The Effect of the FLux on Eden Fletcher (Max)

[Eden Fletcher]

Eden enjoyed living with he best friend. He wasn't a slob but also not a neat freak and he didn't care that she never made her bed. He was there if she needed a drinking buddy but he had his own life. However, sometimes the routine of life had distanced the friends to the point where Eden rarely saw Max in the last month or so. He usually came home late only to shuffle zombie like to his bed with a mumbled hello. If he noticed her at all. Actually, she usually was in a deep sleep or painting when he was home and didn't want to be disturbed. Eden usually left early in the morning to get a run in before heading to the ministry or to a client's home to do a portrait session. So more often than not the two roommates missed each other. It seemed like Max was taking on more and more hours at the hospital or doing something. When she did take a peak in his room (door was open) she noticed the crumpled up parchment, towers of books and piles of robes everywhere. He was working on some project and it appeared he was near a breakthrough. Or stuck is a very deep rut that was bothering him. It looked pretty much the same either way. Eden wasn't a neat freak either, her room was a mess of tossed clothes, shoes, sketches, paint brushes, pencils etc. It often looked like a war zone until she got too fed up and tidied up. Usually about once every two to three months.

Today was not a cleaning day. Today was a cooking day. She had woken up with the thoughts of pasta dancing in her head. The lure of carbs was too strong and by the time noon came along she had a whole mean planned out in her head. She pinned a quick owl to Max telling him to be home after work for dinner because she was feeling chefy. Over the years Eden had turned into an okay cool. She was pretty good at following a recipe and she had some subscriptions to a few muggle cooking magazines. She just didn't do it as often as she should. Since she came into her inheritance she tended to eat out more than budget her money by cooking at home. She tried to cook about once every couple of weeks because she liked it. There was something relaxing about thwacking meat with a tenderizer. When ever she was in a particularly wicked mood she made soup. she couldn't beat up her enemies so she cut up vegetables instead.

So Eden had ventured out into Muggle London to a local supermarket to get ground beef, tomatoes, salad stuff etc. She then went to this amazing bakery close to their house and bought loads of fresh baked bread. She'd only went in to buy a loaf of french bread for garlic bread but came out with rolls for sandwiches, a crunch baguette, goat cheese, french bread, bagels, croissants and a chocolate tart. That shop was dangerous and she fell into the only one thing trap again. She really should learn to say no to baked goods. Oh well, Max needed fattening up.

Eden had taken her loot back to the apartment and started her little masterpiece. She'd gotten the tomatoes and fresh herbs simmering to make a sauce while meatballs baked in the oven. Music played on the muggle radio and Eden wiggled as she sliced up cucumbers and sang along. Midway through a ancient Beatles song, Eden just froze. For a second her hand kept moving the knife she was slicing cucumbers with and she sliced into her fingers but she didn't curse. Eden just stood there knife falling onto the counter. Eden's eyes darkened to the color of a night sky as images passed through her mind. Her eyes darted up and down, side to side seeing a future no one else saw, unaware of her surroundings. She hadn't had a vision in 17 years and it had been longer still that she had one that took over her entire body and made her loose awareness.

The urge to record what she saw hammered her subconscious and her fingers started sketching in blood on the pale yellow counter what she saw. When her blood had clotted, Eden's magic took over allowing her to scratch images of circles into the counter. When her body became physically weak she sank to the ground but the images kept coming and her fingers kept moving across the floor. The images were disjointed and often didn't make sense. Fire came shooting down a hall. Blood soaked through a parchment of names. She drew tombstones in the floor, lifting from the ground. Not all the images were horrible. Vines filled with flowers stretched out in front of the stove. She continued locked in the trance as the meatballs turned black and the tomato sauce bubbled over.

[Max Kameren]

On his way up the stairs to their fourth-floor apartment in Muggle London, Max looked down at the folded hand-written note in his hand and smiled. Cooking tonight! Try to make it home at a reasonable hour. No excuses! E. Max had received this owl from his best friend halfway through his third consecutive 12-hour shift, and though he was exhausted, he knew he would show up on time or face The Wrath of Fletcher. It was rare either of them was in the mood to do something proactively homey in their small apartment, so when one did something it was important the other supported it.

Stepping out of the staircase into the landing of their floor, though, Max knew something was wrong. There was a thin haze of smoke coming from one of the apartments, stinging his eyes as he now stepped with urgency to their door and unlocked it with shaking fingers. "Eden?" He coughed as he opened the door and plumes of smoke burst into the hallway. He caught Snitch as she tried to sneak through his feet out the door and kicked it closed behind him.

The apartment was flooded with smoke, but thankfully no fire. Did she put something in the oven and fall asleep? "Eden!" He called again, poking his head into her bedroom. Empty. Where the hell did she go?

Turning the corner into their kitchen to turn off the oven and stovetop, Max saw the scene and dropped Snitch onto the floor, where she landed with a displeased mew. The place looked like a murder had occurred. There was blood and scratches everywhere, his friend still going as she scratched at the floor with her fingers "Eden!" he knelt and shook her shoulders, but she didn't see him. She looked right through him, with wide dark eyes in an expression he hadn't seen in years. Max turned off the stove and opened the windows, pushing the smoke out with a gust of wind from his hands. He swore under his breath; the last time this happened, they were both kids. The last time this happened was shortly after Max was held hostage.

Coming back to the counter, Max wasn't sure what he could do. He took her hands and mended the cuts to her fingers inflicted by the knife, squeezing her fingers to try to let her know he was there. She shook him off to continue her etchings. His hands moved to either side of her face and he closed his eyes, trying to transmit some kind of soothing calmness through her. He looked up and glanced around them at the horrors she had drawn; what was all this?

[Eden Fletcher]

When Eden was caught in a vision trance she felt nothing. No physical pain, no emotions. She was blank, an empty shell with no purpose but to serve the vision. She hadn't smelled the acrid smell of the smoke, nor felt the coughs that racked her body as she breathed in smoke. The tiny cries of her heartbroken, terrified kitten didn't reach her. She did not feel the strong hands of Max or his healing tough on her cracked and bloody fingers. There was nothing but the visions. Thousands lay still as death their eyes replaced by black stone. An earthquake devastated an unknown city. Waves and waves of blood engulfed a map encircled by grave stones. The images repeated sometimes and none of it made sense to Eden. It was all she could to just let them come. Her fingers contantly moved across the ground, over and over. The seer power uncaring that she actually recorded what she saw, just that she tried. She barely felt the resistance when Max tried to restrain her. Eden just wrenched herself away and continued as an image of a broken doll flashed in her mind, she had to record the face, one side smooth and perfect the other side empty darkness.

It had never been this bad before. When this was her normal she could pull back, block the strength of the tide and at least take a breath. It had been so long since she had one that her entire conscious self had been knocked over and pulled beneath the rip tide. Like every storm, it did have to end eventually. As Eden drew her heart rate increased and her skin began to burn. The fever usually came at the end of an episode like this. Just as quickly as the storm came upon Eden it left and she suddenly went still, her body rigid as the fever raged inside her replacing the visions.

Slowly, Eden began to be aware of her body aching. Her legs cramped and she gasped in pain as thousands of tiny needles stabbed her. Bewildered, and a little dizzy, Eden looked around taking in the disaster that was her kitchen. What happened? Did a bomb go off? Tomato sauce has boiled over the pan, leaving nasty streaks down the oven door. It looked like entrails. For a second she thought that maybe somebody had committed murder in her kitchen. There was bloody finger prints everywhere. Eden looked closer and she saw that it wasn't just finger prints but drawings. Her handiwork, her blood, her scratching. It was all too familiar. She had done something like this before when she'd been eleven. Images of the tiny little girl she had been standing in a hallway in a night gown as she etched horrible things into the wall with her wand. Her light blue eyes widened in horror as she took in the strange drawings all around her. She began to shake as she absorbed what she had done, what the drawings meant. Fear crawled up her spine and she reached for Max, seeking the warmth of his body. She closed her eyes to avoid looking at the madness she had drawn as she curled into her friend. Tears streamed down Eden's face and she just sobbed uncontrollably. She didn't want to cry. She hated crying. It was such a useless reaction but she couldn't stop the ugly sobs that were wrenched from her soul. It had been 17 years since she had lost track of time like this. She had begun to think that she was normal. That once she hit puberty she wasn't going to have another vision. It wasn't bloody fair. Anger rushed through Eden and she yearned to pull away from Max. She should not be leaning on him so. He didn't deserve to come home to such a mess. He didn't need to deal with her crazy. Her emotions were so erratic they were probably driving him nutty. Still, it was so comfortable in his arms, that she just didn't want to force herself to pull away. Eden took deep breaths, wrestling with her emotions. It took her several minutes but she slowly built of her mental walls hiding emotions away so not to over whelm Max.

With a sigh Eden opened her eyes and looked at her best friend. Her eyes were a normal shade of light blue but filled with regret. She should have known the visions would return but it had been so long since she had one that she'd begun to believe that it was over. That she was done with all of that drama. She began to think about maybe settling down and starting a family but now the old fears of passing on such a torment to her children,grandchildren her bloodline was too much. She would never take the chance that someone else would be like her. Eden smiled sadly at her best friend, gently tracing his cheek with her fingers, "I'm nuttier than a fruit cake, you sure you want to live with me," She asked biting her lip as her fingers fell away from his face.

[Max Kameren]

Unsure what to do, Max could only wait. Nothing he did helped. He sat on the hardwood floor with his back against the kitchen island, watching. When she would hurt herself, he would work around her movements to heal it. Anything to ease the pain once she came out of it. She was boiling hot to the touch and covered in a cold sweat; was this normal for a psychic vision? Was there such a thing as a 'normal' psychic vision? The only person he could ask was the woman sitting in front of him, and she wasn't talking. 

Max jumped at Eden's sudden gasp of pain nearly an hour into watching her. He jumped up to his knees, following her as her ritualistic painting finally slowed. He watched as her eyes faded back to their pale blue, soaking up the horror's she'd created in their kitchen. Then she fell into him and he held her, the two of them sitting out on the kitchen floor. He rested his cheek against the top of her head, his arms tightening with her sobs. He said nothing, staying frozen even when a pit of Eden's fear and guilt opened in his stomach. He knew Eden, knew that this was startlingly open for her even with her closest friend. Max didn't want to risk calling attention to that and have her close herself off, dealing with this all alone.

His predictions were right, and he felt her start to close off mentally. "Hey." Max nudged the top of her head with his cheek. "Stop it. Let me help you." He took a deep breath and calming energy emanated from him into Eden's aura, forming a warmth like a slow smile. Max held her tight until her breathing slowed to a normal pace, then his grip loosened.


Eden smiled sadly at her best friend, gently tracing his cheek with her fingers, "I'm nuttier than a fruit cake, you sure you want to live with me," She asked biting her lip as her fingers fell away from his face.

Max chuckled. "Well, we just signed on for another year, and I can't afford to break the lease. And --" He looked around at the scratched walls and gouges in the floor "-- I'm fairly sure we've just lost our safety deposit. So you're stuck with me." He smiled reassuringly, finally letting her go as Snitch decided the kitchen was safe enough again to beg for Eden's attention.

Max stood to examine the drawings and etchings Eden had gouged into the butcher-block countertop. "So... What do we do with all this? Call the Department of Mysteries, have them collect it in a prophecy?" He examined a rather grisly scene next to the cutting board, unable to decipher it. Analyzing art was never his strong suit. "Should I call Ari?"

[Eden Fletcher]

It was usually Eden's practice to keep her feelings held tightly behind a fall. She started the habit as a child as a way to not deal with the pain of loosing her parents and then the visions. Then when Max began to feel her emotions, Eden did it to protect him so things could be quite for him and he didn't have to feel what she was feeling on top of his own emotions. Habit kicked in when she began to gather her emotions inside of herself.

"Hey." Max nudged the top of her head with his cheek. "Stop it. Let me help you." He took a deep breath and calming energy emanated from him into Eden's aura, forming a warmth like a slow smile. Max held her tight until her breathing slowed to a normal pace, then his grip loosened.


The light nudge distracted Eden and she lost her grip on her wall. A familiar light seeped in and she began to feel better. Her heart rate decreased and she started to relax. Eden didn't block him entirely out of her emotions but she did put up a shield so they weren't so intense.

Eden smiled sadly at her best friend, gently tracing his cheek with her fingers, "I'm nuttier than a fruit cake, you sure you want to live with me," She asked biting her lip as her fingers fell away from his face.

Max chuckled. "Well, we just signed on for another year, and I can't afford to break the lease. And --" He looked around at the scratched walls and gouges in the floor "-- I'm fairly sure we've just lost our safety deposit. So you're stuck with me." He smiled reassuringly, finally letting her go as Snitch decided the kitchen was safe enough again to beg for Eden's attention.

Max's chuckle made Eden feel better. She liked his laugh. Eden scooted closer to Snitch, hand outstretched "Hello Darling, did mummy scare you?" Eden cooed to the cat as she picked up the tiny fluff ball, Snitch whined as she headbutted Eden. "I dunno I think the landlord is lucky to have such talent in his floor. Such artistry. I'm sure muggles would pay to see this place. He could do haunted ghost tours," Eden said in a slightly mocking tone as she petted her kitten.

Eden remained on the floor as Max examined her handiwork. She focused on calming the kitten before getting up, snitch cradled to her chest. Eden glanced at the drawings. They didn't make much sense to her either. Part of her just wanted to erase it all but she fear if she did so she'd just dream the same stuff again. She shuddered at the thought of going back into such a trance.

"There's so much here, we probably should call her.She always thought this could happen again. Why now Max? I mean it's been 17 years," Eden said in frustration. Eden took out her wand and with one hand summoned a stack of parchment. "Might as well start transferring this onto paper," Eden said with a groan. There was just so much of it.

[Max Kameren]

"I dunno I think the landlord is lucky to have such talent in his floor. Such artistry. I'm sure muggles would pay to see this place. He could do haunted ghost tours."

"Or, we'll wind up on some list and never be able to rent in London again." Max smirked as his fingers traced over an etching in the countertop. "So... What do we do with all this? Call the Department of Mysteries, have them collect it in a prophecy?" He examined a rather grisly scene next to the cutting board, unable to decipher it. Analyzing art was never his strong suit. "Should I call Ari?"

"There's so much here, we probably should call her.She always thought this could happen again. Why now Max? I mean it's been 17 years," Max nodded and pulled out his wand, sending his black cat patronus scampering into the night Arianna. Eden had a vision. What do we do? "Might as well start transferring this onto paper," Eden said with a groan. There was just so much of it.

Max grunted in reply as he watched Eden summoned parchment to draw. "Or..." He pulled the muggle phone he used to keep in contact with his mother out of his pocket and started snapping pictures of the walls from different angles. Eden could re-record her drawings however she liked, but there were some things the muggle world just did better.

[Eden Fletcher]

The urge to run away was strong. She needed a bath and a drink. She wanted to feel normal again. She wanted this all to be a bad dream. Eden wasn't going to give in though. She wasn't nine years old anymore. She could handle this. She had Max with her. She couldn't leave him in the lurch with this bedlam on his hands.

Eden shuddered at the thought of a team of unspeakables in their home. They'd take her off for a debriefing and make her talk about what happened. She'd had her fair share of run ins with the prophecy department as a child. There had been a time when she even had a handler of sorts. A person that was contacted every time she went on a nutter and produced a massive quantity of prophetic dreams or art work.

"I don't want those maggots in our home. This is our place. I'll give it all to Arianna or just deliver it in the morning." Eden said as she placed a piece of parchment over a nasty scene of cut off heads. With a wave of her wand, the drawing slowly appeared on the parchment as if an invisible hand was drawing it in super speed. When it was complete, Eden lifted up the parchment to reveal a clean surface beneath.

Eden rolled her eyes when Max summoned his phone and started taking pictures. "That works too. Please snap away, I'm going to make cheese and toast. Want a baguette? I went to the bread shop." Eden said pulling out the bread and ripping off a piece. She found the goat cheese and just slathered it on a piece and shoved it in her mouth. As she chewed, she erased the markings that Max had captured on his camera.

"Sure you have enough space in your little photo box?" Eden said around a mouth full of bread.

[Max Kameren]

"I don't want those maggots in our home. This is our place. I'll give it all to Arianna or just deliver it in the morning.” Max nodded. He hoped Arianna would arrive soon. He knew how hard this was on Eden, even without feeling her aura. She really struggled when they were young, especially after his kidnapping. Now, with his empathy, he really understood: what their society told them were ‘gifts’ were more often a disability to the inflicted.

Eden rolled her eyes when Max summoned his phone and started taking pictures. "That works too. Please snap away, I'm going to make cheese and toast. Want a baguette? I went to the bread shop."

“I could order from that Italian place down the street Dad always liked if you still want actual food,” Max shrugged as he stepped back, being careful to get all of each scene in his phone. He looked over and wrinkled his nose at the tomato eruption on the stove, still dripping. “You want to clean up that burnt mess while I do this?”

"Sure you have enough space in your little photo box?"

“This thing could keep taking pictures well after your drawing hand gets tired.” He chuckled, cocking his head at Eden. “They won’t move, though. Pity.” Max sent them off and he heard the quiet whrrrrr of the printer in his room firing up to print the pictures. Max’s mom would always get him muggle gadgets for holidays, a generous way of nudging him to remind him what he was missing in the Muggle world. They usually sat gathering dust in his room. He was glad they could be useful for once. "Should we leave it for Ari to see in person, or will just the photos work?" Max shrugged, looking at Eden curiously.

[Eden Fletcher]

The thought of ordering Italian from down the street had Eden feeling a little better. Some of her best memories as a kid was sitting at the counter with Max eating meatballs as Kris told them a cautionary tale that always had them in stitches.

"I probably should have ordered in, in the first place. This kitchen being affected by the Kameren cooking curse and all," She said with a wry smile. For a man so talent at potions him and his father couldn't cook a bit.

Eden sighed as she looked at the mess on the stove. It would take a miracle to get that gunk out of the pot. "I could just throw the pot away and buy a new one,"She said hopefully as she approached the pot like it contained a live creature. She gingerly picked up the stink bomb and put it in the sink. She took out her wand and shot burning water into the pan. It made the smell worse.

Eden grabbed the dish soap and squirted a third of the bottle in and used the muggle tap for hot water. Maybe soaking would help. She open the oven door and vanished the meatballs.

"I think pictures are more than enough," She said shuddering at the sight of it all. She wanted it gone. She didn't care if it would be better for Arianna to experience it in person. Ari might even be steamed that they'd cleaned it up. But she really didn't care.

"I don't want this here, longer than necessary. It's depressing." Just staring at the pictures made Eden feel uncomfortable. The magic that had created them seemed to linger in the brush strokes.

[Max Kameren]

"I probably should have ordered in, in the first place. This kitchen being affected by the Kameren cooking curse and all," She said with a wry smile.

Max scoffed, hitting the speed-dial for the Italian place on his phone. "Please. Dad might have been cursed, but I can cook. You might be, though," He gestured at the stove disaster as the phone rang, ordering their usual lasagna and garlic bread combo to be delivered. Between the two of them, the restaurant knew their order well by now. 

"I could just throw the pot away and buy a new one,"She said hopefully as she approached the pot like it contained a live creature. 

Max looked on with bewilderment as Eden tried to clean the kitchen mess. How did purebloods survive on their own? He hung up the phone when their order was completed, shaking his head. "I swear, Eden, every time you do the dishes it looks like the first time." He pulled out his wand and waved, and the pans came to life and began washing themselves. 

"Should we leave it for Ari to see in person, or will just the photos work?" Max shrugged, looking at Eden curiously.

"I don't want this here, longer than necessary. It's depressing." Just staring at the pictures made Eden feel uncomfortable. The magic that had created them seemed to linger in the brush strokes.

Max reached out and squeezed her in a side embrace, reassuring her when he felt her discomfort with the drawings. With a wave of his wand, they began to fade.

[Eden Fletcher]

Eden shrugged as Max criticized her cleaning skills. She wasn't very adapt at household spells. She had house elves to take care of that stuff as a child. She didn't really remember life with her parents or having to do chores. She sometimes forgot how to properly do things. Her brain was sluggish and jumbled up after a major vision.

Eden buried her face into Max's side as his arm embraced her. An owl knocked on the window. Eden waved her wand to let it in. It flew to Max and dropped a letter on his head before flying off. The letter was from Arianna. Eden snatched the letter as it toppled off his head and ripped it open. She read it out loud.



Max and Eden

Sorry for the delay. Eden's vision, or visions triggered the prophecy alarm. I had to prevent the unspeakable team being dispatched to your place to collect the visions and bring in Eden. E, darling, since you are a documented visionist Seer I was able to delay the debrief until tomorrow. I have been given permission to do the initial interview. Come in tomorrow with the drawings 9 am.

Love Arianna

"Please come tomorrow? They can't lock me in a cage if you're there." Eden said with a sigh.

[Max Kameren]

Max let go of Eden and leaned back against the counter, watching the drawings fade as she read the letter. He was thankful for Arianna’s quick response; the last time this happened, Max was far too young to know how to help. He kept it hidden from Eden, but he was a little scared for what this meant for her. He of all people understood the burden of a mental ‘gift’. They both thought she’d gotten lucky, that it had gone away. There were times he wished his gifts would just disappear, too.

"Please come tomorrow? They can't lock me in a cage if you're there." Eden said with a sigh.

He smiled down at his friend. “‘Course I will. Ari isn’t going to let them lock you in a cage, anyway.” He laughed and shrugged off the idea, but his curiosity did linger; what would happen tomorrow?

ooc: end rp? I set up the new thread right here!