Taylor stared at the diagram that Marina had given her to memorize. She took in everything, every line, every curve, in order to rebuild it in her head. Once she felt she had sufficient preparation she flipped the diagram over and attempted to replicate it on a blank sheet of paper.
A perfect circle, Marina had called it. A way to call upon the gods and deal with them for power and knowledge. It was not something to be taken likely no matter how hard it was to memorize it. A single mistake could lead to disaster, something that Marina had described to her in very explicit detail.
Too explicit. Like seriously, were vivid descriptions of ramshackle flesh monsters not enough?
Taylor continued to draw. Making sure to meticulously draw her pencil across the page as she slowly constructed the circle line by line. The first section was done, but there was something missing though. Something that she had forgotten. What was it-
"Need a right angle inside that curve."
Taylor jumped in her seat and nearly fell out if it wasn't for Marina grabbing her and stabilizing her. Once she had regained her seating she sheepishly turned toward the Occultist.
"Aren't you supposed to be manning the store?" Marina asked as she crossed her arms.
"No customers. I kinda wanted to do something productive."
"And I thought I told you not to show those circles to anyone. Why are you bringing them out in public?"
"… No customers."
"Jeez drive that knife in," Marina muttered to herself as she suddenly had a profound interest in the store's drapes. "Just make sure to hide those diagrams when a customer does come in."
At this point it was more if than when. For as much as Marina acted proud of the place there weren't any people coming in at all.
"Anyway," Marina began to shift around a couple of displays. "Your vacation ended recently, right? How's school?"
"It's okay," Taylor replied
Lonely, really. She didn't really feel like she fit in anywhere at Arcadia.
Her father had demanded that she go there after what had happened with Emma and Taylor didn't see much reason to argue against that at the time. Really the only reason she had been going to Winslow was because of Emma, without her maybe it was just better to go elsewhere.
Normally it would've been too late to just change her choice of school like that but apparently Uncle Alan had pulled some strings to get her in. It felt less like an apology and more of avoiding any trouble he would have with their family. Still, Taylor wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Whatever happened to Emma to make her this way, and from the sounds of things it was pretty bad, hopefully she'd get better one day. Maybe one day Taylor could get her sister back. It was… something to hope for.
"Have you ever had a friend that just changed a lot all of a sudden?" Taylor asked.
Marina froze for a brief moment before continuing her work. "Unfortunately, yes."
"Do you have any advice?"
"Sometimes there really isn't much you can do. As much as you can help it's up to them to find their way back and if they can't…"
"Ah…" Taylor finished the final line. Her circle now complete. Comparing it to the diagram it sorta looked right, but the proportions were off. Wouldn't get a passing grade from Marina. "How do you make new friends then?"
"Me? I got out to the town. Drop by a few bars, experience the nightlife. I even signed up for a book club tomorrow."
"How do you talk to new people?" Taylor clarified.
"With confidence. I like me. They'll like me. If they don't then I move on to the next person. Charm after all is a potent tool in a young girl's arsenal."
"Uh huh."
"What don't believe me?"
"Sure…" Easier said than done really.
"Fine, don't listen to me. At least let me dress you up a little."
"I'm fine," Taylor replied quickly. Marina's sense of style was very old fashioned and conservative, which was saying a lot because Taylor herself usually preferred to wear a hoodie and regular jeans. It certainly suited the woman but it wasn't something that she was keen on trying.
"At least let me get you a dress. I mean seriously girl you've got the height and I can tell those legs of yours are going to be something in the future."
Taylor made a note to maybe try on some shorter pants or a skirt sometime in the future. Maybe. Eventually.
"Eyes up. We got customers incoming," Marina informed her.
Taylor looked out the front window. "I don't see anyone."
"Around the corner."
"How do you-"
"Magic."
"Of course."
It didn't take long for someone to step into view through the window. Several someone's actually. All dressed in a medley of long yellow clothes from shirts, pants, hoodies, and even a hooded robe. Their questionable fashion made them very easy to spot throughout Brockton Bay though most were ambivalent if not outright comforted by their presence.
"Fuck."
Before Taylor could ask why Marina had cursed the group had already entered the store. They began to walk around and peruse while Marina… just decided to go somewhere else rather than actually greet paying customers.
Taylor took a deep breath and put away her learning material. Well it was up to her then to actually get a sale. Even if this would be her first set of customers ever. No pressure.
She took in another deep breath before approaching the closest, and thankfully least intimidating looking, woman of their group. "Welcome to Occultist, is there anything you need?"
"Yes actually. Who makes these goods?" the woman asked.
Taylor immediately gestured to Marina. "She does. She also owns this store?"
"Really of these are crafted all on her own. Impressive."
"I know right? I really like that necklace over there." Taylor brought the woman to a finely crafted metal necklace with an amethyst in the center. Its design had taken inspiration from many of the symbols Taylor had seen in Marina's books on the occult. "They say that Amethyst has the ability to help to bring peace to the mind and evokes calmness."
Technically that was only true if the thing had been crafted and blessed with magic, which it wasn't. Still, it was made by a certified Occultist. Taylor didn't feel guilty trying to sell a trinket or two, at least as curiosities.
"Good craftsmanship," the woman muttered to herself.
As she pondered over her choice, Taylor moved to help out the other customers in the store. In the end, even without Marina's help, she was able to sell a few items. Enough that Taylor could probably get her wage for the day… if she was actually paid at all.
Wasn't that sort of illegal then?
"Thank you for your business. I hope you have a nice day," Taylor replied cheerfully as she rang the last transaction. Once the hooded man had received his new trinket he approached Marina.
"Your store is very interesting. It is reminiscent of a history that was once lost."
It was only after being directly addressed that Marina finally decided to speak with them. "Just some things I picked during my travels."
"You must be well traveled then. It is excellent to see one who works to maintain the old history. In an age of Parahumans it is easy to forget the time before them."
Marina gave a man a few curt platitudes before the group finally left the store.
"Fucking Nazis," The Occultist bit out once they left.
"Pretty sure those were Acolytes," Taylor replied. "Yellow robes, mixed races, and all that."
Marina looked at Taylor blankly. "Like there's a difference?"
"Nazis were a part of the Acolytes that were denounced for being super racist? They're kind of a weird gang but they're helpful. I mean even now the Acolytes are fighting the Empire for territory, it's the few places in the city that are actually safe for minorities."
"Actually, it's the other way around," Marina replied.
"What?"
Marina shook her hand wearily. "After the fall of the Bremen Empire the remnants reformed as the Nazi cult. It's when the Nazis took on white supremacy that some of them seceded to become the Acolytes."
"That… wasn't what was taught in history class…"
"History gets warped all the time. Doesn't matter anyway, Nazi or Acolytes they're all the same. They're all waiting for the return of Kaiser. Whether it's the actual Kaiser that disappeared decades ago or that Parahuman from the Empire that took up that name, they're all waiting for that one figure to rise up again and conquer the world."
"I thought Acolytes were about peace and human advancement?"
"The actual Kaiser didn't care about peace and as for human advancement any price was worth it for him. And what better way for humans to advance than through conflict? Also, if you conquered the world well that's peace technically achieved too."
"You act like you knew him."
"I might've run into him once."
"How old are you again?"
"You really need to stop asking that," Marina replied before flipping the sign on the front door. "Done for the day."
"You realize stuff like this might be the reason why you don't get that many customers," Taylor informed her. You'd think a store owner would prioritize keeping consistent hours of operation.
"Fine, I'll leave the store open. Going to have to postpone your next lesson though."
"You're right, we should probably close for today. So what am I learning today?" Taylor stood up and followed Marina.
"How to burn something that isn't your couch."
They walked downstairs to the basement which was a rather extensive underground area that led to several different rooms. One room led to an altar with several different ritual circles carved around it, another was a storage room filled with all sorts of weird looking things, and another was essentially a small library with several shelves filled with books.
They didn't go into any of those though, instead Marina brought her to a small square room with nothing in it. Just a door, four gray walls, and a dummy at the very end of the room. There was something strange about the place despite how plain it was, as if it wasn't as safe as the rest of the house despite being mostly barren.
"Magic isn't something that a regular person can just randomly use from a book." Marina tapped the side of her head. "There is a sort of mental block there, mostly for our own good, that usually prevents that. When you began to decipher the symbols in my journal you began to dive into your first exposure with the Supernatural, that also exposed your mind and spirit to the Occult. What did you feel when you figured your first spell out?"
"Like… I had an epiphany. As if the entire world suddenly opened up to me," Taylor admitted. It had been such a frightening yet awe inspiring feeling in her mind. Marina was right, learning that spell changed her perspective on so much.
"Now Pyromancy Trick is a very basic spell to burn something or someone," Marina explained as she raised her hand and faced it toward the dummy. With barely a blink the Occultist summoned a small gout of flame that shot from the palm and hit the dummy in the head. The flames would persist for only a few seconds before fading away. "Now to do it on purpose this time."
Taylor and held her hand out. With her recently acquired knowledge she sent out her own gout of flame that would strike the dummy.
"Good. Now keep hitting that dummy as long as you can."
"… With just one spell?"
Marina held out her hand. This time the flame came coalesced into a ball in her hand that she then sent flying like a baseball. Though the dummy wasn't damaged, Taylor could feel the additional force behind that spell. "What was that old saying? I fear not the man who practiced a thousand kicks once but rather the one who practiced one kick a thousand times?"
"Never heard that," Taylor admitted.
Marina shrugged. "Well the message still matters. A simple spell can be adjusted, practiced, and mastered. It can have several different applications depending on the adjustments you make. It's one way to grow your strength without having to take additional risks."
"So you want me to experiment… isn't that kind of dangerous?"
Marina shrugged. "I'll get you a bucket of water. If you burn yourself I can heal it and the pain is a good way for you to teach yourself what not to do. Best this than you accidently immolating yourself trying out a new spell you happened to discover."
"How often does that happen?"
"Anyway. Keep going at it and come up whenever you feel like you're done." Marina left the room and shut the door behind her leaving Taylor alone. Without her the room felt drab and rather claustrophobic.
"Oookay then," Taylor said to herself before raising her hand once more and pointing it at the dummy.
The chatter of bugs underneath the floor, a heart beating within the wall, images in the shadow that disappeared as soon as she turned away, that was what Taylor experienced as she dragged herself out of the room. As soon as she was out of there and into the rest of the basement, she could feel herself calming. It felt safe… but her head was still pounding and she swore she could hear, see, fear, all those things even if they were no longer there.
Stumbling on her legs, she walked through the basement, until she felt a pair of arms grab onto her.
"It's okay. You're in a safe place now. Just take your time before you go back in there."
Taylor gasped as she collapsed into Marina's form. The smaller woman's body was much sturdier than it looked and provided the support she needed. Eventually, after several long bouts of deep breathing, her heart calmed and she could think once more.
"Sorry about that. You just needed to experience what it's like to use too much magic. You lasted long though, almost twice as long as I did when I first started. You must have some serious mental determination," Marina commented.
"What… happened to me?" Taylor asked. Now that she was calm everything that she had just experienced seemed so irrational. Like there was no reason for her to feel like that at all.
"Magic takes a toll on our minds." Marina tapped her head. "It's for a variety of reasons that build up on top of each other. First is the constant necessary concentration required. Having to keep that up for a while especially with no break between spells is really difficult. Second is the physical pain. Headaches, nosebleeds, even occasional migraine if you overdo it all at once. Then finally the most dangerous aspect of magic."
"What is it?"
"The more magic we use the more we expose our minds. Emotions and stress are one thing but we also become more sensitive to the Occult, seeing things that should remain unhidden. Eventually we can break and that break will lead to insanity. There is only so much that the human mind can comprehend before we snap."
"And that was my snapping point?"
"No. The fact that you're functioning is proof otherwise. Your snapping point, well it's much worse."
Taylor shuddered. Something like that could easily be classified as something like the worst day of her life, assuming she survived it. It wasn't that she ever wanted to experience.
"Cmon."
Marina grabbed her hand and Taylor let herself be led back upstairs to the kitchen. They sat across from each other at the dining table.
"How do I deal with that feeling?" Taylor asked the Occultist. "It felt like I was going insane…"
"With practice you can handle more. And you can lessen the burden with the right rituals, artifacts, and equipment," Marina informed her. "As for recovery, some people meditate. Others find their own safe havens to rest. Me?"
Marina slammed down a pair of brown and clearly labeled bottles. "I drink."
Amy walked along her hands buried in pockets, her form covered by the thick hoodie she wore. She felt lost, almost aimless, and most of all hopeless.
There was nothing for her at home really. Vicky, the one shining light in her life had triggered. The way she triggered at a basketball game might not have seemed so bad to an outsider but Amy knew. She knew when Vicky had cried about it in private. Being a child of Carol Dallon and New Wave had not been easy on either of them. And triggering well that just changed things completely even if they had been somewhat prepared for it.
Amy tried her best to help, but she didn't really have many opportunities to do so. Now that she had powers Vicky was off patrolling with adults of New Wave leaving alone with just Mark.
She had loved Mark, or at least she thought she did, before the depression took over at least. Without him or Vicky around it honestly felt there was no one in the house that cared about her. Carol certainly didn't.
Carol hated her, distrusted her. She assumed it was because she was adopted, which honestly hadn't been very hard to figure out, but there had to be something more than that. Honestly Amy wasn't sure if she even wanted to know.
With no one around and nothing else to do, Amy did something stupid. She left her house in Brockton Bay at night. Just a few blocks to grab a cup of coffee at a nearby café. Should be safe if she had kept to the streets.
Or at least she had assumed so until she had heard a loud thump down a nearby driveway. She turned briefly and nearly froze at the sight.
A large cartoonish rubber mask in the form of a cat and a lot of purple in its outfit, from its jacket and checkered pants. It honestly looked like something straight out of a twisted Dr. Suess book and it unfortunately was looking right at her.
"Oh... Oh-!" The cat, or rather cape, had a rather deep voice. And an unsettling one at that. "Here I am busy with my own business, completely ignoring this beautiful chapette! All apologies, pleased to meet you! You can call me Pocketcat."
"Are you a cape?" Amy said as she crossed her arms in front of her chest. She never really thought much of her appearances but to have this strange man compliment her on her looks almost caused her to shudder.
"No. I wouldn't call myself a Cape. At least by your definition."
"What are you then?" Despite everything about it, Pocketcat seemed almost familiar to her. Like she had known him despite this her first time meeting her.
"Me? Just a wanderer and a bit of a collector. Doing whatever I feel like. Say you seem rather familiar, do you feel the same?"
"No," Amy replied. She definitely didn't want to admit that.
"Well. Might I give you some advice?"
"... Sure?"
"Drink some milk. It'll be good for your body to build a bit of bulk. Well, have a good night then." Pocketcat turned around and suddenly hefted a large sack over his shoulder. There was some sort of liquid dripping from it though in the night Amy couldn't really tell what it was. "And I'm sure you and I will meet once again, that pit of despair of yours certainly promises that."
This time Amy did shudder and before she could even ask what he meant by that, the stranger had already jumped away onto a nearby roof. He gave her a quick wave before disappearing into the night.
Left alone, Amy immediately turned around to go home. Suddenly being outside at night didn't seem like such a good idea.