Trail 43: Re-tries, Reunions, and Restocking

--- Jon ---

“I really don’t like you.” He told the paintball gun, as his mother tried once more to get him to use a gun. A task that resulted in him missing every shot he fired at her using three seperate clips. (If I had a bow and arrow this would be going completely different.)

Unfortunately for him, his Ma didn’t consider a bow to be a proper combat tool in the modern world. -(Something I feel I’ve completely disproven.)- Considering Archery only good for sport or hunting and even then she still prefered firearm variants of both.

Fortunately however, his Ma did approve of rule bending and cheating in practical exercises, which is why instead of being stuck using the (piece of garbage) in his hands, he was able to instead set things up in his favor.

Namely be using a few things he’d swiped from their Haunted house supplies to rig a booby-trapped kill zone around his little fox hole. Forcing her to either spend an inopportune amount of time disarming the traps in his line of sight, or risk being hit by a number of paint bombs and mines while she attempted to dodge his shots.

Of course, it was after he’d aimed his sights at his Ma in the hopes of getting a steadier shot that he remembered, that:

A) His Ma taught him just about everything he knew about situational awareness outside of his experienced paranoia from Blackwell.

B) His Ma was notably more paranoid than him, if better adjusted to living with said paranoia after a decade outside of her previous warzone.

And C) His Ma was a significantly better shot than him, as demonstrated by the fact that she could shoot him in his hiding spot, between his eyes, from thirty-meters away, with a toy gun.

Scene Consequences

-Gained 1XP to Firearms and Trapmaking.

--Currently: Firearms Lv. 2 (1/6) and Trapmaking Lv. 9 (4/20)

---

After spending the morning forced to use what he considered a sub-par weapon, he decided to show his appreciation for his preferred ranged weapon by restocking his Trick Arrows.

Something that back in Blackwell, he would’ve had to go out to get special supplies from a store, but here -thanks to his family’s view that trip-wire was a household necessity- he had enough that he didn’t have to worry about going out to buy the wire for his arrows. Which saved him a fairly large amount of time and money all things considered as he made a few dozen of his Trip Wire Arrows before stashing them in his enchanted backpack.

This was also why he didn’t have to go far to find the materials to replace his molotovs either. (Outside of raiding a recycling bin for bottles anyway.)

Though he did wonder why he had the compounds necessary to make the Acidic Molotovs that Quartermaster Rogers showed him how to make. Something that included battery acid, and a number of other toxic chemicals. (Eh, probably best not to think about the why on that one actually…)

Stashing away the last of these molotovs he then proceeded to go over his remaining supplies. (Let’s see, should probably stock up on Pix’s potions and some healing Salves at some point… And still have plenty of tranquilizer arrows too…)

He couldn’t help but pause as he realized that when it came to his bow and arrows, arguably the most versatile pieces of his kit, he only had two special kinds of arrows designed. A number he considered criminally minimal after being reminded of his disdain for firearms.

(I should fix that but how?) He frowned. (Maybe I could try enchanting some arrows? But am I good enough at enchanting to mass produce them like this?)

It was something he’d have to consider, but as he caught sight of the clock and how close he was to being late he realized, (It’ll have to wait until after school I guess.)

-Jon has restocked his supply of Trick Arrows and Molotovs.

--Jon Currently Has:

---(Trap Making: 3) Trick Arrows.

----Trip-Wire Arrows: Can be used to attach two objects together, either Snaring an enemy in place or moving a unit/object to another target unit/object.

---(Potions: (3 +1)=4) Regular Molotovs and (Potions: (3+1)/2=2) Special Molotovs.

----Molotovs: Inflict D6 Fire damage, and apply D6 stacks of Burning to a target.

----Acidic Molotovs: Inflict D6 Fire damage, and apply D6 stacks of Burning. If the target is resistant to Fire Damage these effects ignore all resistances.

---

(Well this is awkward…) He couldn’t help but think.

“What the fuck are you doing at my school?!” The very angry teenage girl asked him.

(Very awkward…) He sighed, his eyes briefly darting to the nearby students stopping to stare at the growing drama. “Um, you mind if we do this somewhere less public?”

The girl glanced at the gawkers before giving him a contemplative look and eventually smiling in a predatory way. “You know what, yeah. Yeah, we can.”

With that the girl grabbed him by his collar and dragged him down the hall, around a corner, and into a classroom that was currently empty save two other girls.

Locking the door behind them, the Scarecrow’s Keeper gave him another look as she crossed her arms. “Alright, now I’ll repeat. What the fuck are you doing at my school, cabrón?!”

“I go here?” He offered a little unsurely, already knowing that that answer wasn’t going to be good enough.

“You expect me to believe that you, the guy I fought a few days ago at an Arcane meeting, just happens to go to my school and that none of us noticed you?!” The girl yelled, calling him out.

“Actually, Val.” A girl with dark hair and green eyes hidden behind her glasses cut in. “This was something we were going to talk about.”

“¡¿Qué?!”

“I recognized him around the halls, and was going to bring that and several other things up.” The other girl -who he recognized from around school as the only teen with an obvious Deviant mutation in her golden eyes and pointed ears and teeth- explained, before subtly flinching as she noticed him looking at her.

Something that had him grimacing for multiple reasons. (She must be so used to being bullied, that the stuff over the weekend must’ve made her terrified of me.)

“And why the fuck were you waiting until now to tell me, duende?” The Scarecrow’s Keeper growled, the shadow behind her beginning to shift in a way that had him glare at it.

Reaching into his pocket he told the angry teen, “Trying to intimidate your friends is rude.” before flashing the shadow with his phone’s flashlight causing it to shrink with a hiss.

Val blinked before glancing back at her shadow and then back at him.“Qué.”

“Anyway before that, I wanted to apologize for that misunderstanding a few days ago.” He explained putting his phone away.

“Qué.”

“It was honestly unfair of me to assume that you and your friend were going to hurt the kid just because he’s a demon. ” He admitted, rubbing at the back of his neck. “It’s just I had this bad experience with… Insanity, and given what your demon was running off of… I just wanted to say I’m sorry for picking a fight over something neither of you can really help.”

The Scarecrow’s Keeper stared at him. “Qué.”

Off to the side the girl in glasses coughed into her hand. “It uh, it takes a big man to apologize over such a public mistake like that. Especially in front of other people.”

“It’s not a big deal.” He disagreed, figuring it was the least he could do.

“No, no. It is.” The girl assured him with a smile. “Which is why I actually wanted to extend an… offer of sorts.”

“An offer?” He asked, pretending not to notice the odd look the golden eyed girl was giving her friend.

“Yes, you see the three of us have up until this point represented the entirety of the school’s magical population, outside of one or two who may be in hiding.” The girl explained. “And now that we’ve discovered another active magic user in said school, it only makes sense that we… extend an offer to letting you join our little club.”

He wasn’t sure why, but he did not trust this girl’s motivations at all. (Probably has something to do with the betrayed look the other girl is giving her.)

“I appreciate the offer but, uh, I don’t even know your name.” He told her, trying to figure out how to get out of this without making his reputation with them any worse.

“Audrey Meadows.” The glasses wearing girl introduced. “And you’ve already met, both Artemis,” she gestured to the glaring golden eyed girl, before motioning towards the Scarecrow’s Keeper, “and Val of course.”

“Uh, Jon.” He introduced himself. “But uh, I’m not really sure if I should join your, uh, club, since I haven’t actually been practicing magic for all that long.”

“Oh, that’s one of the perks of being part of the club.” Meadows told him kindly. “We all help each other learn whatever magics we can. I mean, Val barely knew anything when she first joined up but now look at her, one of the best Spell-Scripters in the city.”

“I’m uh, I’m a bit of self-study.” He tried to argue.

The glasses wearing teen gave him a long considering look before eventually sighing. “Jon, can I be real with you for a minute?”

“I guess…” He answered, wondering how rude it would be just to rush out into the hall mid-conversation.

“Well, with this whole Halloween Haunt thing, I’m a little worried about me and the girls.” Audrey confessed more than a little upset. “And while, yeah, Val can put up a mean fight, me and Arty, we don’t got that kind of fight in us.”

The glasses wearing teen gave him a look. “You though… you’ve got that kind of fight and then some. And while it might be a bit much to ask, I was kind of hoping you’d join up, so that if something goes south with this whole thing we’ll have someone to help us.”

He briefly glanced at the Deviant girl looking a mix of bitter and fearful, a clear acknowledgement that as much as she hated to admit it Audrey’s words were more than likely true.

(Oh, this is a bad idea…) He groaned to himself already regretting it as he said, “Alright, maybe it wouldn’t hurt to give this a trial run of some kind.”

“Thanks Jon I appreciate it.” Audrey smiled at him.

From the sidelines Val seemed to snap out of something as she gave a disgusted look, “I’m sorry but the fuck did you just offer him?”

Scene Consequences

-Jon is now a part of the school’s ‘Arcane club’ as a ‘trial member.’