Deja Vu [DRAFT ONE: UPDATED DRAFT ABOVE]

5: Will

Getting out of family movie night is so much easier than I expected it to be. Neither my brother nor my parents ask for follow up questions when I inform them the Naval Brigade will be having a movie night at Amanda's house. Instead, I get the go ahead and a quick pat on the back from my father before he settles down on the couch, throwing an arm over the armrest and taking a long sip of soda from the can.

"I mean, I am going to be missing movie night. You're not upset or anything. Right?" I ask them, peaking around the corner into the family room.

"Do you think we're resentful that you're thriving in your new high school, honey? Your grades are up, your lady friends seem lovely, and you're having a good time. Go have fun." My mom beams.

"You can feel a little guilty if you want to." Adam says. "Just sayin'."

I smile. "Thanks, Adam."

Amanda's house is within walking distance, but when I get out onto the street, I don't turn down Abermarle onto 13th, where her house is, instead I turn right onto the street next to ours, where the old church sits, moss-covered and complacent. The driveway, which leads into the cemetery, is gravel instead of pavement, and I follow it up and around the back, where my entrance lies. A patch of wall too dark to be covered in shadow stands ominously above me, and I close my eyes and step through into the Veins.

The others are already there, and Amanda is sparring with Garrett, paintbrush against halberd. Garrett's halberd wasn't there last time I checked, but it complements his abilities well enough. It's not like portal creation was offensive enough on its own, anyhow. Amanda has also slimmed up her paintbrush, for better versatility, and she's figured out how to actually manifest something resembling paint onto it. She holds a palette in her other hand, which toggles color and ability, and she's working on changing the brush size so that she can draw glyphs and the like with it, or as she says, "crazy cool shit". For now, she wields it like a broom, though it's also a broom with corrosive acid on the bristles.

She turns to me with a massive grin on her face, totally dropping her concentration, and Garrett's halberd swings right over her head. Shiloh walks onto the scene, fur on end, and yells, "Please, can you find a method of training that doesn't involve risk to either of your persons? This is an exceedingly high-risk activity."

"Fine, as soon as you think of one, we'll stop practicing with each other." Garrett slings the pole arm over his back and into the case so that the blade sticks out over his shoulder. It's not practical in the least, especially because he has to adjust his hands several times to get it into a position where he can actually use it, but he claims he saw it "in a video game, once".

"I got such a cool scar though! Check it." Amanda holds up her arm, where a nice, long scratch has manifested up the side of her arm. "Told my parents it was a tree. Sorry Garrett."

"They believed that?" I ask.

"It wasn't the first time I've walked into a tree," she admits. "There was this one time I was walking to school in middle school with headphones on, and I may or may not have been singing along to this great anime opening... I kind of fell into a rosebush."

"Incredible." Garrett says with a whistle.

"If you don't mind, we only have so long. I predict whatever excuses you've made won't hold long after midnight, and it would be best to avoid arousing suspicion, especially this early in our time together."

"Right." I say, raising my shield.

"Remember, this mission is to establish who our enemy is, what their strengths are, and how they might be best defeated given our number and abilities. It's okay if you don't succeed this time around- never has it ever been so simple as a single hit and run." Shiloh continues.