Mind over Matter

Opening

The session opens with Yokai Moki, Kate, Nathan, Circeth, and Usagi shrunk down and ready to face Katrina on the Monday night Combat mat. Katrina stands in the middle of them and has interrupted Moki applying a ward to Kate.

Katrina swipes her blades, attacking everyone. She then turns to Circeth and casts plant growth, causing the mushrooms to swell up and bloat on them. Circeth's skeleton moves in a way it should not, and their spores focus on attempting keep everything together. They realize that this is a spell Katrina may or may not have access to. Kate notices that magic came from Katrina's sword when casting the spell.

Kate attempts to cast a spell, but it fails to take effect. Usagi follows up with a scorching ray, two of her rays hit and the last misses. Circeth join s in, activating her Shillelagh, but missing their stirke. Nathan's attack misses.

Yokai Moki approaches, casting two smites on Katrina, the first a divine smite, the second a wrathful smite, hitting both but Katrina isn't affected by the fear of the wrathful smite.

Katrina focuses on Usagi, punching her to the ground. As Usagi looks up at Katrina, she maintains a deadly serious look as she swings her sword into Nathan's thigh.

Kate jumps in with a flying slash of her sword, yelling to pick on someone her own size. Usagi casts sanctuary and then takes a shot at Katrina with her crossbow, aiming true. Circeth heals Nathan with a healing word, however as he takes a shot, Katrina dodges. He growls under his breath, and notices Katrina's yellow eyes.

Moki takes a couple more swings with her greatsword on Katrina, every so often flicking her eyes up to look at Nathan and Usagi.

Katrina mentions that there's been good hits all around, before she performs a mythic action. Stabbing her sword into the ground, filling the air with magic as a barrier is constructed around the group keeping them in. The sword begins to charge up with magic and Katrina herself begins to glow.

Kate swings again with her sword. Usagi casts a spell but Katrina manages to avoid it in time, taking reduced damage. Nathan takes his glove off and makes a swing with his claws, dealing some damage. Moki swings with her greatsword, casting a searing smite, lighting Katrina on fire.

Katrina's sword sinks further into the ground as the air charges even more with magic as the sense of incoming annihilation looms.

Kate summons a negative energy flood and hits Katrina with necrotic magic. Circeth heals Usagi with a healing word. Nathan grabs his gun with his offhand, taking a shot and striking through.

Moki attempts to pull the sword out from the ground, but fails to pull it out, and finds herself unable to let go.

The air charges even more and is audibly ringing as annihilation looms. Some of the magic seeps from the sword into the air and some into Moki.

Kate swings at Katrina, who looks somewhat bloody. Usagi tries to pull Moki off the sword, but cannot make her budge.

Nathan makes an attempt to pounce on Katrina and push her back away from the sword, but unintentionally pounces on a second Katrina, who locks him into the grapple.

Moki takes another stab at pulling the sword, but fails.

Before anything else can happen, the world goes to a blinding white and everyone feels a strange nothing.

Nathan:

Nathan enters home depot and is on a standard supply run. He meets a greeter and asks to see the metalworking section. The greeter points him to the section, and he goes. Upon entering, he realizes thati t's somehow easier to breathe...and then it hits him that he is not at all covered up.

He has a silent panic and tries to find a place to hide. Navigating through the counter section, he spies himself in a mirror, seeing he's fully shifted.

He panics further, searching desperately for an exit, but no matter where he looks, the front entrance is missing. He also hears the sound of angry people. He runs to a shelf and attempts to climb up to hide, only for the shelves to continue to grow taller as he kept climbing, eventually turning to rust under him, and collapsing under him, causing him to plummet to the ground. The mob begins to close in as he spies one form of escape, the garden section.

He makes a mad dash into the section, nearly avoiding gunfire at him. He makes it out into an overgrown garden area, which he sees as an opportunity to get out of line of sight. He runs through the overgrown isles and realizes that he's running in circles, no matter how much he changes his moves he's always ending up in the same place.

He spots a place to climb, and takes the opportunity to climb. Once he reaches the top of the climb for the vines, he realizes that the garden is endless in all directions -- the Home Depot itself is gone. He hears the sound of a Molotov cocktail shatter, and flames spread among the vines.

He attempts to climb up higher to avoid getting burnt but can't get himself to climb. In a last ditch effort, he dives through the vines, and manages to push through a wall. As he turns back, he sees the fire climb up but not make it over. He still hears the roar of the mob after him.

He sees Katrina laying on the wall he made it through. She asks if exposure is his thing. He asks if this is some kind of sick joke. She replies that this is his fears.

A helicopter arrives, flashing a spotlight on him. As SWAT team members drop in on him, for a moment he glances to his belt to grab his gun. He makes a motion to it but stops himself, as he can't hold it in his shifted hand.

As the SWAT team is about to take a shot on him, he feels the thunder cannon pulled from his belt as it fires from over his shoulder, killing one immediately.

He looks up to see Katrina, who is holding his thunder cannon and taking the shot.

Katrina mentions that sometimes he just needs to show them the side they believe he is.

She offers him the gun. And he contemplates it, then tells her to put it on his belt. He can't use that right now.

She shoots another and reminds him the same. He takes it and his arm is allowed to shift back. Though he questions why she says that, since if that's what she wants...then he shouldn't be using the gun.

He makes his way up to the swat members, and as he's about to take a swing with his claws, he enters a flashback where he sees from his perspective, him holding a letter bearing an insignia of a dark purple circle, a larger pale blue circle, and a smaller eggshell white circle. And behind it is the silhouette of a person, who has the same colors glowing from their torso, spinning from side to side. They have short hair and cold eyes. They say the words "Make them fear you."

As it all clicks for Nathan, he swings and cuts through the swat members, and takes a bite of another, before he's back in the home depot, as Katrina checks his items out. He jokingly asks if she's got a new part-time job. She glares at him. He tells her to walk with him, she doesn't belong here either. She joins him.

He tells her that he's not ready to remove the cover yet. She's got a leg up on him with her strength. He's got some plans, but it'll take some time to put them into motion.

He eventually wakes up in the bleachers.

Kate:

It's been a long day and a church bell rings out. Kate is in the front row as is tradition for her family. There's some familiar faces, Moki, Sebasios, and Ray's son. Kate realizes that she's at her mother's funeral, and that she hasn't aged. She wears a black cardigan over a black shirt, not hiding her face. Somehow, she hasn't cried yet.

Kate sees more familiar faces, Ken, an elderly Ray. The preacher gives some lavishly embellished words about her mother, and waves to Kate to come up and deliver her last goodbyes. Kate goes up and has a somewhat deer-in-headlights look as she realizes how many people she does know. But one absent face is Kate's father, and this manages to surprise her

The scene has changed as now it's her mom being buried outside. She feels like she hasn't spoken all day. She feels compelled to grab something around her and throw it to the ground.

She sees Katrina sitting on a modestly sized gravestone with her tinted sunglasses, smoking a cigarette. Kate feels relieved by this.

Kate approaches her in a somewhat accusatory manner, asking if she can hear her. Katrina says yes, and Kate asks what this is all about. Katrina answers, saying that Kate remembers what the first question she asked everybody was.

Kate asks if this was one more dissuasion. Katrina responds no, and that she still has to face it. Kate mentions that this is something that feels inevitable, and she hopes that it doesn't feel like this.

Katrina asks if Kate wants to know a secret. Kate asks if she does. Katrina hops off the grave and sees that the grave is Katrina's own, reading XXXX - XXXX. Katrina goes through a modestly sized rosebush and gestures for Kate to follow.

She does. The thorns poke at Kate as she follows. Eventually they both come across an ornate coffin. It's porcelain white with a glass top. Inside it is the woman with bright red hair and dragon horns.

Kate asks Katrina if she knows how long she's got. Katrina answers no, that it's hundreds or thousands of years, if that at all.

Kate mentions that she knows she's going to outlive a lot of people -- it's why she's been getting closer to Ken. And that she only recently learned that Moki might live longer, but that's still up in the air. It could be shorter, or longer.

She's been trying to find people who are worth getting close to. And sometimes you just need to keep chugging.

Katrina also mentions that sometimes it's okay to stop too. Kate mentions that's easier said than done. It always feels like there's something else that needs doing.

The line of thinking drives her nuts that someone else can handle things, but Kate's mom mentions that it's her dad coming through. She can walk the walk, and she hopes that'll carry her.

Kate sees the full name of the person in the coffin by the placard: Syliva Gil Pallaris.

Kate oddly seems to feel at peace, and Katrina mentions she's bested her. Kate eventually wakes up on the bleachers.

Yokai Moki:

She wakes up inside the back of an ambulance, a dull pain eminates from where one of her horns were. She's strapped down to a gurney and there's an oxygen mask providing her anesthesia. As Moki is about to fade out, there's a loud crash as another vehicle slams into

the right arm of the Makarov family is here. European Demi Association is running a case. Katrina is given an ultimatum of "find out what's going on" or "get the vengeance you deserve." In essence,

Moki asks who the vampire is, she's told that he's the leader of a foremost vampire family.

Moki questions why Katrina didn't tell the others why. Moki doesn't understand why.

The three are now outside the gates to academia where they see Katrina bust through the main gates on a motorcycle.

Both Mokis stand with the present Katrina. They ask her if this is where she killed the grandmaster. She confirms. She then turns the question around and asks how they're doing. Yokai Moki answers for the both of them, saying that she'll be fine, but regular Moki needs time.

Regular Moki pipes up saying that she feels like the last of her normal life just flipped upside down, and that she needs to rethink everything. Katrina comforted her, saying that she's got everyone behind her. Moki was thankful, but still mentioned she needed more time.

Yokai Moki pulled Moki in for a hug that Katrina joined. Yokai Moki also comforted Moki, telling her that she'll keep things covered, and Moki should take it easy and take her time to think.

She finds herself awake on the bleachers.

Circeth:

Circeth is in the Amazon forest, it's filled with life. Trees and animals of all times. Circeth feels her joy radiate through every inch and mile, though it's cut short. Something severed the connection. And it was immediate, but now no more.

Circeth scans for a wound. They do not find one, but find another part of themselves missing. Circeth feels a pit form in their gut. They feel the connections in the forest suddenly sever. From there to gone, as if they were never there at all.

Circeth may not have the time to process grief, however they do process agony as they feel their connections rapidly diminish. They have never been alone before.

The forest is being cut down by saws, flames, machines of iron, and things they've never had to comprehend before. The only connection they feel is the small bit of mushroom tucked away under a cliff, before even that is gone, before she realizes.

The dragonborn Circeth is at her office, in an agonizing stretch. A knock is at her door -- the package she was waiting for. She struggles to get up, pulling a walker from the side of the room and struggling to move. As she makes her way to the walker, one of her legs gives out. She stumbles and the walker is knocked away. There is a knock at her door. She calls out "Just a minute." she tries to reach for her phone, but can't. She then tries to get up, but her shoulder locks up.

The person delivering the package has left, and someone else knocks at her door. Circeth is still trying to get up. She attempts to roll to her bed. Through her doorbell camera, she sees the package at her door with a red, green, yellow, and blue ribbon is taken away. She hears something thunk onto her floorboards.

Rapid thoughts send Circeth into an emotional vertigo. She thinks on the colour of the ribbons, realizing she really needs to get it back. She reaches for her phone, and mulls over the details of why the colours are significant, and she realizes that the people she would ask for help are dead, and at this moment, they're not.

A sound is at her floorboards, and a skeletal figure tries to hop up onto the bed. They both scream at each other before Circeth realizes what this is. She asks the figure if it's there to kill her before noting its vocal-chords, or lack thereof. Its lung area expands and contracts as it breathes air.

Circeth reaches out and touches it. It wraps around her somewhat. After a bit of gestation, it begins to take hold. Circeth pulls herself up eventually, and it's a long pause, feeling everything starting to move. She realizes that something very important has been taken from her.

She runs out of her home in pursuit of the stolen package. She steps out of the house in time to see the person who stole her package driving away. She can make out the back license plate: PRCH PIR8

Katrina leans against the garage door. Both Circeths are once again merged. Both ask "What the hell" as they look at Katrina.

They ask what's happening. Katrina points out that this is her memory. Circeth asks if they're still dead. Katrina mentions that they are.

The spores ask what this was supposed to do, if this was her doing to benefit herself. They also mention that they still have something to chase down. Or at least what they represent. Katrina mentions that this is likely a more literal thing. She follows up saying that it's a long shot, but she can look into it.

She asks for something in return, specifically that she would need to be able to speak with both of them from time to time. They reply that it may not be possible without doing harm.

katrina mentions it's something they'll have to work on.

Katrina then opens the garage door, and walks in. Circeth follows, and they wake up on the bleachers.

Usagi:

Usagi wakes up in a well furnished break room -- the mall break-room Moki would have described to her before. It is pristine. She looks around the room, staring at everything. She's unsure why she's there, but knows that she is there.

She attempts to open the door, but finds that it is locked. She's confused, but is not alarmed, assuming that she's at Moki's workplace, which means Moki's around. She continues looking around.

The door handle begins to jiggle as if someone is trying to enter. Usagi gives it a glance. There's a slam against the door. Usagi calls out, asking who's out there. She then hears the door unlocking. She continues staring at the door.

She hears a feint voice, but is unable to make out who it is. Usagi gets up and opens the door. It opens to a pristine hallway. She steps into the hallway and makes her way down. The door behind her shuts and locks on its own. She tries to open it but is unable to.

She tries to walk down the hallway and is nervous. She sees that the hallway only has a single room at the end. She approaches. As she gets closer, she hears crying and whimpering. She turns the corner into the room, to be put back in the same hallway she came from. She asks who's there, and if someone needs help. She continues walking.

At the end of the hallway, she sees a trail of pooled blood enter the room. Usagi steps back cautiously, and slowly turns the corner, looking around the room. As she turns to the room, she recognizes that it's Moki that's crying.

Usagi turns the corner to see a pool of blood, a broken horn on the ground, the bathroom sink is full of blood, Moki is bleeding from her forehead, as she utters the phrase "It's easier if I'm human, right?"

Usagi feels a wave of guilt as she realizes what she said. She cries out "That's not what I meant." She takes a dizzy step closer, and she notices a hole in Moki's chest. She tries to reach out with one hand only to see herself clutching a knife, going for the other horn.

She keeps repeating the phrase "I'm so sorry, that's not what I meant." Yokai Moki attempts to summon a minor illusion of Moki, only for it to be rejected and immediately dismissed. She can only muster the words "Oh, I guess she's not ready."

Usagi is shocked by this, and falls into another cycle of apologies and tears. No matter where she looks, she sees the scene. Eventually the scene fades to white and she wakes up at the bleachers.