This choice: Joe's idea - The Witches of Westside • Go Back...Chapter #75The Coven Conspiracy by: rugal b.   "I think..." you pause, not sure what you think. Both brothers make good points, no doubt, but which one makes the better one? You weigh it over in your head for a minute, running through the pros, cons and logistics of each one.
"Will?" asks Joe.
"I'm thinking, I'm thinking." you state and after another minute you snap as it comes to you, "Alright, yeah, I've got it. Frank, you make a lot of good points but I'm liking Joe's idea more."
"Yes! In your face, Frank!" Joe hoots as he jumps to his feet.
Frank just grumbles and places his head into his hands. "I don't really get it. Why do that? Why give him ammunition?" he grumbles.
"I'm not giving anyone ammunition, Frank." you reply defensively, "But if we're going to manage a magic society best to start with a magic society of our own. Somebody with an occult and mystical interest with knowledge to real magic would also help us get through this book faster and figure out more applications."
"And what about the Stellae?" Frank asks still very clearly perturbed, "Joe said there's nothing to get back to us but... you never know. They're very good at what they do and Joe knows as well as I do that if we've missed even the tiniest speck of anything they'll start putting it together."
You rub your chin thoughtfully, "Maybe," you state, "but if that happens then we deal with it and move up our plans to take the Stellae."
"Will's right." adds Joe, "We've dealt with Rick and Aparijita and Will dealt with us before the anima bands were put on. With us, the book, the experience in Cuthbert and the old, fat warlock's work, unless the Stellae sends full army after us we should be able to deal with them."
Frank crosses his arms but casts a hooded glance. "I guess. Rick was probably the most dangerous, relentless and the best investigator the Stellae had so that gives us a leg up. Miko and Fyodor are no slouches though. And what if they get Kali involved in the field again?" he asks as he looks directly at Joe, "Would you have the spine to do to her what we did to Rick and Aparijita?"
"If I was still just Joe Durras, I wouldn't even consider it." comes the reply, "But I'm not. Well I am but, you know, the anima band and all that. So if it came to having to take out Kali, then yeah." He then flashes a smile, "Besides if we don't want to deal with the Stellae at the moment then we could always 'practice' with the Akshardham or the Great Sages, especially the Sages given the ambivalence that'd keep the Stellae off our backs." His smile grows even more catlike, "Or Fane. We've betrayed the Stellae at this point, why not go all out?"
"Guys!" you exclaim holding up a hand to stop them. "If that happens, if, then we'll cross that bridge when we get there. Right now we need to focus on the school. Chelsea, is there anybody else that you think would make a good witch? Or be easy to convince?"
Chelsea scrunches up her face, "Morgana's the only girl I can think of into all that dumb goth shit. The easiest to convince would be ones like Wendy Silbert or Sophia Wilson, but..."
"But none of them are really enticing, physically or otherwise." you finish her thought, "Even with magic we'd be at a severe disadvantage."
"Well, what about all of those names Chelsea went through?" asks Joe, seriousness in his voice for once.
"What about them?" you ask.
He leans forward and answers, "Well we don't have to be someone like... Gracie McGraw." he makes a face at that, "But instead we replace and add essentia to someone from other under the radar groups; a representative of sorts."
"Representative, huh?" you reply thoughtfully, "Laura's on the school paper so having someone like her on our side, either because of anima or one of us running her, would be good."
"You sure it's not because you used to have a crush on her? Did Chelsea mentioning her stir up some long-buried feelings?" Joe asks teasingly, "But yes, someone like that. Someone from the girls' basketball team. Someone from the swim team. People like that. Just powerful enough to exercise some influence but too under the radar to really grab attention. It'll be a secret society; our own little witchity Bilderberg Group."
"Yeah, that works." you nod, "We'll figure out who to get, then, but first thing's first we need Morgana." You then turn to look at Chelsea, "Do you have any idea how to get her out here?"
"Easy, I'll ask her." Chelsea replies to your surprise, "Oh come on, all of those losers want to be at the top. All of those losers would kill themselves for a chance to hang out with me. If I offer Morgana the chance to come out here with me, she will."
"I'd be careful about talking about them like that, Chelsea." you reply, "Because if an imago switch works we could just as easily do it to you. In fact, we might need to. You're good at planning and plotting and if we're not able to talk to you as we are, well, maybe you'd like being Audrey Briscoe."
You give a small smirk as Chelsea regards that possibility with stark horror.
* * * * *
"This place is so... it's amazing!" Morgana exclaims. She tries to keep her voice quiet, not attempting to betray her normally dour exterior but that's quickly become impossible.
"I know! It's just so large and all this nice decor, the gorgeous architecture..." you swoon. The words are yours but the voice is Chelsea's. She's been reliable so far but you wanted to leave nothing to chance so you made sure to take control of her in order to make sure everything went off without a hitch. Chelsea was right, too: convincing Morgana to come out to the Straussler residence was incredibly easy.
"The best part about it is now that we're secret friends, we'll be able to see a whole lot more of it!" you exclaim, "Because I'm friends with Jonathan so he won't mind me coming over and he's always saying people should bring friends. Doesn't that sound great?"
Morgana nods, still moving and looking around like she's in a haze. "Yeah, it does. I really don't know what to say, Chelsea. I guess I've had you pegged wrong the whole time."
"Oh, you have, definitely." you smile, "Everyone thinks I'm just some blonde, bimbo bitch but there's a lot about me people don't know. That's what I actually wanted to show you."
The pair of you walk until you see the door that leads to the ballroom and makeshift mystical lab. You open the door and see the metal slabs, the markings, the jars, even the book and other elements that you'll be needing for what you're going to do.
Morganna eyes it all in wonder. "Chelsea... what is all this? It looks so... so..."
"Magical?" you ask with a grin, "It's something Jonathan's into. He's been pulling in people left and right to show this too. He wants to change Eastman and Westside. He wants to make the school division meaningless, the social clique division meaningless. He wants Eastman and Westside students to hang out. Jocks and nerds. He's so convincing so I'm on board, and I want you to be on board too."
"I don't know what to say, Chelsea." Morgana replies eying you, "All of this... it looks so much more advanced than what I've seen at Madame Andrassy's shop." It's then that she notices Joe who smiles and waves at her. "Who's he?"
"Oh him? That's Joe Durras; he's teammates with Jonathan and he's part of our little group. He's on board." you explain before turning to Joe, "Speaking of Jonathan, where is he?"
"Oh right, yeah Fr--er, Jonathan said he was tired fo being cooped up her." Joe explains, "So I told him to go out, get some air, go see Monique."
You nod then turn your attention back to Morgana. "So what do you say, Morgana? Do you want to join us?"
Morgana looks at you, then Joe, then back at you with uncertainty. But then she nods.
"Great! Then close your eyes and we can start the initiation process."
Morgana does so and you motion for Joe to come over. You pull out a bit of knockout powder and blow it at Morgana, Joe catching her as she falls and placing her on the slab.
"Wait, you're really going to do it like that?" he asks.
"Well since Frank's out I can't use him and I'd rather have you helping me do this than Chelsea." you reply, "Plus who knows how much it'd drain me. I can't be out for any significant amount of time."
"And I'm sure the fact you even have Chelsea's body has nothing to do with it, huh?" Joe asks grinning.
You roll your eyes but he's right. Chelsea's body feels nice so you want to keep it just a little while longer. It feels comfortable and you'll need to be as comfortable and calm as possible to do this anyway. You get to work stripping Morgana of first her clothes, then her physical imago, then anima, then essentia. What's left is a vaguely humanoid-shapes gray lump.
You're then left with a bit of a dilemma. Originally you were going to put one of the pairs of essentia, the Sulva/Malacandra combo, into her. Naturally you would've added an anima band, Rick's or the new one that you made up today you weren't sure not that it really mattered, to make sure she'd be a member of the team. But a thought hits you: maybe you should step in for yourself and become Morgana Hollis. But the imago swap is something you'd have to test on the fly and do you really want to use it on Morgana or wait for someone you'd much rather prefer being?  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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