⭐ HUNTERS ⭐ Urban Fantasy ⭐ IC [Still Open, See OOC]

[Confederation of the Equator]

[minecraft villager sound]

[Lessoni]

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

B L U E O N B L U E
SANTA MARINA, Florida
October 30th, 2020
Lola Lewis
__________________________________

Lola nodded along. In the end, unless you came from a family where magic is the ruling tradition, changes were that being accepted into Santa Marina had come as a surprise, so that was likely the most common story around. Jack not working out in basketball made perfect sense as Lola recalled that the guy had literally stumbled into her in the first place - the clumsiness part seemed as true as it could get.

As Jack explained his abilities, Lola couldn't help but feel a bit jealous. Making rocks and hitting people with it seemed much simpler and more effective in an actual combat situation than what she had. "...my trick?" Lola took one final drag from her cigarette before putting it away from her lips, holding it in clear sight. "Nothin' too impressive, but ain't no harm showin' I suppose."

As the girl magically turned some of the compounds of the cigarette into something different - trimethyl borate, specifically - the cigarette began to burn away in a bright, green flame. "I can turn some stuff into other stuff, ya'see? Not the most jawdroppin' thing, but I turned my room into a lab so I could have some fun with it and all that."

Jack Dredd

"Damn, that's awesome! Wish I could do something like that. It sounds cool, but hitting stuff really hard doesn't quite work out against people who can fry me from 20 feet out. I got a shield, but it's about the size of a large dinner plate, so that's sort of out the window. Anyway, I'm gonna head back to my dorm now. I got some reading I need to do. I'm sure I'll see you around," he said as he got up and began walking away.

[Theyra]

Tavian Arcos
Santa Marina, October 30rd, 2020

It has been quiet since his first exercise weeks ago and Tavian had wasted no time getting used to the school. Settling in well and doing well so far in the year. He would sometimes think about what happened on the first assignment he had and how fast it took for some gangsters to just shoot up the bus. Luckily no one got shot or anything that was rather fast for the assignment to turn south. Not even off the bus for the chaos to start. Nothing like that happened at Dubrovnik and it seems that being at Santa Marina is more exciting, to say the least.

But, today Tavian had finished watching a movie at the academy's movie theater. It was an American sci-fi movie called Fractured Sol and it was quite good. Though in line with Halloween being tomorrow, he should have seen one of the other movies being played to get in the spirit of things. Some horror movie called that The Isle but, Tavian is not much of a horror movie fan to watch it. Preferring other kinds of genres like sci-fi, fantasy, and some others. That and he was not that into Halloween per se, though his younger siblings very much are. To the dismay of his more religious relatives who frown upon the practice, they wanting more attention to be focused on the Day of the Dead on November 1st. Regardless, he may partake in some Halloween festivities if he was offered.

Tavian stopped when he heard his stomach growl. He did not eat anything at the movie and did not realize that he was hungry. Tavian took a look at his watch and it read one, not too late for some lunch he thought. Turning around and headed back to the direction of the cafe. The line as not too bad and he soon got himself a burger and a drink. He quite enjoyed the academy's food and quickly found himself a table. It has been a while since he had met or hung out with someone. He had not seen Viktor or Olympia lately and he started to eat on his burger. It would be nice to talk with Viktor again and perhaps catch up. Tavian still was amazed that Viktor was here in Santa Marina and maybe he should find him when he is free. He took another bite from his burger and took a sip from his drink. Maybe he will head to the arena to see if there are any matches going on that he can watch and he focused on finishing his meal.

[Forest State]

Candace Marin
Santa Marina Hunter Academy
October 30th, 2020

---

“Hey, you can’t talk…” said Candace, sitting in the back of the Hellcat as Gabriella climbed inside and shut the door, the car pulling off soon enough as Cassia started heading towards the north side of town - the side of town that had downtown, rising apartment blocks that dominated the skyline while driving in, and the side of town where something was always kicking off at night, whether that was something calmer like a party or something more dangerous such as some kind of unplanned magical event… Santa Marina was just that kind of place where those things happened, really.

“Not with all the time you spend hanging out with Jordan,” Candace continued briefly, perhaps making things awkward but feeling the need to throw in the slight jab - one could make an argument it was an unprovoked one, btu for whatever reason, she’d felt the need to say it regardless. Feeling like she wasn’t all that high of a priority was part of the reason, maybe. It was true that with Jordan spending more time on the campus, Gabriella had been sticking with her… More longtime friend more often than not, and Candace supposed that was somewhat natural - her and Jordan were blood after all.

At the same time, though, that didn’t mean it was painless when it happened, at Candace’s expense whenever it did. After her slightly awkward statement, Candace turned her head to the window, watching the lights from buildings off in the distance, doing it moreo as a distraction than anything. Maybe it was getting to her that she hadn’t had as much time with Gabriella as she’d have liked ever since classes started.

Sure, she had others, like Vivian and Victoria, and her own sister was here for a bit and tended to come and go when she felt like it… But that just wasn’t the same, really.

[Lunas Legion]

Gabriella Sara Bianchi-Costa De Inferenza
Santa Marina, October 30th, 2020

"True." Gabriella conceded, still keeping her face resting just above the open window. It wasn't like the air was clean, it was a city after all so it smelled of cars and petrol, but it felt... Oddly nice to feel the wind against her face as Cassia drove. After a few minutes she finally admitted defeat and pulled her head back inside, shutting the window behind her and hoping enough of the stench of weed had vanished to make it slightly more bearable on herself.

"But Jordan doesn't really have anyone else here but me, so it's difficult, you know?" Gabriella said, leaning back into her seat. Except for, well, stinking of weed, Cassia's car wasn't that bad, even if it very much was not her style. "I didn't really expect to have her show up so..." Her voice trailed off. Maybe she had been neglecting Candace a bit, but Jordan hadn't been exactly having the best time of it here given everything that had happened so it was two things to try and balance out with difficulty.

"Maybe we can do something later in the week or something? Not sure what, exactly, but..." Gabriella shrugged helplessly. "I've never exactly been a fountain of ideas, half the stuff I do isn't your thing and vice versa."

[Forest State]

Candace Marin
Santa Marina Hunter Academy
October 30th, 2020

---

Of course the ride was awkward like this, with Gabriella sticking her head out of the window and avoiding the subject a bit before she finally responded - it always was when it came to this trio, and it was only added to the fact that one of them would always manage to bring up something that increased the tension. Usually it was Candace or Vivian but even Gabriella wasn’t immune from it sometimes. That was just the relationship they had… For now, anyway. At this pace, it didn't seem like the dynamic was going to last the school year before it came crashing down, changed into something different through someone’s actions.

“I mean, I know Jordan isn’t the most liked person around here, but she’s like, this Huntress with decent experience. I’m sure on a campus like this and in a city like this she can find something to do and someone to hang out with? There’s gotta be other mages than just the ones around the campus - no, I know there’s plenty of them. The HA’s had an office down here before we even had an academy,” Candace said in reply, shrugging. If Gabriella and Jordan wanted to hang out a lot, they’d hang out a lot.

Wasn’t like her words were going to stop it, so she wasn’t going to make too big of a deal about it. All that’d do was make things even more awkward for her and Gabriella, after all.

“We could do something, I guess. I’d say there’s some good raves happening around town but I know that ain’t your thing,” Candace added, shrugging. “There’s the beach, too, but it’s getting kinda cold for that. October weather and all… Or November weather in a couple of days, actually. There’s also hanging out around my dorm and just playing video games or something but… I know that’s another interest you don’t share with me.”

“Guess we don’t really like that many of the same things, do we?”

[Lunas Legion]

Gabriella Sara Bianchi-Costa De Inferenza
Santa Marina, October 30th, 2020

"Like I said, half the things we do aren't things the other does." Gabriella gave a small shrug. "I don't mind just hanging out really, it'd just be nice to do something at the same time, you know? Could always just pick something at random, sure, some of the things might not exactly be to my tastes but company can improve a lot of things, you know?

Gabriella fell silent for a few moments, seemingly lost in thought as she watched the city pass them by, before she perked up slightly, smiling as she turned to face back towards Candace. "You know what, I'll let you choose whatever it is, I'm feeling lucky right now so I'll leave it up to you. Don't tell me what, make it a surprise. I figure it might be more fun that way, and whatever it is I promise I'll go along with it."

Could that backfire horribly? Yes. Was it worth it? Also, probably a yes. Were things going to be awkward, well, that was just a given really. It was any of the three of them, they created it wherever they went and it only seemed to grow worse over time. Jordan would be fine going without her for a day, and she had been neglecting Candace even if they did have stuff like this little club of theirs, but it wasn't something for just them which they probably needed right now.

"On another less awkward note, what are we going to do if we don't find one of these things? Just putting it out there, since I have no idea what our chances are."

[Forest State]

Candace Marin
Santa Marina Hunter Academy
October 30th, 2020

---

“I mean... I dunno, it kind of is a problem, not liking the same things or whatever. I could find a nice rave or something that I’d have a blast at but I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t be able to handle it. Pretty sure you wouldn’t want to get high somewhere, pretty sure you wouldn’t want to go to any kinda concert I’m into, don’t even know if we’d wanna see the same movies if we just did something simple like that…” Candace said, her voice trailing off as she considered just how different she and Gabriella were.

“If we don’t find something out I guess you can just go back to hanging out with Jordan and I can do something with Viv or someone else, but like I was saying, we haven’t done all that much for a bit since getting back to the Academy, I figured it would be nice to change that… Dunno if I’m being stupid or not by saying that,” she continued.

They were getting closer to their destination and Cassia slowed the car down, glancing at the back passengers through the mirror. “North side. We’re here… I’m going to cruise around a bit and look for somewhere that looks, well, like the kind of place we’re after. And then we can get out and play the boring waiting game or whatever. Or maybe travel around on foot. We’re bound to see something interesting, if we walk around enough ‘round this part of town…”

“I doubt it’ll be boring when we have these two around,” Vivian pointed out, looking away from the window and gesturing to Candace and Gabriella, tired of sitting silently and not interjecting into their conversation.

[Lunas Legion]

Gabriella Sara Bianchi-Costa De Inferenza
Santa Marina, October 30th, 2020

"You're not, it's just... Difficult to find something we both want to do, even when we both want to do something. We can always talk movies later if you want, I figure there'll be something at the theaters that we can both watch." Gabriella gave a small, dismissive shrug. "Unlike my taste in music, my taste in films might be more your speed as it were, might not be. I'm a bit more open to that type of thing, and if it isn't, we'll come up with something. Even if it's something that's not completely to my tastes, I don't really mind much. Your company's good enough compensation and I can always drink a bit beforehand to loosen up. "

She was silent for the rest of the journey as Cassia slowed down, peering out the window.

"Don't count yourself out, Vivian." Gabriella said, turning back to look into the car and moving to settle back into her seat. "I swear between the three of us we're like the human equivalent of the Bermuda Triangle, even if that myth has been debunked repeatedly by mages, there's always something interesting in the worst sense of the word bound to happen whenever the three of us are in a mile radius of each other." It wasn't even a lie, they just seemed to... Attract interesting things. Normally of the dangerous or drama-fuelled variety. "I say we drive for a bit, if nothing comes up or we find a decent spot to park we go out on foot?"

[Durmatagno]

Victoria Aurelia Fawn
Santa Marina, October 30th, 2020

Victoria rolled her eyes at the conversation in the back of the car. Taking a puff, she rubbed her neck. This was the exact kind of shit she generally tried to avoid, so she continued ignoring it. Their relationship problems weren't her problem to work with. Not when she had her own problems, namely being she could never keep one. It wasn't to big of a problem in general, it wasn't like she had a lot of time to spare on a relationship. She rested her arm against the door, head in her hand. Thinking, trying to figure out what to say. Things were still awkward between them, it'd been a fight after all. She mulled things over as they made their way through the streets.

"You know, I found this really kick ass hidden bar. After this investigation, I should show it to you. Not the kind of place you'd expect to be around here."

She was looking at Cassia now, watching her drive, before turning her eyes back to the front of the road. Soon enough she'd need to figure out what the hell she was doing with her life, but she still had some time. Time enough to figure things out, part of why she was here, away from her family. She wasn't going to let them control her life anymore than she was anyone else, she would choose what she did.

[Sraelyn]

Viktor Farkas
Santa Marina, October 30th

---

Slowly but surely, life at campus was falling into a usual, comfortable routine. Most days for Viktor would revolve around going to classes, studying and training; be it with the Nighthawks or by himself at the gym, like he was doing until a few minutes ago. Drenched in sweat, he smiled to no one while walking to the showers, body sore and exhausted, as he basked in the pleasant feeling that came after a good workout. Maybe that was the reason why he didn’t use magic while exercising. Sure, he could use his regeneration to severely reduce muscle fatigue, or morph his limbs to blow out of the water any personal records he had, but that was not the point. One should not depend on magic to solve every single problem or issue, and overlying on it was foolish. Plus, there was a certain charm to doing stuff the natural way.

After a short shower and a new change of clothes, he headed out of the gym pondering on his options, as he had the whole day ahead of him. Even if he wasn’t much of a sentimentalist person, Viktor had started to grow a bit homesick lately. Maybe what he needed was a decent opportunity to do something different, to relax and enjoy himself. Luckily for him, such a chance was fast approaching. Halloween would be tomorrow, and although it wasn’t really a thing back home when he was growing up, Americans loved it. Even if he didn’t really care for the occasion, there was bound to be something interesting going on in or around campus. Nonetheless, any sort of plan would have to wait, as the heavy growl coming from his abdomen already dictated what he’d have to do next.

Entering Shauna's Café, Viktor ordered two burgers, a large serving of fries, and some bottled beer to wash it all down, before searching for an empty table to sit at. Maybe once he was done eating, he could find someone else to hang out or do something with. Maybe check if Tristan, Olympia, or Tavian were doing something for Halloween, even if it was just using the event as an excuse to head downtown and find some bar to get piss drunk at.

As if the mere thought had summoned him, Viktor spotted Tavian eating by himself at a table, looking deep in thought. Quietly moving besides him, he merely dropped the food-filled tray onto the table to announce his presence. “Hope you don’t mind if I join you for lunch brother.” Offering a large grin, he sat across the Romanian and wasted no time to start wolfing down on his food. “So, how was Croatia?”

[Forest State]

Candace Marin & Vivian Shaw
Santa Marina Hunter Academy
October 30th, 2020

---

“I’d like to think I already know about it, I’ve been around the nightlife here a decent amount, you know… Have to have something to do down here when I’m visiting Cass and Candace,” Cassia said with a shrug, slowing the Hellcat down as they started cruising the streets in a slower way, looking for specific locations which might be of interest. They were near the apartment blocks for now, high rise after high rise towering over them as they drove down what would be a busy road earlier in the day - but the traffic right now was more thinned out, owing to the fact that it was night time right now.

She had explored this city plenty even if she didn’t actually go to college here like Victoria did. Having family here was enough and she was just the type, really, to get out when she had the chance, and see the world… Routines and sitting around following the beaten path wasn’t her type of deal, and she wasn’t afraid to head out without a clear objective in mind if it meant some adventure and a chance to find something interesting.

“Ain’t NYC but there’s still a lit club or two if you look hard enough, yeah… Not in Calero Hills around the Academy, obviously. But there’s one or two in Spanishtown, one or two ‘round here on the north side, you get the idea. I’ve been to a couple of the big celebrity ones that are supposed to be the best around town, mainly ‘cuz my family is big enough around here to get into them, but they’re not that great unless you’ve never been to one before,” Cassia said.

She was elaborating more than she usually did, but then again, clubbing was a somewhat passionate subject for her so it was no surprise that she found it easy to go on a little bit of a tangent about it. “They try to act like they’re the big clubs in New York or Toronto or LA but the thing is, it’s still Santa Marina and Santa Marina is a different thing from those cities… So they don’t give you anything you couldn’t get flying a few hours up north to New York, if ya feel me. Maybe they could do better if they tried to be Santa Marina… But half of ‘em are trying to be New York or LA.”

As she continued talking, getting wrapped up in her review of the local club scene, she narrowed her eyes ever so slightly as she felt something intriguing - what seemed like a magical presence perhaps, or at least the presence of something that had magical properties. The feeling of being around an excess of mana, the same kind of feeling they’d gotten in Santa Marina Springs and that her and Candace and Gabriella had gotten in Villanero, or around someone that was especially strong and didn’t keep their mana contained.

“I feel something,” Vivian said, pausing as Cassia slowed the Hellcat down further, parking on the curb. If something was around, it was best for their goals that they didn’t just drive off and leave whatever they had run into in the background. No, they wanted to investigate, so they’d stop here and see if they could notice further details.

“I could use a spell to try to detect whatever it is, but that’s going to cost some mana, not sure if it’s better to save it,” she added, closing her eyes for a moment. “About fifteen percent of my mana, I think. Then again… We might not be able to find whatever this is if I don’t use it.”

“One hell’uva dark presence,” Candace pointed out, as an observation about just what it was that they were all feeling.

[Theyra]

Viktor Farkas
Santa Marina, October 30th

---

Slowly but surely, life at campus was falling into a usual, comfortable routine. Most days for Viktor would revolve around going to classes, studying and training; be it with the Nighthawks or by himself at the gym, like he was doing until a few minutes ago. Drenched in sweat, he smiled to no one while walking to the showers, body sore and exhausted, as he basked in the pleasant feeling that came after a good workout. Maybe that was the reason why he didn’t use magic while exercising. Sure, he could use his regeneration to severely reduce muscle fatigue, or morph his limbs to blow out of the water any personal records he had, but that was not the point. One should not depend on magic to solve every single problem or issue, and overlying on it was foolish. Plus, there was a certain charm to doing stuff the natural way.

After a short shower and a new change of clothes, he headed out of the gym pondering on his options, as he had the whole day ahead of him. Even if he wasn’t much of a sentimentalist person, Viktor had started to grow a bit homesick lately. Maybe what he needed was a decent opportunity to do something different, to relax and enjoy himself. Luckily for him, such a chance was fast approaching. Halloween would be tomorrow, and although it wasn’t really a thing back home when he was growing up, Americans loved it. Even if he didn’t really care for the occasion, there was bound to be something interesting going on in or around campus. Nonetheless, any sort of plan would have to wait, as the heavy growl coming from his abdomen already dictated what he’d have to do next.

Entering Shauna's Café, Viktor ordered two burgers, a large serving of fries, and some bottled beer to wash it all down, before searching for an empty table to sit at. Maybe once he was done eating, he could find someone else to hang out or do something with. Maybe check if Tristan, Olympia, or Tavian were doing something for Halloween, even if it was just using the event as an excuse to head downtown and find some bar to get piss drunk at.

As if the mere thought had summoned him, Viktor spotted Tavian eating by himself at a table, looking deep in thought. Quietly moving besides him, he merely dropped the food-filled tray onto the table to announce his presence. “Hope you don’t mind if I join you for lunch brother.” Offering a large grin, he sat across the Romanian and wasted no time to start wolfing down on his food. “So, how was Croatia?”

Tavian had food in his mouth when Viktor approached and sat down across from him. He quickly chewed and swallowed and put down his burger before speaking, "I do not mind Viktor". He said with a smile on his face, "I was just thinking about you and How was Croatia? He paused to think. "It was fine there, liked the academy, the teachers were fine though some had some hobbies that I was not expecting. Tavian paused to take a sip from his drink, "Like one was a comic book writer in his spare time and his comics are surprisingly good. Tavian shrugged, "I guess being a Hunter gives someone a good amount of ideas and how are things with you?

Tavian took a bite from his burger and quickly swallowed it, "I heard you got on the combat team and I have to say congrats. I do not think I could make it with my skillset but, it is nice that you got on it". Though Tavian can fight, half of his abilities deal with healing and being support rather than being a frontline fighter. Still, he decided on being like this for a reason that and the lighting magic that the Leths taught him will be useful in defending himself. As long he is not in water that is and Tavian spoke, "Also you got anything planned for tomorrow? "I got nothing and I guess I would just to relaxing or something". He took the final bite from his burger, "If you got something planned I may be inclined to join you since I got nothing better to do tomorrow".

[Durmatagno]

Victoria Aurelia Fawn
Santa Marina, October 30th, 2020


Victoria frowned and furrowed her brow, closing her eyes as she focused on the feeling everyone was describing. None of her magic included anything sensory, not yet anyway, though she had some ideas. She couldn't say if the spell cost was worth it because this might not be even remotely related to what they were after. At the same time though, they'd come looking for a mystery, and here was one looking them in the face. She opened her eyes and looked back at Vivian.

"If we want to find what this is, that might be our only option. I can't exactly help, none of my magic includes sensory spells, not yet anyway."

As she spoke she made sure that her knife and pistol were properly strapped to her. Doubtful to do anything against anything that was truly magic, or one of the non-human races that weren't fairies, but it felt nice to have them. Besides, they'd be all she had f she ran out of mana, and it was better than her fists or whatever scrap she could scrounge up. She bit her lip and looked outside the car, she didn't know if this was what they were after, but it seemed all of them were curious.

[Lunas Legion]

Gabriella Sara Bianchi-Costa De Inferenza
Santa Marina, October 30th, 2020

"You're's better at non-combat sensing magics than I am." Gabriella conceded as she turned towards Vivian, the feeling in the air obvious to someone like her who'd spent most of her life living atop nearly the same amount of ambient mana. "I prefer duration over range, so it depends how close whatever we're hunting for actually is which of us should do a mental sweep since mine's mana-dependent on how far out I want to go with it."

And that... That depended on how much power what they were hunting had, and how much of that power was leaking out into the background. It could be one of the things Cass had encountered, but given this was Santa Marina... It had a habit of attracting the strange, unusual and esoteric from the magical world. "I've already burned mana imbuing my bullets with magic, but there's no point in saving the mana for a fight if we can't find it in the first place." Gabriella declared, hands straying down towards her holsters. "If you don't mind tracking it for now, Vivian, I'll take over once we're closer. Assuming we're tracking something that possesses thoughts, that is. But if I don't pick anything up that's a clue in and of itself what we're dealing with here. There's no certainty it's the same type of thing Cass was."

If it didn't think, well, she'd have to improvise something. And improvising was not something she was particularly great at doing.

[Forest State]

Vivian Shaw
Santa Marina Hunter Academy
October 30th, 2020

---

Taking a deep breath and focusing on reaching out with her mind to the surrounding area, - really just the surrounding apartment blocks, basically - Vivian activated her tracking spell and kept her eyes shut as a number of marks on her mental map began to show up in her head, showing where different things were… Things was the right term because it didn’t seem like whatever they were facing here was human. But as for what it actually was, they wouldn't be able to tell that until they were closer up to the source or someone could use a spell that would provide more details than what Vivian could see.

“It’s coming from the inside of that apartment building…” said Vivian, pointing out one of the apartments that wasn’t far from them. It was close enough, inf act, that she was able to point it out without problem through the window. “I’m sensing a… No, I’m sensing a couple of presences, or rather, I’m tracking them with this spell. I don’t know what they are but they’re not human from what I can see either from what I’m feeling or from the limited information I have from this spell.”

“We could head inside and investigate further… But I don’t know, my track seems to make these targets appear pretty strong, and from what I can feel out here, I’d assume that it’s accurate. Might be heading into this one at our own danger,” Vivian continued, looking to the others for an answer.

“We can either go looking for it, or we can stay here for now. Guess that’s up to you guys…”

[Lunas Legion]

Gabriella Sara Bianchi-Costa De Inferenza
Santa Marina, October 30th, 2020

"It was always going to be dangerous to one degree or another." Gabriella sighed, a hand moving to the door's handle, ready to open it. "But if they aren't human, and there are multiple presences..." Gabriella paused, weighing up her options for a brief moment. "Whatever it is, at the bare minimum we should investigate. We can't just let some complete unknowns gather in one place with this much ambient mana around with no idea why it's all here."

It would most likely bite them in the ass later on if they did. That was almost always how the world seemed to work at moments like this. And as much as she would have preferred to go in with a bit more information, a little more firepower or backup... There wasn't always the chance for that. Not at times like this, when you needed to not hesitate and to be decisive.

"So I suppose we should probably go looking for whatever we're dealing with here then, unless anyone has any particularly good objections to doing so?" Gabriella asked, obviously slightly reluctant but resigned to doing this regardless. She didn't like picking a fight that didn't have to be fought, but she knew there were nonetheless fights like that that actually needed to be fought. Ways to stop things long before they became a problem in the first place, if only one thing had been done differently, and this could be one of those moments.

[Sraelyn]

Viktor Farkas
Santa Marina, October 30th

---

Snip

“A comic book writer?” Viktor's eyebrows rose at that notion. “I suppose being a Hunter could be a good source of material to write about, but it still somewhat surprises me that some Hunters full on do other things other than well, Hunt.” Taking a handful of fries, he wondered how Father would respond to such a thing. Maybe he would be okay with it as long as he showed he wasn’t shrugging off the duty. “Would you mind sending me the name of the comics later? I’d like to read them if their any good. To be honest I’ve been feeling like there’s something lacking, maybe I just need a hobby or something.” Finishing his first burger in record time, Viktor gulped down a good third of his bear in one go, before eagerly picking up his other burger and giving it a bite. “Anyway, Its good to see you liked the Academy over there. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of my brothers or sisters ends up over there, maybe Anna, I think she’d prefer to remain as close to home as possible.” Being the eldest of seven, Viktor was the first to be sent off to train to one of the Academies. In the following years, it was expected of the rest of his siblings to follow suit, spreading out around the world to try and bring back some prominence to the family.

“Thanks!” He smiled proudly when congratulated. “I’m glad I made the team honesty, wasn’t really sure I would at first, considering I lack ranged spells.” Having finished both burgers by now, he kept lazily picking a few fries, followed by a drink, and more fries. “I don’t think you should beat yourself about your selection of spells really. We went training with the rest of the team to the spring nearby a few weeks ago, and Tristan managed to win his match against Olympia by just putting her to sleep. They may not be the most fancy, but support spells can get you a long way if your smart about them. Speaking of the sparring matches, I got to won mine against Freya, but it was strange. She didn’t even cast a spell or anything, pretty sure she just let me win. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll happily take the victory if she is giving it away, but… I don’t know. There’s something’s weird with her, I’m just not too sure what it is.”

“I don’t really have anything already planned for tomorrow, but I have a few ideas. I care more for Day of the Dead rather than Halloween, but ideas good opportunity to enjoy ourselves for the evening. There’s bound to be something going on around campus tomorrow I’m sure, we could do that or maybe head downtown and see what decent place we can find. If those are not really your thing, we can always gather some people, buy some alcohol and just hang out in the dorms. Either way, is there anyone else you’d like to bring along, or have it be just us?”

[Forest State]

Candace Marin & Vivian Shaw
Santa Marina Hunter Academy
October 30th, 2020

---

“I say that’s the spirit,” said Candace, wholeheartedly embracing the idea of heading out and looking for whatever it is they were sensing. Wouldn't be the hardest task in the word - Vivian’s tracking spell gave them enough in regards to location data to find it, and they could tell the hostile figures apart from other ones in the area quite easily… The ones they were looking for just felt different, not just like they were magical beings but like they were specifically something that they hadn’t run into before. Didn’t seem like just your ordinary vampire orr the like.

She reached under her shirt, looking for something in her waistband, and took out a Glock with a smirk on her face. “Never go somewhere without the strap,” she said mindfully to Gabriella before exiting the Hellcat and starting towards the block of apartments. Cassia would also climb out behind her, reaching into the glove compartment to find a couple of pistols of her own.

“Heads up, Viv,” she said, passing off one of them to Vivian in the back before she climbed out of the vehicle entirely, followed by Vivian, who was looking over a mini pistol and making sure it was up to what she wanted before following the others.

“Some pistol you decided to give me,” Vivian said, her body more tense now that they were heading into what could very well be a dangerous situation for them. She smirked - this was the kind of adventure she hadn’t been on in a while, and even though she was more cautious than some of her friends, she wasn’t opposed to heading inside and seeing what was up.

“It’s what we had,” Cassia said in reply, before reaching into her jacket and finding another pistol she had stashed away “Yo, Victoria,” she added, tossing the Colt pistol over to Victoria, deciding it would be useful if Victoria also had a working weapon. “This’ll help you if the magic doesn’t. Anyway, we all ready to head inside this place or what?”

She was already moving towards the building as she did say so, anticipating just what they wold find within the walls.

[Lunas Legion]

Gabriella Sara Bianchi-Costa De Inferenza
Santa Marina, October 30th, 2020

No one did have any objections, not that she'd expected them to. It was like an unspoken rule that no one ever objected to things like this.

"There is a reason I insisted on going to collect my own firearms before we left, you know, even if they're uncomfortable to carry all of the time." Gabriella said in response to Candace as she climbed out of the Hellcat, hands resting on the grips of her own pistols, twitching slightly, nervous and uneasy in the space of calm before everything inevitably quickly went to hell.

"So, what floor are they on Vivian?" Gabriella asked as she approached the building, one hand still gripping the grip of her Contender as the other drew her CZ 85 B from its own holster, holding it ready as her eyes roamed up and down the front of the apartment building. Were it not for all the mana around, she would have dismissed it as little more than another piece of urban sprawl, boring, unremarkable, dull and dreary. She figured the floor was important, since she didn't exactly feel like walking up however many flights of stairs it was, but on the other hand taking an elevator was universally a bad idea when it came to approaching unknown hostiles.

Elevators were killzones at the other end, after all, and a clever enough user of runes could rig an elevator to drop down the shaft if triggered, fill with toxic smoke or the old fashioned method of just making the inside of the elevator explode. Of course, it was possible to trap a stairwell too, but apartment buildings would have multiple stairways owing to fire regulations. It made them easier to handle.

[Theyra]

Snip

"The comics are called the Vigil, and I brought some of the comics with me so I can just lend you since them to you." It was weird to find out that the treacher wrote comic books when he met the teacher. He said he wrote them in his spare time, and none of the other teachers had a problem with it, so I guess he can balance being a Hunter and comic book writer. Though he did hear, he had to cancel some of his comics due to his Hunter duties and some other comic book related stuff. "So you need a hobby or something? Tavian took a sip from his drink and was thinking. "I could give you so ideas of what I do in my spare time. Like how I am thinking of taking up writing since I find it fun to create worlds, and I already got an idea for what I would write. I was thinking of starting it in my free time while I am here on my laptop". Tavian was not always interested in writing before but, when he read his teacher's comics, it inspired him. "Or you could try some more physical like how I like to run but, I feel that you may have enough of a workout training on the combat team."

Tavian took a sip from his drink and quickly found that it was empty and tried to sip out what was left. "Winning a fight just by putting their opponent to sleep sounds like someone was thinking outside the box. Maybe I could have tried to make the team but, with my skill set". He snapped his fingers, and a small spark of lighting came out. "It would involve mostly lighting though I could always stun my target." Tavian acted like he was shocking someone and lighting arced on his hands. "But, I would have to get in close to do that. "Either way, I will have to wait until next year before I think to try and see if I could get on the combat team. Hmmm, about your fight with Freya, that sounds odd that she did not use magic in your fight". Tavian thought hard about her, "I remember her from when we were on the same team during our first assignment. She was useful and used magic to help us get out of dodge". Why would Viktor let seemly win without putting up a fight, he wondered. That seems off for someone that joined a combat team and should use their magic in a fight. Maybe she was saving her magic for something else but, what could that be if not training?

"Hmmm, so you got no plans for tomorrow, and yeah, I am too a more of a Day of the Dead person. I am not really into interested in Halloween though my siblings are, and I do like the idea of driving around to see what Santa Marina has to offer". Tavian always did like to explore, and he has not seen much of Santa Marina. Except for the neighborhood where he got shot at a couple of weeks ago. Tavian was not a fan of going back to that place anytime soon. "As for getting some more people, I would not be against hanging out with some people. Though I have not met a lot of people since I got here, I did meet Olympia, though. Maybe we could bring her along if she is interested, and besides her, I am not sure who else to bring". Tavian scratched his head, "unless you want to bring someone, I say if we do, it should be small, As not to make things too crowded."

[Forest State]

Candace Marin & Vivian Shaw
Santa Marina Hunter Academy
October 30th, 2020

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“Fifteenth floor,” Vivian answered as she opened her eyes and kept close on the trail of the others, moving in the back with the mini pistol Cassia had given her but keeping it raised and ready in case she needed to fire - she didn’t have the most overt abilities, and she didn’t want to risk getting caught in a spot where her magic wasn’t enough to protect her. And so, she would rely on the gun during this building raid as much as she relied on her magic. Maybe more, depending on the threat they ended up facing when they were inside.

Of course, climbing fifteen flights of stairs wasn’t exactly the most convenient thing, and there were some grumbles from Candace and Cassia as they made their way up and then continued into the first hallway that they saw, Candace stepping out first and aiming the Glock down the hallway. Awkward in the event that anyone found them like this, but could they really be blamed for coming in guns out? They were Hunters doing their jobs. And when that job involved lethal stakes and lethal force, coming in guns out and scaring some people was just worth it, all things considered.

Candace was also prepared, of course, to cast a spell if the situation called for it. She crept forward, her eyes darting from one side of the hallway to the other as they looked for their targets - they saw nothing. The fluorescent lights were somewhat eerie in this situation, but they didn’t find the real scare around here, the enemy. The only thing they’d found so far was a tense situation, all of them moving through the hallway and searching with their eyes only to find nothing.

“Viv, you got a more accurate track on those things?” Candace asked from the front while Cassia moved behind her, Candace looking to the left and Cassia looking to the right while Vivian kept going in the rear, both hands on the pistol which was raised towards the ceiling - but she could aim and fire at any time if she needed to.

“Doing my best but whatever these things are, they’re harder to track properly than a regular person,” Vivian pointed out. “Actually, this spell isn’t wrong and we should be almost right over ‘em right now, but since we still don’t see anything… They might have some kinda corporeal form and some kind of other form too. I mean shit, they were called apparitions, right? Aren’t those not supposed to be… Physical?”

“We’re up against some type’a weird SCP shit, yes,” Cassia pointed out, stopping but not looking over her shoulder just yet. She kept her eyes ahead, in case the threat was lying there in plain sight somehow.

“You got anything, Gabriella?” Candace asked, wondering if the other psychic would be able to offer any help here.

[Lunas Legion]

Gabriella Sara Bianchi-Costa De Inferenza
Santa Marina, October 30th, 2020

Gabriella nodded, pistol held up and ready as they moved into the building, holding back a sigh. Fifteen floors worth of stairs before a fight was something no one really ever wanted to hear, but they were Hunters. Needing to chase something down was in the name, so it wouldn't be that bad, hopefully. It could've been worse, after all. She stuck to the middle of the group as they moved up, not exactly having the most defensively oriented set of magic out there, eyes watching the stairwell as they made their way up flight after flight of stairs.

She took a moment to breathe before following Candace forwards into the hall out of the stairwell, pistol tracking down the hall away from Candace just to check there was nothing behind them before following her out into the hallway.

"If they're incorporeal they could be a wall over or a floor up and we wouldn't know." Gabriella pointed out, nervously flicking a glance upwards as a faint purple shield of light flickered into existence around herself. Best to be safe. "I'll see if I can pick anything up, but thoughts are my specialty, not presences. If they don't think..." It was left unspoken that she wouldn't find anything at all.

Her eyes lit up, adding their own strong purple glow to the already eerily-lit hallway as she reached out with her own magic. She lacked the range of Vivian, but in close circumstances like these she'd be more accurate as she pushed more mana into the spell, feeling her range brush over the minds of the others one by one as she pushed her radius out, aiming to find the minds of whatever she was hunting.

[Forest State]

Candace Marin & Vivian Shaw
Santa Marina Hunter Academy
October 30th, 2020

---

“I’m already using the best ability I have for this kind of thing,” pointed out Vivian, shrugging. She couldn’t offer much more help than she already was, although she had the feeling her assessment of the situation was actually accurate and they just couldn’t see the… Mysterious beings here due to some aspect of their nature. They had been called apparitions and Cass had said they weren’t entirely physical…

So not being able to see them wasn’t that far of a stretch-

Her thoughts were broken when something emerged at the end of the hallway. No, not just something. It seemed to phase into existence from elsewhere, at about the point where Vivian had detected it, and as far as Gabriella’s mind sweep attempt went, she would find it hard to get much out of the being - its mind seemed to work differently from that of a human and underlying everything there was a certain chaos which was there. There… Were few other ways to describe it.

Chaos was an apt term due to the turbulence that Gabriella would get back from her reading, although if she focused hard enough she would see something clear underneath it all. Hunger of some kind, but for what was undetermined at this point. For them, maybe? Or maybe for raw mana. Or for both. Whatever the case, it was the one distinct trait that could be spotted.

The being itself was pretty distinct too, its body seemingly being made of shadows packed into a humanoid shape, the consistency almost like a thick mist which still ebbed and flowed - there were no visible eyes, but there was a smile of sharp white teeth, each one like a razor blade, and the being itself… Had some interesting features. Crystals extending from the body which were colored in a sort of purple color, a faint glow emanating off of them.

The thing didn’t do anything just yet… But they would feel the effects of its presence quickly, or at least the members of the group that weren’t being psychically shielded would. In this case, the feeling was one of despair almost, as if they should drop their weapons and give up fighting right there… It would take effort just not to do that, the same kind of effort that was required to stay awake when one was at the edge of consciousness.

And there was no telling just what would happen if they slipped here and allowed themselves to pass that threshold.

[Lunas Legion]

Gabriella Sara Bianchi-Costa De Inferenza
Santa Marina, October 30th, 2020

Gabriella was a mental mage; mental attacks were something she knew how to deal with and how to recognise one in the first place. Her shield remained in place, her eyes still faintly glowing under the purple light, but it did its job and absorbed the brunt of the attack. She felt... Tired, almost, like she'd just run a long way, but it wasn't anywhere near enough to impede someone like her who was not only experienced with handling mental magics, but also psychically shielded against it on top of that.

It allowed her to get herself back together and centered again, shaking off the feeling of lethargy. She breathed deeply as she slowly raised her pistol towards the... Apparation, it was as good enough of a term for it as any. She took a second, not out of hesitation, but to channel mana sitting in the bullet in the chamber of her CZ 85 B, enchanting it with a sliver of holy magic as she lined up her shot down the hallway and pulled the trigger, starting to move forwards down the hallway, already channeling more mana into the next bullet in the chamber as she fired for a second time, ducking into a doorway to clear a firing lane of sorts down the hallway towards the thing for the others.

If these shots did nothing, even when blessed, she'd switch to her Contender. Maybe it needed some more force behind it, and if that didn't work she'd switch to her sword. She didn't have any directly offensive spells that would be useful in this situation, not with the weak mind she'd felt. She wasn't going to gamble half of her available mana on that.