Southside Coven: Path To Power (Pt. 4)

--- Jon ---

“Alright, so we’ve already decided we’re going to work on Val’s project first.” Artemis reminded him as they settled into the library a couple of days later.

“Yeah, but um, shouldn’t we invite her to this if it’s for uh, her?” He felt the need to ask.

“I asked her, but she said to surprise her.” Artemis sighed, looking annoyed about that. “Apparently, she’s sticking to her whole thing on maintaining apathy in regards to the arm.”

“Uh, yeah…” He rubbed the back of his neck, unsure of what else to say, but, “Any ideas what we should make her then? I mean, I know you had a bunch of ideas the other day but I was… a little out of it, and couldn’t really think of anything else at the time.”

“I could tell.” The other teen admitted dryly, before opening her notebook in the middle of the table. “Well like you said, I have plenty of ideas, but… Honestly, it might be better if you pick which project we start.”

“Why?” He frowned, half in confusion and half in surprise. “I mean, you’ve known her a lot longer than I have.”

“I have, but at the same time I promised Audrey that whatever we did with the arm would up our abilities as Hunters.” She explained, looking anxious at bringing that point up. “The thing there is… I can tell that while your… magical theory is a bit lacking in places, your practical Hunter knowledge probably laps mine.”

He couldn’t help but grimace at that. “I… wouldn’t say that.”

After all, despite the nickname the denizens of Madness had given him, he actually had no intention or desire to become a Hunter. (It’s just that I keep… getting dragged into things these last few months.)

Artemis let out a snort that was an odd mix of derision and amusement. “Anyone with eyes can tell you’re more experienced fighting than me or any of the other girls. Be it your knives or that pain tolerance of yours, you’ve clearly spent years training those skills up.”

(While she’s not wrong… I doubt this is what Ma intended when she taught me how to fight…)

He let out a sigh. “I guess… I can figure something out, but I’ve no idea how you guys fight beyond what I saw on Halloween and I was a bit…” (He tore his claws through the Creep’s flesh, a snarling growl erupting from his maw as he killed the beast dead.) He swallowed. “A bit out of it then too…”

“Yeah, that seems to happen a lot with you.” Artemis nodded, accepting his answer though he could tell something was still bothering her about it. “That said, I know her kit well enough to tell you what she uses… for the most part.”

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“Alright, so… I know she’s got the Scarecrow, and… I think I’ve got a decent enough idea of what he can do.” He admitted, thinking over the Demon’s shapeshifting, constructs, and sort of everywhere-ness. And while not exactly the most unique kits among Demons from what he’d seen, it didn’t change the fact that he still thought, “It might be best if we focus on other parts of her kit, rather than making her more reliant on the Scarecrow.”

“Fair, though I did have a couple of ideas I wanted to throw out, but we can handle that later.” Artemis told him. “If we want to focus on Val herself though, then we need to talk about her Script Craft. Of which she is without a doubt a prodigy, and the only reason her ‘go to’ supply of scripts isn’t of a wider range is because of her lack of education or mentorship when it comes to more complex magical theory.”

“Okay, so… she’s good at spell scripts but that doesn’t give me much to work with.” He grimaced.

Artemis gave him a look, before pinching the bridge of her nose. “Alright, so despite using Spell Scripts I’m guessing you don’t use them in combat all that much.”

“Uh, no… I use them more for enchanting, and I guess I’ve done a couple custom spells but those were… experimental.” He tried to explain.

“Alright…” Artemis nodded, before running a hand through her hair. “Well, like I said Val is a prodigy with Script Craft even if she doesn’t realize it. But, how do I explain this, um, imagine… being able to turn a spell into a land mine or grenade, and you’ve got the most basic uses beyond in-hand casting.”

“Meaning… something to supplement that could be useful.” He figured. “But, uh, what about her more advanced uses?”

“That would be her bat.” Artemis answered. “I’m sure you noticed all the spell circuits drawn onto it? Somehow through Script Craft she’d programmed out a complex Spell Engine capable of absorbing kinetic energy, converting it to anima, and then flowing it through a modular circuit array to fire off any of almost a dozen spells she’s built into the thing for next to no magic on her part.”

“That’s… Yeah, that sounds impressive.” He admitted, having no idea how to set up something like that himself. (No matter how useful it’d be.)

“Like I said, a prodigy.” Artemis reminded him. “I honestly don’t think we can upgrade the bat. Especially since she will not hand it over, but we can probably figure out something to supplement it, given how her bat is built for almost pure offense.”

“Okay, does Val have anything beyond pure offense?” He asked, because the kit Artemis was telling him about had little else unless she had a list of Scripts at Val’s disposal. (At the very least it tells me what she likes.)

“If we exclude using her Scripts as flash bangs or snares? Then all of her utility and defense is tied into the Scarecrow.” Artemis sighed. “He is her defense and her support, typically forming defensive walls out of his own flesh or using his crows to scout things out for her.”

“Meaning despite her preferring offense, something with more defense or utility would balance her kit out.” He summarized, letting out his own sigh. “At which point she’s got the Scarecrow so tied into her that supplementing it might be our only option if we don’t go in a completely new direction.”

“And even I couldn’t tell you whether or not she’d like it.” Artemis admitted with a grimace.

He considered it for a moment, before reaching across the table and taking the notebook, “Alright, give me a second and I’ll tell you if I can find something.”

While he wasn’t all that close with Val himself, going off of what Artemis had told him, their best bet at creating something that the abrasive teen would like enough to actually add to her kit was to have their project focus on and supplement [Scene Choice]