He mentally filled in for her when the silence became too much.

“Yeah, you’re right.” He nodded. “I mean, I know we transferred here for your job and everything after that old sheriff threw you out and the state’s internal affairs office scouted you but after dealing with you and Garcia for so long… Maybe I was overestimating them.”

(“You like to see the best in people kid. Ain’t nothing wrong with that as long as you keep on straight.”)

He couldn’t help but give that a snort of bitter amusement. “Yeah, that’s thing though… My head hasn’t been screwed on right in a long while.”

Scene Consequences

-Ma Whitaker is still comatose.

-The police’s fear of Ma Whitaker has spread to Jon. (She’ll be so proud when she wakes up.)

---

“I’m back from the hospital!” He called out as he entered his apartment.

“And school?” Miss Edna double checked, knowing him a little too well.

“And from school.” He nodded with a sigh.

“Great, then as a reward we can have magic class. Anything you want to learn, I'll cook up a quick lesson.” Miss Edna promised.

(How about something to wake up my Ma?) He wondered bitterly, before pulling that back because (that’s unfair.)

After a moment of thought he instead asked, “How about… How about something that can heal someone…”

“Jon…” Miss Edna mumbled worriedly.

“I know it won’t help my Ma.” He did. “But maybe… maybe if I’d had something to help Pix heal her, she wouldn’t be… maybe she’d be awake.”

Miss Edna watched him for a moment before nodding. “Alright, kiddo. If you want to learn some healing magic, I can show you some healing magic. Though you’re going to need Pix’s help for this, and you’re going to want to add a little something to that garden you’ve got going in your room.”

---

“This is Blood Lavender.” Miss Edna told him as she held up a lavender plant that was oddly crimson rather than its usual purple. “These are an Anima mutated variant of the usual medicinal lavender.”

“I’m guessing they were mutated with blood?” He asked his magical mentor as she deftly removed all of the flower’s petals in one swift motion, dumping them into a pot full of water and several pasted ingredients.

“Eh, that’s what people think.” Miss Edna admitted. “In reality, you manipulate them by dumping a ton of healing potions onto the thing with a bit of Nature magic to smooth things out. Every generation will strengthen the Lavender’s innate healing properties until they become almost mystical.”

“Wait so you dump healing potions… onto the thing you use to make healing potions?” He frowned, because that sounded a little bit like…

“Eh, mulch is basically plant cannibalism depending on how you do it.” Miss Edna shrugged, not caring about the implications. “What’s special about this strain though is the fact that I’ve been growing and mutating it in Blackwell for almost a decade now, giving it some powerful kick.”

“You’ve told me most of the plants from Blackwell have at least some level of Anima mutation.” He nodded in understanding, thinking of all of the Anima mutated plants and poisons in his room.

“Yeah, really helps with cutting down the time on cultivating magical traits.” Miss Edna confirmed. “Anyway I’ll give you a batch of them for Pix to start growing, but you’re going to need her help on this next step since you have to actively infuse this mix with healing properties.”

Pix gave a chirp of understanding before beginning to fly around the pot while pouring on her magic, something she’d taken to doing whenever they needed to restock the little fairy’s magic regen potions.

“Good, she’s got the idea.” Miss Edna smiled. “Now I’ll admit right off the bat this isn’t my strongest healing potion, but I’m not teaching you that one just yet because it requires Demon Roses. Which will… probably try to eat you in your sleep if you grow them.”

“I’m guessing those ones were mutated by blood?” He asked.

“Eh, I once got high -like really high- and wondered what a Demon’s blood would do to… Well not my rose bushes, but there was this old bint that was always harping on about hers, and one thing led to another… until I had a bush of Demon Roses growing in my backyard…” Miss Edna confessed, before quickly adding. “And one less neighbor.”

“That… sounds like something you would do.” He was forced to admit as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Yeah, that Devil’s Weed is some powerful stuff.” Miss Edna nodded. “Admittedly, that’s because it’s also grown with Demon’s blood.”

He gave his second parent a look.

“That one… was my sister's idea.”

“Sure it was.”

---

Once the initial potion had finished cooking Miss Edna had decided to take things a step further and not only give him the Blood Lavender but also show him how to turn the potion into candies.

“Now the real trick to this is that you can’t simply throw these babies in the oven -which we are going to do- but only after we finish using the crystallization method on them.” Miss Edna explained as they poured the healing potion onto the plate she’d drawn a Spell Circuit.

“Hmm, this is… different from the one I used on Halloween.” He frowned, trying to spot all the differences that weren’t simply shifted variables but actual changes to the spell’s constants.

“You… used this spell on Halloween?” Miss Edna frowned in turn.

“Um… I ran into an Arcane on Halloween and we, uh, we made a circuit together that would convert a Liquid Courage potion into its concept and then merge it with my Moon affinity.” He tried to explain without actually explaining that he’d been using the spell to damage the Horror, or that he’d convinced Artemis to go for a kill shot rather than something as safe as the moon burn.

“I see…” Miss Edna nodded. “She must’ve been smart to make that work, given how the spell usually functions. Which means I’ve got a couple questions if you can answer ‘em.”

“Uh, I can try?” He offered. “I mean I helped with the spell work but she’s the one who wrote the circuit out.”

“I’m sure you can answer my questions.” Miss Edna assured him. “Now then. How close to your age was she and how cute was she?”

“That’s…” He grimaced, knowing Miss Edna wouldn’t let it go if he answered either of those questions factually. So instead he said, “I’m pretty sure she doesn’t like me.”

“Whaaat?” Miss Edna asked in an exaggerated manner. “Who the fuck doesn’t like you? Even that asshole DeSade likes you.”

“I don’t think he likes me as much as tolerates me since Rosalind likes me.” He tried to argue.

“Yeah, no, I’ve known the brat since he was a toddler. He likes you as much as he likes anyone.” Miss Edna admitted with some distaste.

“Right…” Deciding he was better off avoiding both of the conversations in front of him, he instead directed things back to the circuit on the plate. “Anyway, how is this different from the usual catalyst method?”

“Oh, well, for starters we’re only half forming the catalyst. So it’s more like we’re upping the potion’s density to a point of solidification while primarily focusing on the conceptuality of it.” Miss Edna elaborated, taking his bait as she triggered the circuit in a small storm of sparks. “This accelerates the potion’s activation and power at the cost of taking more time and removing any lasting influence the potion would offer. Making it great for quick tricks, and a minute of potion fun for the kids.”

“But you said we still have to throw it in the oven?” He frowned once the sparks settled down and there was a relatively round red crystal on the plate.

“Yeah, if we upped the density any higher than this magically it wouldn’t be edible but if we leave it as is it sort of smears and melts all over the place.” Rolling the little sphere in her hand and coating her palm in red. “Cooking it at a high heat will instead cause it to solidify into a hard candy while removing its ability to melt at anything less than the cooking temperature.”

“Huh, neat.”

Scene Consequences

A/N: Might’ve given a bit too much on this one but Miss Edna is a Potions Mistress and Jon has a Healing training Bonus right now so…

-Jon has gained a new Perk [Crystalized Potion Candies].

--Jon can now turn any potion recipe into a candy, these candies instantly trigger for a (Potioneering + Cooking Lv) effect but lose their Turn Duration and cost 2 Tokens for taking longer to make.

-Jon has unlocked the [Standard Healing Potion] and [Standard Healing Candies].

-- [Standard Healing Potion] Consume 1 Potion Token to regenerate (Potioneering Lv) HP at the Start of your Turn for the next 3 Turns.

--[Healing Candies] Consume 2 Potion Tokens to instantly regenerate (Potioneering + Cooking Lv) HP.

-For brewing a new potion and candy gained 2XP to Potioneering and 1XP to Cooking and Enchanting*.

--Currently: Potioneering Lv. 7 (7/16), Cooking Lv. 9 (10/20), and Enchanting Lv. 5 (2/12).

*A/N: Enchanting bonus only applies once for learning the three point perk.

System Update: Molotovs are now considered a potion to reduce the number of Tokens in play. With standard Molotovs consuming 1 Token and Acid Molotovs consuming 2. Pix’s MP Potions remain her own, since they’re hers and not Jons.

Current Potion Tokens: 4