is what hyunwoo wants to say but instead he kept quiet. his arms folder over his chest and fingers digging into his forearms, he keeps quiet and replay the plan. no matter how he twisted it and tried to justify it, he didn't want to leave juwon, sena or eunho out of his sight.
maybe it was for the better or worse, he couldn't decide.
the praise doesn't feel even remotely good as he nods his head, a bit absent mindedly as he looks at the sky above them. this all felt wrong, but hyunwoo was doing his very best to chuck it to his usual worries and woes rather than anything else.
"yeah, sure." his voice comes out a bit tight, stretched too thin. he hears more than he sees eunho transform and with a deep breath of his own, he follows suit. his own body morphs in a blur, black and white, before he settles on his familiar form, a black and white border collie quickly moving to sit next to juwon's feet.
sena has to suppress the urge to frown. it's her fault for picking a rain witch, she realizes this belatedly, inhaling slow the swell of magic that swarmed them. dirt is dirt, but wet dirt is—harder to navigate. and magic—her hand finds the hem of her bag, murmuring earlier's incantation under her breath, water and fireproof.
"yes," she watches eunho take flight, lips pressing into a thin frown. nothing is ideal, but she'd make the best out of it. hasn't she always? sena waits till she loses him in the night to regard the fragment in her hand, warming her palm over the cool surface thrice with a quiet spell. it gleams in the night sky, reflecting the blood moon before the image warps, showing a bird's eye view of the forest.
"i'll follow him." she shines the piece at the pair, gaze lingering for a beat as she considers this: dirt, blood, and magic in that order. the blood moon grins at her back.
since the day she was born, doused in magic, sena has never not known famine. the third horsemen hangs over her, arm over shoulder, bone mouth against the soft of her head like a blessing and a curse. in the crux of her hearth, the black horse places a quivering fissure and seals it with a kiss. over the span of years, it grows no matter she puts in it—each passing infatuation is simply that, never enough.
with magic, it's always the same.
it's always the hunger. the need to know more and want more. it wasn't enough as she was then, versed in the teachings and magics of her coven but tied, arms and legs, to hanno; nor is it enough now, nestled comfortably within the school's library, hunched over open textbooks and magic theory.
all of which would've made a lick more sense, if she could comprehend the text at a more fluent level. she exhales out of her nose, muted vexation etched clear against dainty features. if there had been a spell to instantly learn a language, let someone pass it to her now. but till then—and here her eyes wander for a passing victim—here, she cites the horsemen's voracious curse/blessing as a reason for her clear lack of manners.
her hand reaches out, grasping onto the passing body's sleeve. "hey," sena starts, free hand tapping against the page opened on top of the table, invoking of the spirit, witch's circles and the works. "can you help me with this?" for her impertinence, she follows with a disarming smile, head tilting slightly.
𝐎𝐎𝐂: hi friends!! sorry for the delay in replying to msgs +1 busy weekend +2 i'm actually ass with tumblr msgs +3 can always plot on disc if anyone wants my @!!! (it's obiiive) +4 will seriously try and get into replying/sending plot msgs tmr!!! gn
the blood moon haunts her. sena would swear on it if her tongue could enunciate the sentiments to her companions. each apprehensive glance upward is rewarded with an eerie sheen in the copper red moon. it isn't nearly red enough, the realization drops like a pin, it's as if its waiting to be fed more.
the forest is no different from the the ones in hanno. dirt is dirt. but magic—magic is alive. magic permeates, parts metal and parts earth (blood. blood and dirt. dirt and blood. always and forevermore in that order.)—so much so that each step runs her lungs haggard and blood pounding against her sternum. magic, in a startlingly abundance that floods her mind to the point that she's unable to think; nails pressing into the heart of her palm till her vision blurs and clears.
earlier's elation has come and gone. in its place is monster discombobulated, thirteen limbs and four sets of eyes, it crawls past the unwilling small of her mouth and down her throat—straight to bottom of her gut.
"we should," sena starts despite herself, giving pause at a faint chime of the bell. must be the wind. "split up, i think." she gestures vaguely, eyes roving from face to face. it is the best way to cover more ground.
"eunho can search from the skies." she points up, finger giving a little lighthearted twirl. funny, the ease in which she takes to ordering around a familiar she had renounced all but a week or so ago. "what about... yours?" her attention flitters over to juwon and her companion, blinking slow. sena realizes she doesn't even know the form (nor name) of her familiar—never bothered to ask, more like—though, even that doesn't matter at the end of the day.
she's been watching the waxing moon. it whispers to her, in hours between the dusk and dawn, its voice is cold and melodic, eerily like her mother's: you should've stayed in hanno.
tonight, it doesn't speak. instead the bodies beneath its light speaks for them. the underlying thrum in the air is almost palpable. briefly, sena wonders if she's the only one who notices. each inhale is metallic, wet, and cold; it slithers down her lungs and billows across the expanse of her torso like a blood red spider lily.
that is, magic.
magic fills the air. magic seeps through the fibers of her shirt and into fair skin. magic swirls, above, below, within. from where she sits, child of the moon beneath the skies just meters away from her peers, it swarms her mind, body, and soul like a colony of hornets. more and more and more.
it's almost like—
"eunho." her voice is a soft murmur, all but a whisper carried to his ears by an accompanying breeze. "it's starting to feel like i'm being hunted." the word choice is poor, almost awkward; korean is still a language her tongue struggles to curl around. she forgets the term (stalking), but hopes the shot lands either way.
her eyes lower from the blood moon to find him, almost instantly (it's easy, if you follow the nagging pull), in the dark. in this form, at least, the idea of him like this is far more feasible. sena waits till he approaches, scooting to make space for him on the log.
"have you hunted before?" quiet curiosity colors her tone, gaze sweeping over his face, hopeful for an answer that would benefit them in the endeavor. "i feel, mm," she loses the word in the fog that blankets over her mind, hand quick to fill in the gaps with the way it gestures over her chest. nervous. "y'know?"
** looking for a hunting party for the blood moon hunt!
current lineup
— nagano sena — witch, mirror walking
— ji eunho — familiar, magpie
— nam juwon — witch, rain manipulation
— open spot
sena will likely reach out first, not very friendly but likes to win 🙄 she's not exceptionally picky either just has a half packrat mentality that there's strength in numbers. doesn't know the lay of the land well but is otherwise quite comfortable traveling in the dark/forest terrain. and ya, well, her (new and shiny) magpie familiar is useful somehow :')
minatozaki sana, 29, she/her * ── you were fated to ( LEARN ) here, ( NAGANO SENA ). the ( DARKNESS ) willed that you would bear ( MIRROR WALKING ) and arrive in time. i knew i would find you someday. whenever i came upon ( AN ALL ENCOMPASSING BLACK, A FULL MOON, & A BLACK TEARDROP VEIL ), i thought of you. because of your ( OBSERVANCE & DILIGENCE ), and despite your ( OBSESSIVENESS & IMPULSIVENESS ), i always knew… we are bound, you and i.
** tw culty things, blood.
to start: a man and a woman fall in love and elope.
to end: the woman returns, child in tow, alone.
in between: a man and a woman flee her familial home. it's love, she'll declare it with the full of her chest. it's all i want, she'll recite it like a sermon to a nameless god. it's all i need, she lies into his neck, arms around him tight. years later, she returns with her lasting testimony in love (her beautiful, baby girl), mouth filled to the brim with apologies. her family takes her back, but not with admonishment.
then: the child of the woman who abandoned her coven bears the scarlet letter like it was burned into skin. it follows her from child to girlhood without once explaining why. mother speaks around the truth, because tales of her youth's blind faith in love and all that encompasses it brings a harrowing amount of shame to hardened bones.
now: the child of the woman who followed her heart is destined to follow in her mother's footsteps. here, nestled within the mountains where she had buried her rotted mother, hanno no longer served her. the coven no longer served her. instead, she sets her eyes beyond the mountains, across the seas, to whisperings of a school she's heard of.
in between: somewhere between then and now, sena sees their coven for what its worth. the master they serve and the power he imbues them with. it isn't the idea that mother dared love that infuriated them, it is her rebellion—her chastity and devotion she promised to a man beyond their otherworldly being they, as a collective, had sworn their lives to. that, frankly, just isn't for her. defiance starts slow, ebbs and flows here and there: she refuses the new moon ritual, spits in the face of morning gratitude, sneaks out in the night and doesn't return for a fortnight; abusing every inch of leniency given. when mother finally passes, so does the only reason to stay within the confines of hanno.
personality (bear with me fr): the izugatake coven's most infamous problem child is actually... normal? in the eyes of others. that is to say, there is little defiance needed when one is in control of their own lives. sena is by no means a difficult person to handle (sure, let's knock some points off for the tendencies of running her mouth and distaste in being told no), but at her core, she's as close to normal as you can imagine for someone who grew under the watchful eyes of stick in the mud elders that's never truly allowed anyone to leave. (read: thinks herself to be better than most, vain, impulsive, not visibly friendly (lacking people skills) but very curious about new things/people, lowkey tho she's just a sheltered woman who is just now moving out into her own space/skin)
the coven's teachings (age old traditions etched into skin that she's yet to fully shake off) is nailed deep into the back of her head: her body is meat lent to her in name only, her heart, mind, soul belongs to their master (read: just,.. not about romantic bonds ((yet anw)) though actually Don't Touch Her without permission)
mirror walking the ability to teleport/watch/listne through any mirror (+reflective surface i.e. water, but she's still working on that part). she's a little peeping tom (just suuper curious), be careful of where you place your mirrors!
headcanons
* she has never once considered the importance of familiars, her coven is stubborn in its teachings that, whereas familiars aid in growth, majority of their power comes from the pact with their "master" (devil, btw, if i haven't mentioned it yet), and so the bound, she hasn't truly experienced or learned yet. hasn't really looked yet. instead, she fosters familiars (btwn here & now), keeping them by her side throughout her journey from the mountains to across the sea (mb she's a little lonely). it's important to note that she doesn't view them as people, at least not the one she's met within the confines of the hanno growing up.
** tw nudity, blood, occult things — izugatake's new moon ritual requires hiking to the highest point closest to the sky. there, the witches bare their skin and is enveloped by the moonlight. a light incision is made across skin, red rivulets dripped into an ivory bowl; the blood is used to scry the future fortune of the month to come. should fortune tip in their favor, the coven rejoices and feasts and sings under the moon. should it not, a blood sacrifice is to be made. the devil favors two goats and a lamb.
*** between her mother's passing and her finding her way to the school, roughly a year or so had passed. sena took her time trekking through japan before finding her way to korea. her coven never followed, as pack minded as they are, they're more afraid of leaving the self made comfort confines of hanno.
connections: fellow witches, familiars she's fostered (will have to talk/adjust timelines, in her head they're just like little PETS which is bad but b/c she doesn't view them as humans she's a lot nicer lmao), idk kinda open book... sky's the limit!!!
