Arc 5 Post 8: By Morning's Light
By Morning's Light
31th of August 2006 A.D.
It was just a dream, you tell yourself as you brush your teeth mechanically. it was just a dream. No matter where you put the emphasis it's hard to shake off the lingering fear. Something you had not felt for... months, ever since you had taken a crown from the ethereal 'hands' of a demons. It's not that you do not feel fear anymore. You had felt a hefty amount of fear when those vampires had come after Harry's master or when the World War Two guns on that sub started firing at you or when that Rashka had dragged itself halfway into the world, but it had always been matched by anger, by the desire, the need to do something. Inside your own head was the one place where you could not do that. There's probably a moral about inner demons in there if your blurry sleep -starved brain could focus on anything beside getting your morning cup of coffee.
"Good morning sleepy-head." Mom is already up of course and baking cookies for some bake-sale thing. "Are you...?"
"'M fine," you had started to talk practically as soon as she did if not a little before.
From the way her eyes linger you can tell she's not convinced, but to her credit she does not press you before you got the wake-up juice in you. As much to distract her as because you really need to hear the weather today you turn on the radio as you do so.
Hurricane John lashed tourist resorts with heavy winds and rain on Wednesday as the storm marched up Mexico's Pacific coast. Forecasters predicted its center would brush close to land before nicking the tip of Baja California and heading out to sea.The hurricane, at Category 4 on Wednesday, could dump up to a foot of rain along parts of Mexico's southern coast, causing landslides or flooding, meteorologists warned. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 135 miles per hour and stronger gusts capable of ripping roofs off buildings and causing storm surges of up to 18 feet above normal...
Not the weather you had been looking for, but then the story shifts to comparisons to Katrina which had made landfall a year ago almost to the day. A guest comes on to talk about the reconstruction efforts, the effects of Global Warming and the prospect of more and worse storms in the future. Without even meaning to your mind goes back to Maria and her weather-working, Maria who is afraid to even use her gifts to their full scope because literal monsters might mind control her or eat her. You can just hear some hoary old wizard who sounds like a more sanctimonious Dumbledore telling you that magic would not solve all of the problems. But it would solve some of the problems wouldn't it, it could mitigate the damage? But that is not allowed because Heaven forbid we get in the way of Winter's ability to kidnap children or the Red Court's ability to enslave people for their blood.
Well you cannot do anything about that now, maybe someday... maybe that card from the Library of Congress is going to end up being used sooner rather than later.
"Have you done your school shopping? Do you need dad to pick up anything for you?" Mom breaks into your thoughts.
School... Not for the first time it occurs to you that you could just skip your GED, get out of senior year altogether. Given all your... advantages you could probably get it over with in a week or two. I'd lose contact with my friends... the same friends you barely talked to all summer, you think guiltily. They would probably be better off not being in your life to begin with. Admittedly that sounds like one of the excuses you made in grade school when 'friend of Molly Carpenter' was practically synonymous for cryptid, but it's not any less true for it.
What do you do?
6 AP Available
School
It's September... woohoo
[] Attend school you have friends at school and you would like the memories of senior year and graduation even if they won't be teaching you anything worthwhile (If neither School nor getting your GED is chosen Molly will systematically skip class)
[] Get your GED and get out, on the other hand you can think of better things to to with your time (Costs 2 AP, frees you from spending anymore actions on school)
Finances
You have less money than you did last month, but a lot more groundwork for sustainable finance
[] A Big Score, your Crown isn't really made for picking out random numbers in a mundane draw, but it is still your power so you can push it that one time to win a lottery... any lottery. You will have to find the balance between payout and anonymity and some place to park the money but that seems reasonably doable with some help from mom and dad, and unlike some of your other plans they are unlikely to object to this form of cheating at gambling
[] Masterworks for money, you can make gems, you can make gold, you can make fine watches, heck you can make a light airplane from scrap if you really put in the hours, though that would be overkill you think. Now cars maybe... yeah restoring cars could work. Or you could turn your lie to Izzy into truth and work with dad
-[] All that glitters, ye old dream of making gold from lead, now with radiation
-[] Small marvels, craft jewelry, watches, what have you
-[] The family trade, dad already works with wood, you can work with wood, getting paid by your parents isn't exactly the most glamorous thing, but it would probably go smoother with him handling all the marketing stuff so you can just use your hell tools to make stuff
-[] Resurrection from Rust, you could walk into a junkyard and drive out with a car given enough time, though you are not sure how the paperwork for that would work out
[] It's not cheating if you are just that good, illegal gambling is apparently one of those things John Marcone has a lock on. You have a buy-in now, all you have to do is not lose... and not draw too much attention to yourself
[] Starting up, you have an assistant and an idea, not to help actually set this thing in motion, not just the paperwork but actually getting (or making) some machines that look like they could make diamonds. Also includes making more diamonds.
Investigations
You turned over a lot of rocks over the last little while and something tells you that the worms you found there aren't going to sit nicely still while you get rich and trained up
[] Look into the Minor Talents of Chicago, so far you have been isolated from the supernatural scene of Chicago, now that you can get in touch with them without necessarily having your dad with you all the time the time has come to change that... though given how both Mouse and McCoy thought you were bad news at first maybe you should bring dad or Harry along to some of them just as an introduction
-[] Alphas, friends of Harry, close to you in age and they work to keep monsters off the street near the University, they sounds really cool
-[] Friends in Low places, she might work for Marcone but Grad was really cool and you are curious about her. Fortunately you remember the number dad dialed to get in touch with Marcone
-[] Spirit Speaker, Mortimer Lindquist isthe real deal, a real medium among the fakes and unlike Pauline he is good enough at it, or just good enough at marketing to make a job of it. His books are pretty cool as well
[] A friend in need. You promised Rosie that you would help and so you will, with problems material and ethereal
-[] Dreaming True, Rosie is doing great so far, but she still needs more training before she can get a proper hold of her powers (3/10 pogress)
-[] Talking to the family, you do not like Mrs Wilsom and the feeling is mutual, but as your experience at church yesterday showed you do not have to like someone to turn on the supernatural charm. Maybe you could work something out, or at least explain some of what her daughter is going through
-[] An Eye for Charity, there have to be some kind of charities willing to help young women in Rosie's situation, you and your electronic friends can surely find them and then you can have a talk with them to give her some options
[] Blackest Name: In the final ritual to help Arawn you invoked something old and hungry, something that seemed to resonate with the purpose of the ritual, its name writ in a long forgotten tongue. A question question asked of the universe under the eyes of your Crown would be a fair start to finding out, though something tells you it would be far from the end.
[] Seek Siriothrax's hoard: Two decades ago your father was called to slay a Dragon, a being of incarnate power new mortals have faced and lived, by faith and by skill the creature was slain and your mother saved, but its treasure and its body were never claimed. Your breath catches to think of that you might be able to do with either, if you can claim them.
Personal Training
You have been progressing in leaps and bounds in the study of the Qiao and you have been... exploding bottles less often in the study of alchemy. In both cases you are eager to learn more.
[] The Bridges of the Spirit, continue your training with Brother Divsimar in the perilous, powerful arts of his order (Can begin studying Dragon's Speed)
[] Trading in lore, you have started down the path of learning alchemy from Bob... and revealing some of the deepest secrets of Yomi Wan, both very good things as far as you are concerned. (15/25 and 9/20)
Arcane Allies
For better or for ill you are starting to get a reputation in Chicago, best make sure it is more the former than the latter, at least with the more reasonable and trustworthy powers. As for the people who are neither... well you certainly seem to have an impact on them
[] Restoring the Last Station: Restoration efforts have been going well and according to Adam some more of the people down in the tunnels have shown interest in their newfound wealth and comfort (2/8)
[] Cauldron Bubble, your new friends in the Ordo Lebetis could use more help, maybe not as... enthusiastic as the last time, but they are small fish in a very big and scary pond
-[] Offer insight, inducing but not limited to helping Maria out with her breaking the news to her fiancee, getting Olivia some training in her gift
-[] See what's up with Helen, there is something eating away at Helen you are sure of it, something dark and strange, dark and strange is your specialty
-[] Online presence, one of the few advantages of minor talents over more powerful magicians is that they are more up to date with technology and less likely to make it explode. See if you can convince the others to set up a strong online presence, maybe even recruiting
[] Father of Hosts: It's not often someone gets a business card from Odin, or maybe it is, you are no expert on Norse Gods turned private military contractors, go talk to him and see what he wants and what he has to offer
[] The Green and the White: Having some into the possession of the contacts of Ms Lara Romany nee Raith to behooves you to introduce yourself, just to avoid any misunderstandings... and also you are kind of curious about the least bad vampires around.
[] Contact the Librarians: They seemed OK when last you spoke, competent, but pragmatic, you could work with that, especially if it gives you access to the actual library
Family time
As much else as you have to do, it's nice to spend some time with your family and it is rarely boring hanging out.
[] Heart to Heart, talk to your mother about what you guesses and what dad told you about her history, better to try to get it all in the open than to constantly try to step around that landmine. There is a lot more magic in your future, that much is for sure.
[] So about those studies: Ask Daniel if he would like to come along when you learn from Bob, it would probably be more efficient than trying to hide books from mom
[] Just relax: It's almost enough to make you feel guilty given all the good you could be doing, but it's been a while since you have just hung out, gone to one of Leeth's softball games or watched anime with Matthew
OOC: I included progress for the various actions to make it clear what you already started.
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