Stars Align

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"Hey, time to wake up over there."

Rivkah looked up from the hand mirror at the man standing across the room from her at an easel. The man nodded at her, pushing up his glasses with paint-covered hands, leaving a drop of red on the bridge of his glasses. "How you feeling?"

Rivkah dropped the mirror on the bed next to her, leaning forward and resting her elbows on her knees. "...Tired," she said, for lack of a better word. A better word might be... distant? Like the feeling you got after a long time spent daydreaming. "What time is it?"

"Nine," Dylan said, his light brown curls falling down between his glasses and his eyes as he turned back to his painting. He blew up at the hair, trying to get it out without using his hands. "See anything?"

Rivkah shook her head. "Jack shit," she said, blinking hard. "Maybe something, but I don't remember it."

"Don't let it discourage you. Probably we haven't found the right medium for you yet," he said, studying his painting. "It's easy to get lost looking, too."

"I know," she muttered, standing up and stumbling as her legs nearly gave way. She felt way too weak after that.

"I was gonna order pizza soon if you want any," Dylan said, putting down his palette on a table near the easel. "You probably shouldn't go out yet like that,"

"Pizza is awesome," Rivkah said, wandering over towards the window and pulling open the blinds. She stared down from Dylan's window on the fifth floor of his apartment complex to the city below. Clubs were starting to light up already, filling up with college kids drinking and dancing away the weekend. Dylan lived in the heart of the 'college' district of the city, near the university campus - the guys who lived there called it Dinkytown.

She heard the sound of running water as Dylan turned the sink on. "You gonna go out and join them?" he asked.

Rivkah shrugged. "Maybe. Why the hell not."

Rivkah broke into a sprint as they recovered and started firing, ducking and weaving across the mall and diving behind food stands when she could. What the fuck did that suited doucebag do? Rivkah paused a moment behind a pillar to catch her breath and ran forward again, trying to think of some spell she could use to shake them off her trail. I don't have the materials for heavy casting with me...!

An obnoxious, silver figure caught her eye, sitting down not far away from her and munching on a burger. His hair and that stupid suit... were unmistakable.

Rivkah ran straight at him, showing no signs of slowing down. She was headed on a collision course with him up until the moment she swerved to the side aiming at the empty bench next to him. She stepped up onto the bench and threw herself over the back of it, ducking behind the suited man. "Thanks for the cover, buddy," she said, gripping the back of his bench with one hand as she mentally flipped through the spells she could pull off without any aids.

Rivkah buried her face in her hand at his spell. "Flashy bastard," she muttered, looking around them to see who might have seen. Most people were hiding, or looking at the mobsters, not the bull, and she let out a sigh. Likely they couldn't see it.

She stood up and turned to leave, and with a sigh realized the nearest exit was in the same direction this ass was going. "What the hell did you do," she snarled, picking up her pace to get out before the cops showed.

Rivkah swore under her breath, pulling her bag around in front of her and searching for something. That bastard must have planted something on her, but she couldn't find shit in her bag.

"You started the whole mess," she snapped, shoving the mall door open with her shoulder and stepping outside, barefoot, onto the rough pavement. "You and that other bastard. What the hell did you do?"

Rivkah stepped in front of him and shoved him back. "Cut the shit," she said. "Yesterday you met with a man for business and today that man wanders into my store with his gun-toting friends riding his ass. This problem traces back to you, jackass. What the fuck was that about?"

Rivkah frowned. "The hell do you mean, feel it?" She pawed at the bottom of her bag, finally pulling out a tiny bead. She studied the bauble. She couldn't feel shit off of it. Was he one of those asshole, 'natural talent' types? Doesn't look dark. Wasn't her specialty, might be why she didn't pick it up.

"I regret that you enjoyed my curse so much," she said, rolling the bead between her fingers. "I'll have to do better next time." Her eyes cut to the left, searching for someplace she could drop it where it'd be safe. A dumpster down the alley - she smirked. Be nice to see them rooting through trash. "Clean up your damn trash next time so it doesn't come my way," she said, turning off and tossing the bead into the dumpster.

Rivkah turned with a scowl at the next suited guy. The hell was up with these loser and bad suits?

Drastic times, drastic measures. Rivkah watched as the silver surfer slammed into the doors and started chanting, backing up into the alley until she hit a shadow.

Rivkah reached her hand into the shadow and immediately vanished, gone from outside view. She appeared again just on the far edge of the shadow and sprinted to the next one, disappearing and reappearing near instantaneously as she passed through. Find a quieter place and I can pull out my good curses.

Rivkah hit the ground hard and was back up on her feet almost immediately. Poser. Who used Latin for black curses? all the best ones were older... she thought. She hadn't recognized his spells at all.

She felt her phone buzzing in her bag. Dylan maybe. Surely the Coven had noticed the lightning. Then they'll be on their way already. Even she liked the Coven more than this ass.

"Hey I'm not involved," she said. "I just work here, take that asshole." She jerked her thumb over her shoulder at the surfer.

"Why would I be?" she said. Come on. All that black magic and he had to ask? This better be an actual plan.

Rivkah looked back at the suited bastard quickly, waiting for him to react to the gun, but he was busy in conversation with... a whisp? Something that looked like the silver surfer. Good illusion.

"Hurry and what?" she said, her voice hushed even though she knew the bastard shouldn't be able to hear her. She reached down and took the revolver in her hand - never held a gun before, imagine that. She got into all her shit without needing one.

She held it low and with both hands. He was distracted now, if she got in a lucky shot... "What's your plan genius?" she asked. Like she could get that lucky shot.

Rivkah twitched as his spell first fell, resisting the urge to shoot him then and there. It amazed her that the bastard didn't notice the gun in her hands - cocky bastard, probably, didn't expect any tricks like this. Her phone buzzed in her bag again. Yeah, I'll get back to you Dylan. Assuming he wasn't on his way already.

She had a few moments to consider the implications of shooting this bastard - suppose he died? Hell, even if he didn't die she shot a guy, Coven might not bail her out of such a mundane crime. And who exactly would she be pissing off?

Fuck it, she thought. He tried to shoot me first. Rivkah grinned, raising the pistol in both hands and squeezing off as many shots as she could.

"Fuck this," Rivkah said, backing up as the two new witches rounded the corner. Her phone had stopped buzzing by now. "Coven better show up for this..." she muttered.

A man on a bike rounded the corner, and upon seeing them he took off like a shot, speeding up towards the commotion rather than away from it like the others. Rivkah would recognize that galaxy print sweater anywhere. "Speak of the devil," she muttered, as Dylan crouched on his bike and rode right at the shady looking bastards.

He slowed down just enough to hop off his bike, and in one motion Dylan grabbed the bike by the back wheel and the handlebars and threw it at the man and the woman. He yelled something indistinguishable, and as the bike hit the ground it immediately transformed into a lion - a real, flesh and blood lion - and charged the woman.

Dylan slung his backpack off his shoulders and yanked a scroll out of the bag. Dylan caught Rivkah's eye and placed one hand over his ear.

"Cover your ears," Rivkah told the silver surfer as Dylan unfolded the scroll. She reached up both hands and started humming, blocking out Dylan's incantation.

"בואו , הבה תרדוולבלבל את שפתם כדי שהם לא מבינים אחד את השני" Dylan slammed the scroll shut, with seemingly no effect.

The man threw out his hands and opened his mouth to speak, his words coming out in Spanish rather than whatever magical language he intended. The woman shrieked a Finnish curse as the lion threw her to the ground, and continued babbling on in Finnish to no effect.

Dylan moved to Rivkah's side quickly. "You alright?" he asked, looking behind her as a woman in a purple skirt threw open the doors of the mall and stormed outside, looking pissed.

Dylan sighed as his lion was thrown off the mob witches, and he knelt down on the ground, whistling. The lion trotted over, ever so obedient, and when Dylan reached out for its face it turned back into his bike, old a little battered but still reliable.

"You couldn't text me back during your break?" he said, sounding exhausted. Rivkah frowned, reaching into her bag for her phone. 20 new message, 3 missed calls. She started to scroll through them - they started just after noon.

"Sorry, I really was busy," Rivkah said, as Dylan rolled back up the enormous scroll - a Torah. Most of his curses he did through Hebrew, and the text had more than a little power of its own. Dylan pulled out another long sheet of paper with colors splattered all over it. One of his paintings. Dylan divined through painting, and while this one was a confusing, chaotic mess she was able to pick out herself holding a revolver alongside the silver surfer.

The painting was fiercely blood red, interchanging with black and other dark accents. "That's grim."

"Yeah. I was worried. But it looks like this place is under control." He studied the painting, his brow furrowed as he looked for landmarks, something to prove the stand off here was what the painting was referencing. Dylan flinched and looked up as the woman asked what the hell was going on, rolling up his painting.

"Great question, ass," Rivkah added, glaring over at the silver surfer.