She rings like a bell through the night

Adelaide Ward | 24 | Wiccan Manager of the Wicca Emporium. Once there was a little girl who saw the world for what it might be. She believed in fairy tales and happy endings. But the monsters came in the night and killed that girl; I am what they left behind when they were done, bathed in blood and cloaked in chaos. I track #adelaideward

[genayla]

[adelaide-ward]

"Not the flu, not the flu. Anything but that damn flu."

[adelaide-ward]

Running Against the Wind | Open

The pounding of her feet seemed to match the drumbeat pounding in her ears as she ran; she wasn't sure what she was running away from, especially since she was never the running away kind. This was nothing like her. This was nothing like the woman who lit fires with her mind and let the chaos and madness of the world envelope her. In her neon blue and pink sneakers and hair swept into a ponytail, she looked less like the woman she'd always been and more like a scared little girl running away from monsters. But the monsters were in her head, and she couldn't escape them.

Something was wrong; she could shake this, but something was wrong. She couldn't get the words out of her mind; he'd told her that her anger would destroy her, as if he had any idea what it was like to be burdened with nightmares washed in blood. What right did he have to tell her what to do with her emotions? This was why she hated empaths even more than the mind readers. They knew too much; it was too hard to keep them at a reasonable distance.

She reached into the hip pocket of her yoga pants and changed the music playing in her ear from Florence + the Machine to Stevie Nicks, who sang 'Rhiannon' loud enough to drown out the rest of the world. Her feet never stopped moving, and she paid no attention to where they carried her. It didn't matter so long as it wasn't in the house where her parents had died or the shop her mother loved so much. So she kept running, heart pounding and mind racing; it didn't matter that it was late or that it wasn't safe for a woman to run alone at night, especially a witch. She kept running until something got in her way.

[ht-ryder]

The last thing we need is more trouble, though.

Perhaps a peaceful solution is still a possibility?

[adelaide-ward]

"Honestly, peace isn't going to come so long as humans are terrified by the mere possibility of magic. Sometimes I think we're not meant to have peace."

[caroldanvers]

[ht-ryder]

  Fun kind of trouble?

Well, it is New Orleans. Lots of excitement to be had, no?

[adelaide-ward]

"You know, the kind that makes things interesting. Besides, chaos and trouble are part of the natural order of things."

[ht-ryder]

Maybe it’s a good thing things have quieted down around here?

[adelaide-ward]

"Quiet is dull. Quiet is boring. And most of the time it's a sign that trouble is coming. I just can't decide if it's going to be the fun kind of trouble with lots of excitement."

[adelaide-ward]

"I haven't been for a run in forever. At least the park was mostly empty when I went out. I also found the last apple in the bowl."

[phobetonkin]

[jasoneash-deactivated20140408]

For A Hot Shower [Adelaide and Jason para]

[jasoneash-deactivated20140408]

Adelaide’s emotions erupted. He hadn’t caught what the trigger was, but all the marshmallows and sugar in his stomach soured, and he felt it fighting its way back up. Clenching his jaws and eyes as tightly shut as he could manage, he threw up a solid wall of white bricks around his mind. Brick by brick he built it, trying desperately to keep down his dinner and the screams of agony building behind it. He hadn’t felt emotions this poisonous since all those years ago when he’d beat the man who’d organized the destruction of his life. The tide flowing over him now was similar, but even more dense, and it burned hot as the flames on the surface of the sun. Once his little igloo was built he had to brace his mind against the weight of the pain screaming like a howling wind through the cracks. Never had he had such a complete picture of an emotion. It smelled acrid, like gunsmoke and drying blood. It’s taste was absolutely foul, and he bolstered his defenses even more. It seemed like it was ages before the shield actually served to separate him from her pain, and by the time he was aware of the words she was saying, she was almost finished.

So there were only three covens, and they coincided with the three known branches of magic. That meant that Charlotte was his only option, but what a pain that would be. Larger covens had a greater chance of getting into trouble, what with being easily noticable. Not only that, but the differences in opinion among those who practiced the craft, even within the same practice, made group magic harder to perform. Maybe it would be best to just stay on his own for a while, let things calm down. 

Through the thick shell of his wall he could hear the dark tempest outside beginning to subside a little bit. He broke his focus for a moment, just enough to thin the walls so he could talk to Adelaide.

"Adelaide, as much as your anger is justified, and as much a right as you have to feel those emotions, could you please contain it a little bit more? You almost made me lose my dinner a few minutes ago when you blew, and I’m worried about it happening again." He could hear how far away his voice sounded, "If you can’t I understand. I’ve felt almost exactly as you do now, but if you can’t then I’ll have to leave. This feeling your projecting is making me ill, and I’d hate to ruin your lovely carpet."

[adelaide-ward]

"You're looking pretty green there. Don't you dare puke on my rug. Maybe you ought to--" her muttered remark died on her lips, his request catching her off guard.

She wasn't exactly used to controlling her emotions or being around someone who might be empathically sensitive to them. In fact, more often than not, Adelaide didn't bother to try. Most of the time she simple applied those feelings to her magic, intensifying flames or focusing a particularly unpleasant hex. Being concerned about the impact she had on others, other than when she was stirring trouble, wasn't really high on her list of priorities; her very nature was volatile. So when he seemed to become physically ill, she simply assumed it was the effects of their sugary meal catching up to him, and not the fact that her anger had exploded.

There was something unnerving about people who could literally read your emotions, and when he spoke Adelaide lifted a brow. Someone had told her once that she had the emotional availability of a potted plant, and she liked it that way. Closed off and guarded meant she was safe; it kept people from finding her weaknesses and exploiting them. Anger alone was displayed for all to see--well anger and a delight in mischief and chaos. Suddenly she had the urge to shut down completely, avoid showing anything.

"I don't have a lot of control, sweetheart, but I ain't about to clean up puke on my carpets. So you keep the vomit to yourself and I'll attempt to avoid exploding." Her eyes narrowed slightly, a smirk she hoped covered her discomfort playing at the corner of her lips. "I meant what I said though. This place is the front line of a cold war. They know we exist, and they aren't all happy about it. Some of them would like to see us gone completely, the ones who aren't obsessed with us or intent on using us for whatever benefits them. I think the big covens are a result of that; safety in numbers. If you ask me, we keep flocking to each other 'cause when we're on our own we wind up just a little bit dead."

[holly-winfield]

"And what are you doing not sleeping miss?"

[adelaide-ward]

"The usual, causing trouble, contributing to the general mayhem, because sleep is for the weak."

[vesperrtine]

Visit Original Link

Edge of Seventeen - Stevie Nicks

[adelaide-ward]

When Adelaide doesn't sleep for awhile she tends to crash. She claims it isn't a big deal, but her attempts to avoid the nightmares often lead to these crashes, usually precipitated by Adelaide lashing out and being more aggressive than usual or bouts of silliness.

[adelaide-ward]

"I swear, I'm not actually back from the dead. I've just been asleep for a while; too many days without sleep may or may not have caught up with me again."

[jasoneash-deactivated20140408]

For A Hot Shower [Adelaide and Jason para]

[jasoneash-deactivated20140408]

The shiver of delight that came from his little food invention made him smile. He hadn’t ever been a great cook, but his penchant for taking things and just tossing them together willy-nilly had paid off a few times in his life. This was probably one of the better moments. Between bites she explained that she’d gotten along with fire, and he connected two and two. Pyromancy made sense as her talent, a volatile practice for a volatile young woman. It would also explain the tingling he’d felt on the stairs when she’d focused so hard on the lamps on the stairwell. He wondered what was causing her problems with her magic, but he kept that to himself. Her earlier anger with him for putting those extra blankets on her had shown a fierce independence, and he had a feeling that if she knew he suspected things she hadn’t told him, he’d be in for one hell of a cursing. 

While he cooked up another Smoreo, Jason considered his options. Even though he was a supplier to Charlotte, and both of them had benefited from the exchange, Jason still felt he owed her a debt that would be difficult to pay back. If she hadn’t been so willing to take a look at his herbs, or had decided to stick with what she had out of comfort, he would more than likely be out on the streets. It would be odd to ask to be a part of her coven; it felt as if he was asking for another favor. Mulling this over, he sandwiched the marshmallow between two more Oreos and took a bite. After swallowing he looked over at Adelaide, “I suppose I’ll have to talk to your sister then, though it is kind of odd that there’s only the one coven considering this is supposed to be the “Witch Capital” of the United States.”

It bothered him more than he let on. Sure there was safety in numbers, but this place was supposed to be different from living anywhere else. When he’d come here he was trying to escape not just his past, but the persecution that came with being what he was. In the few years he’d been here though, it had felt less like a haven and more like a war-zone. It was bad enough that he couldn’t go into different sections of the city without people sneering at him, but there were some sections of the safe zones that the other factions controlled that he felt were exceptionally hostile. He sighed, it just didn’t make any sense.

[adelaide-ward]

"Charlotte's been leading the coven since our parents--" Her voice cracked, anger flashing in her eyes.

She should warn him that New Orleans wasn't exactly a safe place; it was only right that she tell another Wicca witch that the place where he'd decided to take up residence was as dangerous as Salem during the Burning Time some days. She should inform him that the previous leaders of the only Wicca coven in the area were butchered in their home by humans merely for existing. She took a long drink of her coffee, eyes focused on the flames in front of her; it felt as if her entire body had lit with the rage that had never been quelled.

"If you thought moving here was moving into sanctuary you're in for a major disappointment." Every word dripped with venom, and she refused to look at him. "If our marvelous and malevolent mayor had his way we'd all be dead. There are so many of us, and yet we live like pariah on a tiny sliver of the city where he permits us to exist. But we're still hated, still hunted, still killed."

The pain she felt was a double edged blade; her anger and bitterness ate at her and fueled the darkness Charlotte claimed was growing in her very soul, but she dreaded the day her parents' deaths no longer filled her with righteous rage and a burning need for vengeance. One hand swirled the mug, the other played with a frayed edge of her quilt. Digging deep, the young woman hoped to calm herself before she chased the only company she had straight out the door. On an ordinary night she'd prefer the empty house, but not now, not in the dark without power.

"There are three covens really: us, the voodoo witches, and the ceremonials. Those who don't want to be a part of it, simply aren't. Though folks like Beatrice Day and her Witch Rights movement seem to think that if we all unite and show humans how nice we are everything will turn out roses." Her eyes rolled, and she popped a raw marshmallow into her mouth, chewing twice before swallowing it. "This isn't a bastion of safety and peace. Hell, it's more a battlefield in a cold war. The best we can do is survive."

[cyellecarvalho]

[savannahdickens]

I think you know better than anyone why there would be so many carolers around your shop. They were probably curious to see what witches are like in person.

[adelaide-ward]

"It's not like we're some kind of mystery that's difficult to solve. Singing The Twelve Days of Christmas loudly and off key isn't going to do anything but piss me off."