Full Earth Tonight

[Electra]

It was very cold in New Jersey at the beginning of February, especially in the early evening when the sun had retreated to a mere suggestion of cloudy sunset and the stars were hidden by a hundred thousand points of light pollution. Raina shivered as she stood on the quad in her light Burberry jacket and tennis shoes, staring at the sky and trying to locate even the faintest trace of moon. She had a winter coat in her room, some awful thing that her grandmother had picked up at the Goodwill and washed the dead-body-smell off of, but Raina wasn't going to wear that unless there was literally no other choice. She'd rather be cold in a pretty spring coat that was only just a teeny bit too short. Next to her, Merlin sulked in her backpack, festively attired in one of Cathy's hats and a snowsuit made for babies. He had no compunction about sacrificing fashion for warmth, but really, it wasn't as if he were ever going to be out looking for love. 

 

"Come on," she cajoled him, "just fifteen more minutes. I gotta try this spell, and there's supposed to be a full moon tonight, it's just behind the clouds." She shaded her eyes, as though that would help. Merlin impatiently pointed out that she was studying the wrong quadrant of the sky, which would make it difficult to find the moon even if it weren't cloudy. Raina replied with an incoherent exclamation of frustration and turned to look in the other direction. "I hate you, you know that?" Merlin indicated smugly that he did indeed know that. 

[AmyBall]

Raina wasn't the only one with an idea like that. Sarah was already out there, with chalk and other implements close at hand. The young woman had gotten all bundled up for this... And was incredibly disappointed by the weather. "Stupid clouds. It always rains, or is cloudy, or... Augh." she managed to spit out. Her normal shyness seemed distant and far away as she attempted to draw up a magic circle, her eyes always on those notes she took during class.

[Electra]

The noise of someone else nearby drew Raina's attention from her rather one-sided argument. Flicking her lighter, she drew up a fireball that glowed on her palm like a lantern. "Hello? Somebody else out here?" she called, picking up her backpack and moving in the direction of the noise. In just a moment she started smelling brimstone, which sharply narrowed down her list of potential candidates. "Phae?" she guessed, continuing to walk. "Oh, hey Sarah. What are you doing out here? It's cold as hell out tonight." The fire gave Raina a little warmth, but that mostly just made the rest of her body feel colder. 

[AmyBall]

"Practicing," the young woman replied as she took in several breaths of the cool, crisp air. "there's a GREAT moon out there tonight, and because of the clouds, I'm MISSING it." Sarah replied, "If I could get the clouds to move, I'd be set. I uh... I don't think that messing with the weather is allowed. I know there are 'low impact' rules, and we should draw an OH goodness!" Sarah squeaked, having finally noticed that she wasn't alone.

[Electra]

Raina jumped back momentarily at the squeak, drawing a bitter complaint from Merlin in her backpack. "Well if you don't like it, get out here and enjoy the outdoors like a real wild primate," she told him sourly. He assured her that was unlikely, but poked his face out far enough to look at Sarah. "Also, that hat makes you look liked a stuffed toy." Raina turned her attention back to Sarah. "Yeah, the cloud cover really sucks. I need the light of a full moon, but it's all bouncing back into space right now. Freaking February." She looked at the circle Sarah'd been preparing, evaluating it with a practitioner's eye. "So what are you trying to do?" 

[AmyBall]

"I'm trying to strengthen the barriers between this world and Hell." she said, as if it were a totally innocent, everyday thing. "I've been... Sensing a few minor disturbances, and I'm trying to guard against hell-gates opening up anywhere near the campus. It's not a major working, but I'm particularly sensitive to these sorts of things." the young Sarah said, looking up at Merlin. "And who... and what... is this?"

[Electra]

"Oh, this is Merlin," Raina explained negligently. "He's my familiar. I did a magical bonding ritual with him, so now he's too smart for his own good. He's a capuchin monkey, under the layers of clothes." Merlin waved a hand and conveyed to Sarah that it was nice to meet her. The communication was very strange, she could hear him chattering in typical monkey fashion, but at the same time, Sarah could understand perfectly what he intended to say. He didn't stay out long, though, prefering the comparative warmth of the backpack. 

 

Humming under her breath, Raina folded one leg up under her like a flamingo, then the other one as well, leaving her sitting crosslegged in midair. "How come you're closing up hellgates when your power is infernal?" she asked bluntly. "Doesn't that make you weaker?" 

[AmyBall]

Sarah sighed quietly and smiled at the little monkey. "Hey there buddy. Sorry I don't have any snacks for you, didn't know I'd have guests tonight." she said as she turned to stare up at the cloud cover. "It should clear up round about midnight, if we're lucky. If not, it might be about three AM before we see enough moon to work by."

"And no," the young woman said with a bitter note in her voice, "Unfortunately I am a hell-portal, albeit one they can't control. The way the contract was terminated was... not very kind to me. But it does give me a certain edge."

[Electra]

"Oh, so you're one of the ones who actually sold your soul to the devil?" Raina asked, with more sardonic curiosity than judgment in her voice. "You give the rest of us a bad name, you know. Madison and her bitchy cartel have been accusing me all year, but I never so much as leased my soul to One Direction." Still sitting unsupported in midair, she idly swung one leg at the knee. "So what did you get for your soul? Fame, riches, Zayn Malik for your very own?" From inside the backpack, Merlin made a muffled comment about Yoko Ono, but Raina ignored him. "Had to be something good, right?" 

[AmyBall]

"All I wanted was my parents alive again." she said quietly. "They died in a plane crash, and I sold my soul for the power to bring them back to life. But they weren't IN Hell. Hell had no power to bring them back, and when they tried to give me the power, we realized only too late... Well... Let's just say that Hell is a sore loser when they break a contract, even if it's their fault. Since they had to give me enough power to bring them back to life... They brought them back as Zombies and tried to take my soul anyways. They couldn't, so they settled for ripping it open."

[Electra]

"Oh." Raina's leg stopped swinging, leaving them in awkward silence for a minute after that revelation. "Sorry to hear that." Swing, swing, swing went the leg again as she tried to regain her conversational equilibrium. "Guess you got to keep the power, at least. And it explains why the air reeks of sulfur to my magical senses every time you're using your power." Apparently satisfied by that, she reached into a side pocket of the backpack and pulled out a battered thermos. "God, it's cold out tonight," she muttered, taking a swig from the bottle. She proffered it to Sarah. "Want cocoa?"  

[AmyBall]

"I didn't do anything to break the contract, so I got off... well... MOSTLY scot free," Sarah replied, her eyes looking back to the sky. "I didn't come out of it unscathed, mind you, but... Oooh! Yes please!" Sarah giggles. Chocolate, nature's miracle food, and a surefire way to get her thinking about something that isn't gloomy! "With mallows?"

[Electra]

"Nah, they mess up the inside of the bottle." Raina shrugged philosophically and passed the thermos. "Plus if you want to get them here, you've gotta beg them off the cooks, and they're pissed at me this week. Speaking truth to power is dangerous business." She reclined in the air, resting her elbows on some invisible surface to look up at the intractable clouds. "They say the clouds are good, they keep the air warmer because of ozone or something. I think they're just dumbasses. Why wouldn't even reflected sunlight be better than no sunlight?" That assessment got another disgusted noise from Merlin. 

[AmyBall]

"Don't look at me," Sarah sighed as she lay back on the quad. "I'm still learning about meteorology. Also that it's not polite to make it rain extra hard on your neighbors prize-winning flowers just before the competition so they're all waterlogged and wilting." She quirked a smile at that. "Oh man, you should have SEEN the look that they gave me at the show that year. Ah... Uhm... You don't necessarily need to tell the teachers about that one, okay? It's in the past, and I'd rather not have dirty laundry aired out." Sarah mumbled, blushing gracefully.

Edited February 9, 2016 by AmyBall

[Electra]

"Screw 'em if they can't take a joke," Raina replied with no heat. turning on her side so she could see Sarah laying on the ground three feet below her. It was an awkward pose, but she managed it. "I'd be kind of a hypocrite to go telling on other people when I pull so much crap around here myself, but they do get kind of tetchy about people making big flashy uses of their power for random stuff. Not great for the whole secret identity of the school and all that. If you wanna do stuff like that, you go out to someplace more empty, Wharton Forest maybe. 'Course, then you're likely to call a supervillain down on your head, but at least it'd be exciting." She took back her thermos, took another drink, stared at the sky. "This is boring." 

[AmyBall]

"It's REALLY boring. We should do something. Got any ideas? I don't want to use a weather spell. Haven't caught up on meteorology, and I'm forbidden from changing the weather on a large scale without permission." she said with a grin. "Weather spells aren't really my forte, it seems. Unless you think you could do something about this?" she asked. Sasha reached up to the sky, and waved a hand as she looked over to Raina. "As for flashy uses of my powers? Well, they're pretty flashy innately, but I don't like using them unless I have to. It's too easy to lose control in the heat of the moment."

[Electra]

"Well, I could provide a huge amount of light," Raina speculated, "but it would involve setting the trees on fire, so I don't think it would really solve our cloud problem. We could break into the caf instead, get some more cocoa and sit where it's actually warm. My roommate's a cold not-controller, I don't think it's been more than sixty degrees in my room all term. I'm thinking of hauling in a camp stove if they don't turn her off soon." She unfolded her legs, put her feet back on the ground. "There might be some of that brownie stuff from dinner left over too. Want to?"

[AmyBall]

Sarah thought about it for a little bit... And nodded quietly. "Sure, let's go break into the café." she said with a smile. "Did you want me to teleport us there? I could you know, just as easy as breathing!" the young woman exclaimed, kipping to her feet with a smile. "I uh... Y'know, don't really get out much, so something as simply as 'breaking and entering' can be really fun and a whole new experience for me." Sarah chuckles, and finally started to relax a little. "This... Isn't so bad. I thought for sure I wouldn't fit in, but everyone seems to be so nice. Or at least, they're not making my life hell yet." *beat* "Well, not LITERALLY hell."

[Electra]

"Well, I was just gonna pick the lock, but by all means!" Raina made an expansive hand gesture to indicate Sarah ought to go right ahead. "People around here are generally pretty okay, so long as you don't attract the attention of Madison and her girls. Absolutely do not tell them the story of how you got your powers," she advised. "I don't even use infernal magic that much, and there was no bargain involved at all, and they still peg me as evil and act like I'm about to murder them in their beds. They're legacies, their folks are heroes, so if you're not from a hero family yourself, or if, god forbid, your parents might not have been entirely 100% on the up-and-up, you're no good to them. But most of the people around here are okay," she reiterated. "And I guess you'd know from hell." 

[AmyBall]

With a low, mirthless laugh, Sarah drew a large circle in the air. In the middle, a portal came to be. "So are they going to try anything? I have to admit, I'm usually very shy... About my powers and other things. But when it comes time to use them, I don't hold back. If they're going to try anything, I want to be ready. If nothing else, maybe I can strike first. Well..." she paused, and sighed a little. "That would just prove them right. There's really no way to win, is there? If I hit back, they win. If they," she stepped through the portal, her voice coming from the other side. "If they get away with it, they still win. There's nothing I can do."

[Electra]

"Whoa there, cowboy," Raina advised, following Sarah through the circle and into the cafeteria. "We're not talking physical fighting here, much less powered combat. Madison and her cronies make war with words. When it comes to that kind of BS, there are no victims, only volunteers. I like to mix it up with them because that's what I do, that's who I am. I'm as big a bitch as Madison on her best day," she boasted with a grin. "And on my best day, she can't hold a candle." She flipped the lights on in the big industrial kitchen, then went over to the coffee machine and began fiddling with it as she spoke.

 

"What I'm giving you is the same advice I give my other shy friends. You stay out of her orbit and you don't give her any ammunition if you can help it. If they give you trouble, you come to me and I'll draw their fire." The coffee machine made an alarming wheezing noise when Raina flipped it on, causing Merlin to hastily jump to the counter and change the settings. It settled quickly and began to brew. 

[AmyBall]

She looked a little surprised at that, and wound up with a real, honest smile plastered across her face. "Why me though? Surely you don't take them on for everyone that they tease and pick on." she said, suddenly a little shy. She doesn't really seem used to 'nice', but she smiled softly. "So is there anything you want? I..." she paused for a few moments. "I'm wealthy. Disgustingly wealthy. If there's anything you want, just let me know. In thanks for your kindness. It's not much, but it's really all I have right now, other than helping with homework."

[Electra]

Raina laughed with the cheerful condescension of an older sibling. "You know, I haven't got anything against trying to buy people's friendship. I did it myself for years, but it really helps if you don't, like, say right out loud that's what you're doing. I don't want anything from you anyhow, I do this stuff for fun." She deftly switched pots midway through the brewing cycle, and used the half-full carafe to pour two cups. "Back at my old school, back when I had the money and the big house and the important family, I was the one at the top of the heap, and I liked it there," she admitted frankly. "No way to get that here, I've been a pariah since the instant I walked onto campus, but I can be queen of the outsiders. And if you want to be the queen, you look after your own." Raina raised her cup to Sarah in ironic salute, then took a sip. "So you come from money, huh? Big name family, or nouveau riche?"