[Through the Valley] Hell Diving 101

Agrippa nodded eagerly and shot Firebringer a grin as she echoed their sentiment of being ready to roll. They paused only long enough to shove the last bit of bagel into their mouth and inhale it down before they put their hand on the tome and swore to the terms Bonnie put forth- they weren't here for political reasons anyways, and the terms didn't clock as suspicious. The unicorn had barely had the chance to lower their arm when it was needed again, this time for the ritual binding. They looked back to Rowan

"On three? Not sure how many times you've dived, so I should warn you that it could take a few tries before we get through to the other side. Hopefully it won't, but that is the nature of the thing."

They shrugged, trying not to appear to sheepish as they admitted to what could be considered a shortcoming.

"I mean, he's your Knight's Squire, I'd assume that means Icarus would consult him," Bonnie said as she ate the rest of the bagels. "But I know probably as much as him about ghosts and I can save you same time that he won't have this magic insight on exactly how this ritual he's never heard of will go down."

Dusting off the crumbs, she waited for Rowan to shift and split the array of possibilities until he emerged a Gravewight from the cocoon of black ice. She counted down to allow Rowan and Agrippa to time their blessings, Agrippa beginning to fade as Rowan's eyes became alight from behind the earth-soaked bandages. They synched, the Beast's own vision glowing with felflame while the Darkling faded on his own.

The tether around them glowed white-hot, along with the anchor. Linden closed their eyes as their vision was seared, and realized they could see the outline of Rowan and Agrippa in an after-image in the darkness. Rapid-blinking was a viable strategy to create a shutter effect so they could track them rather than just relying on a tug. They relayed what they were seeing, Bonnie giving the thumbs up as she showed them how to use the equipment in both the Ogre and Elemental's backpacks...which was just make sure not to break it.

Agrippa and Rowan were solid, and glowing with a faint aura. The couldn't see the others, which Agrippa noted wasn't the usual: they were supposed to be in-between, which Rowan concluded that probably meant they were fully in Twilight. Agrippa wasted no time darting outside, knowing Bonnie's instructions were to walk to the graveyard, throwing the door open like they were exiting Apollo 11 onto the surface of the moon. Linden felt the immediate tug and gestured for Firebringer to follow their direction to the front of the motel.

The neighbourhood was empty of light and colour, only the memory of the area leaving a glowing outline to create space in the Void. 

Then, something new that Agrippa had never seen before: people.

At least a dozen, motionless in the street before them.

And all facing away.

The people gave Agrippa pause. Their stride slowed to a dead crawl, though they never quite came to a full stop as the gears in their head worked to come up with an appropriate response. Finally they turned to face Rowan, first pointing silently at the most prominent gap in the crowd and then bringing that same finger up to pursed lips. Going by the expectant expression that accompanied the gesture, this was meant less as instruction and more as an attempt to make sure they were both on the same page before the unicorn led the group into the fray.

They barely waited for a response before they took a breath, held it in, and began stepping around the specters with a dancer's grace. They tried their best to lead Rowan along, choosing a path that erred on the side of giving the darkling more room between the standing bodies, should he need it.

They stole a glance back to the faces of the people they weaved through just once, and just ever so briefly.

Firebringer makes the pledge. Yes, she can keep this to herself unless Bastille needs to know. This'll be fine. Hopefully. Just... gotta walk a graveyard and try to go unnoticed by the ghosts who are going to be attracted to my glamour. Sounds like fun. Then she has to wonder, are ghosts attracted to glamour because they want it themselves? Or is it just a token of the supernatural or something like that that attracts them to it? A curious question for later.



Fire looks at Agrippa and Rowan. There is a sense of worry in her at Agrippa talking about how it could take them multiple times to get to the other side. Is that something to do with... She thinks hard. Nope. She has absolutely no idea. She watches the both of them 'dive' and she shivers with a sense of 'dear god, hopefully they'll be okay'. 


Her eyes then turn to Linden, giving a nod. Now they need to do their part. "Ready?" Time to walk. Just as Bonnie directs, Fire begins walking around the graveyard, trying to keep her eye out for anything suspicious.



Maybe it's just the inner dread, thinking about the stories Lucas told her about ghosts, but she finds the place a little too eerie. Makes it hard to really keep an eye out for much.

The pastel unicorn pranced among the surreal landscape, reminding Rowan that the angelic Emerald was indeed a Beast as they leaned in curiously and shied away. It made the Autumn acutely nervous. As Agrippa angled their attention, they did confirm that there was an uncanny effect that slide the visage always away. A few things as they explored became apparent: the further they strayed from the fastest route, the foggier and unfocused the world became; the closer they got to their destination, the more distant figures started to cluster.

Firebringer had a harder time focusing, given the dryness of the activity. Ten minutes passed, then twenty, as Linden squinted and lead them on a meandering walk towards the overpass. It wasn't a direct route like they would have preferred, but apparently that was the way Agrippa and Rowan were taking. The equipment blinked silently, reading spiking and ebbing but not providing anything relevant for the Summers. Linden let out a quiet sigh as vehicles whipped passed at at least 70 miles per hour on the highway.

The anchor tugged. 

In Twilight, Rowan and Agrippa climbed over the meridian on the quiet, bare highway, the sea of backs turned slowly diffused onto the road. The vehicle took them by surprise, shuddering into existence as the driver weaved in shock to avoid just whatever it was that they were seeing.


Under the bright sun of Las Vegas, the pair of Spears were judging how best to dart across the road without messing with the invisible tension and causing a traffic accident. That was when the vehicle squealed and swerved, Linden grabbing Firebringer to drag them back as it nearly clipped them on purpose, before stopping a few meters up from them. Linden couldn't see the ghosts, but they both felt them as the cold ripped through their bodies in a sudden surge.

Taking a second to recover, Linden was caught between the tension of the anchor and Firebringer's back as she approached the car. "Dani, wait!" Linden's voice was sharp, trying to reach after her over the sounds of traffic. It would be easy enough, if incredibly reckless, for the driver to reverse over them still-- the safest place was the other side of traffic, where a car couldn't follow without extra time and maneuvering. And if someone got out of a car and ran across traffic after them, well, that would be scary but they'd deal with it. At least that person probably couldn't hit with the same strength as their car.

Unwilling to just stand still in the flush of adrenaline and the horrible chill of the ghosts, Linden took a couple of steps after Firebringer; she could take care of herself, but if there was any chance this had to do with why they were out here in the first place, more eyes on was best.