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Bella amasses a spreadsheet full of runes. She learns enough about programming to store them a bit more elegantly than that and get the program to make suggestions that do various results. Doesn't have a GUI wrapper, but it works for the part that is about choosing runes and sizes, if not laying them out - that still has to be done by hand.
Invisibility is going to be very popular with monsters who want to go out in the world.
As far as scrolls are concerned: Xeroxing them doesn't work. Carbon paper does, even on gray paper where the runes are barely visible for intellectual property reasons, and tracing a xeroxed copy also works fine; a simple spell takes about five minutes to make a stack of four. The spells are available in French and Spanish. There isn't a huge selection to start. But it's something.
They give Angela an after-school job tracing them according to demand so they have more time to discover additional runes and work out additional spells, and they put up fliers in the Avalon advertising a mail-order service.
Bella gets a car. It's a beat-up station wagon, but it works.
Bella has a small business, a vehicle, and a long-term career plan.
She sets about making arrangements to skip the eleventh grade, and Darren follows suit.
The two of them are adorably attached to each other. There is a lot of kissing. Savannah teases them a lot and Bella messes with her and Darren blushes.
By the time summer vacation starts, they have a stabilized price point, sufficient regular buyers, enough repertoire, and a nest egg of money that permit them to rent a small storefront and hire a teenage griffin to sell scrolls in the Avalon. They are on their way out (Savannah accompanying for kicks, Bella driving) to seal the deal and drop off a batch of inventory. Bright and early.
shesepankh
shesepankh
Shit.
Bella opens her door, gets out, fumbles for her phone, and goes as fast as she can on the slippery asphalt to Darren's side.
morethanimaginary
"Fucking bastards you should have just stopped poking at it," growls not-Savannah, getting out of the car to try and tackle Bella.
castmyown
Darren is briefly dazed but it's not like Savannah had good leverage from back there.
He says something in French, quietly, under his breath. It's not too hard of a sentence, and is says it as fast as possible.
He says something in French, quietly, under his breath. It's not too hard of a sentence, and is says it as fast as possible.
morethanimaginary
At just the right time, too.
She goes to deck Bella, and instead slams into a swirling shield of air. She's sent flying a few feet away, away from the highway and down towards the woods.
She goes to deck Bella, and instead slams into a swirling shield of air. She's sent flying a few feet away, away from the highway and down towards the woods.
castmyown
"Ow," says Darren, rubbing his head and fumbling to get out of the seatbelt. "Yeah, mostly, ow."
morethanimaginary
Not-Savannah struggles to her - his? its? - feet. She looks at the pair and growls again, and she starts making her way back up to the car.
She has Savannah's speed. They do not have very long.
She has Savannah's speed. They do not have very long.
morethanimaginary
And then not-Savannah is there. This time she doesn't rush the wind-shield, she stops at its edge and glowers. "Think I don't know anything, little magicians? This won't last long."
shesepankh
Bella reads the nearest mile marker.
She checks the highway again.
She sprouts wings, only wings, and starts flapping.
She checks the highway again.
She sprouts wings, only wings, and starts flapping.
castmyown
Darren does the same, looking at not-Savannah nervously. Flap, flap, away from the safety of the wind-shield but also into the safety of the air.
morethanimaginary
Not-Savannah snorts.
Then she sprouts wings of her own - Savannah's, actually. Color, texture, size - they are hers. She is fast, and she is not pulling her punches. Darren's closer, he hesitated - she catches his ankle.
Then she sprouts wings of her own - Savannah's, actually. Color, texture, size - they are hers. She is fast, and she is not pulling her punches. Darren's closer, he hesitated - she catches his ankle.
castmyown
Darren makes a little sound before he is slammed into the ground with a painful sounding crunch.
shesepankh
There go Bella's shoes.
Savannah can have a clawed foot to the face while Bella recites one of her healing scrolls' incantations from memory.
morethanimaginary
Foot to the face has the desired effect, if the desired effect is, 'Scratched up and briefly stunned but now incredibly angry not-Savannah.'
Bella's gets to recite the incantation. From his spot on the ground Darren is looking better, though it's kind of hard to tell from where theyare. A second later, her pursuer is back and swooping in to punch Bella.
Bella's gets to recite the incantation. From his spot on the ground Darren is looking better, though it's kind of hard to tell from where theyare. A second later, her pursuer is back and swooping in to punch Bella.
shesepankh
Bella's good in the air. She'll lead not-Savannah on a bit of a chase. While waiting for her dad to pick up the phone and for Darren to get in the sky and distract his not-sister.
morethanimaginary
Not-sister is scary good in the air too. She gets extremely close to Bella, swooping in from the left to rearrange Bella's face -
castmyown
- but Darren has recovered enough to repeat an earlier phrase. He carries two shield scrolls.
morethanimaginary
"Arg!" says the imposter, slamming into a shield for the second time and barely correcting mid-air to avoid crashing into the ground. "Fucking cheating magic..." she hisses.
shesepankh
Finally, finally the phone stops ringing.
"DAD. Mile marker is -" She rattles it off. "Savannah's possessed, call Mrs. Adams, come too if you can. We're going to run out of scrolls at this rate."
Altitude altitude altitude.
morethanimaginary
Fine, go to a higher altitude. Want to know who's on the ground and vulnerable? Darren. Darren's on the ground and vulnerable.
Not-Savannah will take advantage of this.
Not-Savannah will take advantage of this.
castmyown
Darren hisses a curseword, flapping to get away from his not-sister while trying to rattle off the spell for invisibility -
morethanimaginary
"Not again, asshole!"
Hands go around his neck, he's interrupted and the spell fizzles, the world abruptly resuming normal non-quiet levels. It turns out that the imposter is also just as strong as Savannah. This is very bad for Darren's breathing abilities. As in, he will not be.
Hands go around his neck, he's interrupted and the spell fizzles, the world abruptly resuming normal non-quiet levels. It turns out that the imposter is also just as strong as Savannah. This is very bad for Darren's breathing abilities. As in, he will not be.
shesepankh
"Oh, fuck."
Bella dives.
This time claws are going for Savannah's wings.
"Savannah if you're in there I will fix this later," she mutters, digging in and hauling not-Savannah away from Darren as best as she can.
Bella dives.
This time claws are going for Savannah's wings.
"Savannah if you're in there I will fix this later," she mutters, digging in and hauling not-Savannah away from Darren as best as she can.