NOVEL NEXT Trail 68 (Pt. 1): Preparing The Path To Power
Trail 68 (Pt. 1): Preparing The Path To Power
--- Jon Whitaker ---
"Okay, so let me see if I've got this straight. You're working on a project using a piece of the Demon that hurt Aunty M to create a weapon to kill it." Felicia double checked, after he'd just explained everything to her.
"Mostly yeah." He nodded as they stepped out into the open, Pix flying ahead of them. "Specifically we're planning on taking advantage of the fact that a lot of Demons make the world wonky around them to try and make a counter to that. Or at least that's what I'm doing because…"
"The girl that's helping you with this has no idea that you're planning on killing the demon." His cousin nodded. "Which is honestly kind of a dick move."
"I know…" He groaned, having been able to mostly ignore the guilt when someone wasn't pointing it out. "But me picking a fight with the demon is also highly illegal and despite Artemis being a weird apprentice cousin thing…"
"You don't trust her not to snitch." Felicia finished for him. "Thus removing any worry that she might replace me as your favorite cousin."
"Jake 's my favorite." He told her point blank, earning an elbow to his ribcage.
"Asshole." The cousin actually his age huffed. "Still, that doesn't explain why you had me climb all of those stairs to get onto this roof."
"Yeah, you see that building over there?" He asked while double checking things on his phone.
"What about it?" Felicia frowned.
"Second floor from the top, third window to the left I need you to make a portal about…" He clicked his tongue doing some quick math in his head. "About fifteen meters in."
Felicia blinked at him. "That is… a very precise portal."
"If you can only make it on the other side of the window I can make it work." He shrugged before offering her a pair of binoculars. "In case you need to see where you're portaling to."
"Blind portals are how you end up burning a hole in a wall, or running into one." She warned him despite taking the binoculars. "So… who are we robbing?"
"It's less robbing someone and more kidnapping someone." He corrected.
"Cool. Just uh, give me a minute. Blind accuracy is a bitch." The malcontent told him, her eyes burning red as she flexed her hand causing her claws to pop out.
A faint shimmer of a red haze began to burn off of Felicia's nails before she clawed through the air, tearing a hole into space itself between here and another location.
"I'll just be a second." He promised before hopping through to find a fanged and clawed Ying glaring at the portal. When she blinked at him he remembered the joke Miss Edna wanted him to share. "I have come to rescue the imprisoned dragon from the evil princess's tower."
Scene Consequences
-Ying is ready to help with the project.
---
"I really do not like the idea of you taking on another Demon without me." Ying growled, even as she pet the little fairy sitting on her shoulder.
"But you like the idea of Madness exposure even less." He pointed out, earning a more animalistic growl.
"Fine…" Ying sighed. "At least I can help with this… weapon you're building…"
"So out of curiosity, am I just a taxi service today? Because I don't mind wingmanning you but I would like a warning." Felicia told him, a faint glare towards Ying. "And an actual introduction."
He didn't get why, since he had introduced them before Felicia opened a portal closer to Artemis's house. Or rather closer to DeSade's house from which they were walking to Artemis's house given the whole sight/previous location limitation of his cousin's portals.
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"As would I." Ying confessed, eyeing Felicia just the same. "Aside from Miss Edna you are the first member of Jon's family I've met, and I was under the impression the rest of his family were non-Deviants?"
"My ma is, and aside from practitioner stuff so are me and my uncle." He confirmed before texting Artemis they were just down the street. "Felicia picked up my… own madness exposure and became concerned. Things escalated and now she's helping me kill the Demon that hurt my ma."
"I see…" Ying gave Felicia another once over. "If she's to replace me as your demon hunting partner, I'll need to properly test her claws."
"Sounds like fun." Felicia grinned, a mouth full of fangs.
"That… will have to wait for another day." He told them both as he spotted Artemis opening the gate to her yard a bit further ahead.
When they got closer she gave Ying and Felicia a once over, matching the one they were each giving her. "Well, you've brought a crowd… and with Val already here I should probably be glad my parents aren't here today."
"Uh, this isn't going to be a problem is it?" He couldn't help but frown in concern.
Artemis shook her head. "No, no. We can make this work though uh, were you still planning on summoning any of your contracts?"
He rubbed the back of his head, feeling a little self-conscious. "Yes…? I, uh, I figure we should see just how much we have to work with for this?"
"Well, I'd be a hypocrite to call you out on getting excited though half of us are going to be stuck on my back porch otherwise things are going to be way too cramped in my workshop…" Artemis confessed as she ran a hand down her face. "I'll go get Val from inside."
As they stepped into the back yard and Artemis left them alone, Ying let out a tittering laugh. "My, my Jon, just how many women did you invite to this party?"
"Six." He answered, before thinking about it. "Unless you count Artemis?"
"She counts." Ying smiled, before glancing at Felicia. "Though the number is still likely six."
"What?" He blinked, not getting it.
"Ignore her." Felicia told him, before shivering as her eyes flashed red at the exact same time Ying's flashed blue. "What is that?"
He followed their gazes to where Artemis and Val were stepping out into the yard, before seeing the crow skeleton sitting on Val's shoulder much like Pix was on Ying's. "That's the Scarecrow. He's fangless."
"Are you sure about that little Cazador?" Said Scarecrow asked, hopping off of Val's shoulder as it grew a body of flesh and shadows the size of a truck. "I've many fangs~"
He looked the scarecrow in the eye and smiled as he imagined hunting it down like the prey that it was. His hands slowly curling into claws, ready to rip out its fangs one by o-
"That's enough dick measuring." Val cut in with a swat to the back of the Scarecrow's head, causing it to immediately shrink back to its smaller form. "We're here to help the nerds with their thing, no picking fights."
"I can't do nothin'!" The scarecrow grumbled petulantly.
"Right, let's get introductions out of the way real quickly." Artemis suggested, before gesturing to herself. "I am Artemis Foster, apprentice to Edme DeLaCroix. This is Valentina Alejo, the Scarecrow's Keeper. Along with said scarecrow, Espanta."
"Yo." Val waved nonchalantly.
"Uh, yeah… and this is my cousin Felicia, and Ying Zhang who is Miss Edna's other apprentice… I think?" He knew Miss Edna was helping her with her magic, but he was also pretty sure she wasn't learning the actual intricacies of magic.
"She says she intends to kidnap and adopt me, so…" Ying shrugged, her 'stoic rich person' face on in the presence of new people and a Demon.
"Even more pseudo-cousins…" Artemis sighed, before shaking her head. "Jon, your summons please?"
"Right." He nodded, before calling forth both Wolf and Basil with his new found summoning tricks.
Wolf immediately plotted up to him to accept head scratches. "Hey there girl, it's good to see you too."
"Jon…" Felicia began, earning a slight growl from Wolf who remembered their last interaction.
"Hey, hey. Let's get along. Felicia was a little rabid last time I know but she was just worried about me." He assured his canine companion, before turning back to his cousin. "And I'm sure Wolf won't cause any problems if you don't."
"I don't think that's the problem." Ying confessed, causing him to realize all four of his human companions were staring at something with wide eyes, and a blush in a couple of cases.
He followed their gazes. "Oh, this is Basil Thyme."
"Jon… the fuck?" Felicia asked him with a gesture to the voidkin.
"What?" He blinked.
Val let out an amused huff even as Espant hopped off her shoulder. "You've got juevos summoning a bondage chick here Cazadorcito."
"Oh… that…" He tried not to notice Basil's clothing. "That's DeSade's fault."
He had not problem throwing the dark lord under the bus. Especially when both Ying and Felicia were willing to accept that point blank. Though Artemis still asked, "Who?"
"An asshole." Felicia answered.
"Not how I'd describe him, but… still an apt description." Ying nodded.
"This is a Voidkin." Espanta noted, while staring at Basil before slowly turning back to him. "How did you summon a Voidkin?!"
If possible the fear demon sounded fairly distressed by that fact.
He thought about it for a moment before answering, "That's DeSade's fault too."