Side Quest: Southside Coven- Brewing Troubles (Pt. 3 of 3)

--- Audrey Meadows ---

Tapping her fingers along the teacher’s desk, she continued to wait on her two… compatriots, while also refusing to spend even one more minute in the rough plastic chairs when there was a perfectly good cushioned chair less than five steps away.

“Meadows.” A voice called, drawing her attention to a familiar elf.

“Foster.” She nodded back in greeting as the girl’s yellow eyes locked onto a potted plant sitting next to her.

“Is that one we have to worry about?” Her fellow Arcane asked with narrowed eyes, causing her to roll her own.

“It’s harmless and perfectly legal.” She answered, not pointing out that the plant probably would be deemed illegal if she hadn’t made an entirely new species of cannabis with a bit of magic. (Got to love those legal grey areas.)

Foster gave her a look that said ‘I don’t believe you, but it’s not worth the effort to fight you on this.’ Which was fair given how if Val hadn’t torched the evidence, her last batch would’ve landed one of them in jail. (Still she usually puts up at least a token argument…)

Watching the other girl take a seat she couldn’t help but notice the way she almost seemed to fidget in place, as if something was actively bothering her at the moment but she refused to tell anyone.

(Same old Foster…) She sighed, before deciding to distract the girl who while better off than her life-style wise, was probably worse off publicly. “Any idea where Val is?”

“Probably doing a check in with her Scarecrow.” Foster dismissed, before rolling her shoulders. “Don’t know why she feels the need to hide those when we all know what she’s contracted to.”

“Probably sparing us the fear effect.” She shrugged, knowing Val was the kind of girl to try and make things easier on those close to her. (Still trying to figure out how she got an A Rank demon out of a Confidant Catalyst.)

After the first time seeing the Scarecrow, she did a bit of digging and her sources told her that those Catalysts rarely spat out anything higher than C Rank, with maybe the occasional B Rank for those that were considered more ‘interesting’ by the Arcane Nexus. And that was of course before taking into account the fact that most demons themselves were often a rank lower than those averages if summoned, largely due to their… anti-social tendencies.

(Maybe something threw off the ritual. She did try summoning it around Halloween.) That always had odd effects on rituals, especially in a town with such a well-established magical underground.

“Sorry I’m late.” A voice apologized, as a latin teen stepped into the room.

(Speak of the devil.) “S’ fine.” She told the practitioner with a yawn.

“With everyone important here, I suppose we should get started.” Foster cut in ruder than normal, as she purposely grabbed Val’s attention.

(Here we go again.)

“Ah, what’s wrong Foster, too much of a bitch to say ‘hello’?” Val asked with faux kindness.

“Don’t give me that Alejo, we both know which of us is the real bitch.”

(Both of you?) She wondered as she was forced to watch the two teenagers stumble through a weird mix of bullying and flirting. (Really thinking about just locking the two in a closet for a couple of hours.)

“Aw, kitten thinks she has teeth.” Val crooned, before smiling with her teeth. “Need I remind you which of us has kicked in more?”

“Yes, because your brutish ways are oh so impressive.” Foster scoffed, playing with a pocket knife. “Especially in all of those fights that could’ve been resolved with just a few words.”

“Oh, really? Because your words sound like you’re trying to pick a fight.” Val pointed out, hunching over slightly despite seeming to grow bigger as she took two long steps forward to pin Foster in place.

Rolling her eyes, as she noticed Foster’s smile nervously taking on a hint of something other than venom, she snapped her fingers twice before the girls could go any further with their dramatics. “Yeah, no. I’ve got a business meeting with a couple of Dealers in an hour. So let’s get the real work out of the way, shall we?”

Artemis’s eye twitched once as Val deflated before collapsing into a seat of her own.

“Yeah, yeah. This is about the Halloween Haunt thing right?” Val asked, being the least entrenched in the magical side of things despite having arguably the strongest connections between them. (Unless those rumors about Artemis’s teacher are true.)

“Please don’t use that name.” Arty groaned, too frustrated to bother with her usual walls. “I can’t take it seriously, even after witnessing it first hand last year.”

“Eh, Sanctuary named it.” Val shrugged, getting a scoff out of the other girl.

“I’m pretty sure every Sanctuary branch uses that name for any regular Halloween havoc.”

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“Maybe, but that doesn’t change the fact that this is a… unique opportunity for us.” She cut in, once more getting the other two back on topic.

“Right.” Foster nodded, (unfortunately) requiring her social footing. “Now that Audrey has a Hunter’s license we can participate in this year's haunt under our own banner, rather than the Witch’s Wares.”

“And despite her having the license we’re still doing an even split of the money, right?” Val asked, the priorities of her arrangement coming to the forefront once more.

“Right.” She readily agreed, before smirking. “Though don’t expect me to be as actively involved as the two of you.”

“Of course not.” Artemis scoffed for multiple reasons, several insulting. “Given your focus on plants and such, your magic isn’t particularly helpful unless we get swarmed or manage to pull a boss.”

“Don’t act like you’ll be pulling the heavy weight either princesa.” Val glared. “Just because you know more spells than either of us doesn’t mean you’re a better fighter than either of us.”

The elf rolled her eyes. “I know I can’t take Audrey in an all out fight.” The unspoken, ‘I can take you though,’ was heard by all three of them.

Val’s eyes started to take on a manic edge once more, this one notably more violent than the last. “Pinche puta.”

(And there’s the demon’s influence.) “Remember if you kill each other you’ll have no backup for the haunt.” She warned them, wishing she was doing something with the plant on the desk other than selling it in an hour.

Val snapped her teeth before shaking her head as her eyes returned to normal. “Right, when exactly does this whole thing start. I know Halloween is the big night, but the Creeps start coming out at?”

“They're probably already coming out.” She admitted. “But the numbers will be on the rise for the next few weeks, with Sanctuary officially opening the hunt on Friday night.”

“Something all three of us have to attend.” Foster reminded Val.

“Yeah, I’ve already got it set up.” Val waved away. “How about you? I know your parents are a little harder to sneak away from.”

“Just had to explain it was an exchange meeting of the town’s Arcane about Halloween safety and knowledge.” Foster shrugged, inspecting her nails. “Will your sister be alright on her own?”

“I’ve got enough totems and wards lying around the house to keep her safe.” Val nodded at one of the few topics they (thankfully) didn’t fight over. “You want me to touch up your family’s before everything hits the fan?”

“No, my house is already triple layered under mine, yours, and my mentors.” Arty told her, before turning to Audrey. “How about you, you need a touch up for your stuff?”

She shook her head. “Nah, I’m good.” It wasn’t like she had much worth protecting at her place anyway. (I should probably check in with mini-me though.)

Just because her dads threw her out didn’t mean she wasn’t going to keep them safe. Especially since she understood why they threw her out.

Shaking her head she turned back to the girls, and forced herself back onto the topic at hand. “So, meeting on Friday. Then we hit the streets each night working in pairs. Val takes point while Artemis and I run rearguard. With me tagging in on the nights that are just me and Arty. And each of us getting five shifts a week with the fifth being a weekly meeting between all of us. Anything else?”

“There was one… other idea I had.” Artemis admitted, though she didn’t look too happy about it.

“Yes?” She prodded.

Sighing Artemis explained that, “Given how the… haunt is liable to last for the next month or so. I think it would do for us to find a… floater, in case one of us-”

“You.” Val cut in, earning an annoyed grimace.

“In case one of us needs an unexpected night off.” Foster finished with a growl.

“It’s not the worst idea.” She had to admit. “I’m guessing you’re hoping the Witch’s Wares will tag in with us for a night?”

Val ran a hand down her face as Artemis nodded. “Fine. But paying them comes out of the flaking witch’s cut.”

“Reasonable enough.” Artemis agreed. “I suppose that means we’ll be seeing if they are amicable at the meeting then?”

“That’d be the best time.” She nodded. “In fact now that we're thinking about it, this night would actually be a decent time to start networking with the local Hunters and heroes, since our team is still in the… forming phase of things.”

“Fuuuuck.” Val groaned, sliding down in her seat. “Do I have to help with this… ‘buisness-y’ mierda?”

“If you don’t we might get stuck with Noah as our floater.” Foster pointed out with a smirk, getting a grimace out of the latina.

“Fuck.” Val cursed once more. “Fine, maybe if we’re lucky we’ll be able to get one of the other teams to do a team up with us. Hate asking the Delacroix’s for a favor after getting out from under their wing.”

Admittedly that rankled her a bit too, but she didn’t have enough pride to care one way or the other. (Though…) “Thinking about it we might be able to con a free shift out of the Heroes.” She realized.

“How so?” Val asked, the idea of more money instantly grabbing her attention.

“Depends on if they take part in the haunt as ‘volunteers’ or to try and get favors out of Sanctuary for any Creeps they kill…” She admitted before shaking her head. “Either way I’ll look into it, and know for sure by Friday.”

“Alright,” Val nodded. “That everything?”

Artemis looked like she wanted to say something else before shaking her head. “Nothing that can’t wait until after Halloween.”

“Ominous. Care to share?” She asked.

“No just… just a couple of new Deviants to keep on our radar.” Foster explained, refusing to elaborate despite being their team’s ‘sensor’ as it were.

“Anyone worth recruiting?”

“No!” Artemis shouted out of nowhere. “S-sorry… Just… they’re not worth the trouble.”

“If you’re sure.” She shrugged, glancing towards Val who gave her an ‘I’m not touching it’ kind of gesture.

“Right, well I believe that covers everything then.” She told her partners in crime as she got out of the teacher’s chair. “I guess I’ll see you two on Friday, make sure you’ve got everything together by then.”

“The city gets invaded by demons every month, it’s not like this is a big deal.” Val scoffed, stretching her arms out.

“True but this is also technically our team’s debut, and that is a big deal.” Foster told her, pointedly looking away from Val’s stretching. (At least she’s learning not to stare.)

“Fine, double down on the fire and healing scripts, got it.” Val sighed.

“And don’t forget to make a few extra totems in case of an emergency.” She reminded her. “If something goes wrong I’d rather have the Scarecrow ready to bail us out.”

“Sometimes I think you guys only want me for my pet demon.” Valentina scoffed.

“Well, that and your baseball bat.” She admitted.