A Congregation of Witches (And a Siren) [Val, Riley, Lara, Les, Tristan(??)]

[bewitchinghaze]

 Val let out a heavy sigh of relief as she and Les finally approached the cottage. "You may as well come in and rest for awhile," she offered, getting out her key and unlocking the door. A few odd twists lowered the basic wards she kept active whenever she and Riley were out and she headed in.

"Riley? Lara? I'm home. I brought company..." she called into the house.

The familiar feeling of her personal collection of greenery and the magic she'd put into them quickly calmed her nerves and she began to collect the things she'd need to set up a good strong set of wards to keep out the curse. This house would be the safest goddamn place in town, if she had anything to say about it.

Comments

[jiyunnies]

She rolls her eyes. "Believe me, I'd rather just make potions at the shop than deal with something like this." Riley sighs and fidgets with her hands. "I know. What else are we going to do? Let it get worse?"

[jiyunnies]

"Val and I usually make them when we get bored. It's no big deal." She smiles. "We try, Lara, we do."

[lesparker]

Les sighs, shaking his head. "We don't even know what worse is," he tells her. "Aside from the kidnapping, it hasn't killed anyone."

[bewitchinghaze]

Val shakes her head. "I don't even think it's about being good," she shrugs. "It's about keeping people safe and by keeping others safe, we keep us safe. Awful spells like this really don't help witches get a better name around here, y'know?"

[jiyunnies]

"You don't think whatever's going on has anything to do with Paige Thornton or Fabrice Coombs? We don't even know if Moira and James are safe, if they're..." she pauses, feeling the reality of the situation hit her and her heart falls. "If they're alive."

[asharpertongue]

Lara grunted in agreement. "You're right. It's a pain in the ass keeping our reputations above board at the best of times. Let's try and get this thing fixed if we can."

[lesparker]

Les frowns, biting at his lip. "Come on. Moira's gonna be fine. And if anyone kills James Thornton, it's totally gonna be her. So," he says, hoping to cheer her up.

[jiyunnies]

She smiles softly. "That's very true. Hey, do you know how to scry?"

[jiyunnies]

"Alright, we got a game plan! Val and I will start working on the protection charms."

[bewitchinghaze]

Val scurries off to her room, coming back with a large wooden box full of wood charms. "All right. I'm thinking basic repelling charms, luck charms, and warding charms, yeah?" she suggests, handing a bunch of them to her sister.

[asharpertongue]

"What can I do?" She spots Les. "Can he help or is he on the wrong side of the dark side/light side equation for protection spells?"

[jiyunnies]

Riley takes the charms, looking them over. "Good idea. Let's channel some of the charms together so they're stronger, yeah? We can place them in the more sensitive areas. Get some of your teas for our strength, Val."

She glances over at Les. "He's definitely on the right side. He can help cast protection spells around town, at the public buildings so people inside are safe. Since you're not affected, not that we know of anyway, can you assist Les? He may need a hand and you can take note of everyone's reactions. Is everyone irritated or are they reacting uniquely? If we know the side effects, we can figure out at least a temporary cure for those under the spell."

[bewitchinghaze]

Val tugs her hair into a bun and rolls up her sleeves, heading into the kitchen and coming back with tea for everyone. "Only drink one of these each, please. They'll boost your magic, if you have it, and keep you full of energy. They're really potent though."

She takes a seat at the table, pulling over her pile of charms and sorting through them all to find the ones that would be best for holding multiple, stronger spells. "Those ones are for delicate areas of town, okay? We can work on them first."

[asharpertongue]

Lara takes a tea for herself and one for Les. "Okay. I'll help Les. When you're ready to distribute them, I'll call some of my people to come and get them."

[asharpertongue]

Lara walks over and hands Les one of Val's teas. "You should drink this. And then we have to go out. Do you know how to do protection spells?"

[jiyunnies]

"Thanks, Lara."

Riley sits at the table across from her sister. "Which do you want to start with?"

[bewitchinghaze]

"Mmmm, wards and repelling spells on the big ones. They'll need the most energy." she reasons, clearing a space in the middle of the table and putting a charm in the space. She reaches out and takes Riley's hands. "Ready?"

[lesparker]

Les looks at the tea Lara brings him, shrugging. He drinks most of it in one go, and he hates the taste of it. "Blergh!" he says. "I thought you were bringing me a drink. What the hell was that?"

[lesparker]

Les sighs, rubbing his eyes. "Yes but--" he hesitates. "You might piss-off whoever had her taken by trying something like that."

[asharpertongue]

Chuckling Lara takes the cup and puts it aside. "It's one of her special teas. It'll give you energy. Today's going to be a long day I think."

[jiyunnies]

Riley takes her sister's hands, sitting up straighter in the chair. "Alright, sounds good." She closes her eyes, breathing in deeply and feeling the air get lighter around her. As she exhales, she sends a vine of magic to her sister, offer it for her own magic to grab hold of.

[jiyunnies]

"Okay," she says, turning to face him and folding her feet up under her. "What do you suggest? You know more about this stuff than I do, right?"

[lesparker]

Les shakes his head. "No, I don't--" he says then sighs. "But...my mom taught me how to do it." The big crystal ball was part of his mom's schtick down at the boardwalk. All the people used to love it. The only thing was his mom's premonitions were real.

[bewitchinghaze]

Syncing her breathing with her sister's, she puts out her own tendril of magic, braiding the two together. She feels them sink into the charms and begins to weave protection magics like vines onto a trellis. She leaves small gaps between her own spells for Riley to do hers and then moves onto the next charm, trying to get as many done as quickly as possible.

[lesparker]

Les licks his tongue against the roof of his mouth a couple of times, making a sour face. Her pickles had been delicious, but whatever was in that tea tasted like grass. He sighs after a second. "Protection spells, huh?" He asks, raising an eyebrow.