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]

Riley arrives at the cottage with Tristan about twenty minutes after she sent her last text to Val. As they walk up the path to the house, she stops and grabs the flowers her sister asked her to grab and tucks them neatly into her bag. She slips the key out of her pocket and unlocks the door, feeling Val's charms slowly unbind to give her access. She steps in, pulling Tristan inside with her, and closes the door behind them, muttering the protective charm back in place.

"Val?" she calls as she drops her bag on the kitchen table. She grabs a washcloth from a drawer and wets it, pressing it up to her nose, still bleeding just a bit.

[bewitchinghaze]

Val drops the supplies she was gathering and rushes over, hauling her sister into a tight hug. "Ji-Yun! I was so worried." she breathes. "What's wrong with your nose?"

[jiyunnies]

Riley makes a protesting noise. Val's stronger than she looks and her hugs are always intense. Still she hugs her sister back. "I'm fine, Soo-Yun. Just a nose bleed. The spell's messing with my allergies."

[bewitchinghaze]

Val frowns, taking a moment to think. "I've got some butterbur in my medicine kit. Give me a moment."

She disappears out of the room, coming back with the butterbur for Riley and willow bark tea for Tristan. "Natural antihistamine. It should help you some, even if not all the way." she explains, pressing it into her sister's hands.

[asharpertongue]

Lara was talking into her phone quietly while the sisters and Tristan were cleaning up.

"No. I don't know specifics but we're the only ones in town unaffected so far." She nodded as she listened. "Okay. Keep your eyes and ears open and tell the others to report anything unusual. Especially the children. They might be more sensitive"

She nodded once more and then hung up smiling at the sisters.

"Are you alright?"

[jiyunnies]

Riley looks at the plant in her hands and takes it, noting how worried her sister seems to be. "I'll be alright, Val. Now that I'm home," she reassures her, brushing Val's hair from her face.

She hears Lara on her phone and nods to her. "Side effect of the spell. I'll be fine. Is everyone on your end okay?"

[bewitchinghaze]

Val rubs at her eyes, slightly tired from worrying. "I'm fine. I'm less nauseous just from being home. Once we put up the major wards, we should all be okay." she nibbles at her lip as she thinks.

"So, are sirens in general not affected? Or less so?" she asks, curious about the workings of the spell.

[asharpertongue]

"I don't know. I don't feel different, but that doesn't mean it won't affect me over time. I've asked my people to keep an eye out for changes." She sighed and perched on a stool. "What do you think? It's making you sick though and that's not good."

[jiyunnies]

"Yes, it seems to be effecting all the witches in town. And some of the humans seem irritated, more so than usual at least." She rubs her chin. "Whatever it is is dark. I've never felt something so powerful in my life. I'm not sure who in town is even capable of this kind of magic."

"Val, did you ever hear back from Grant?"

[bewitchinghaze]

"I tried to feel out the source earlier and it just absolutely shredded through the tendril I sent out," she shudders. "If it's only affecting witches and humans, I can't imagine it isn't related to the town curse. Especially since a Thornton and a Coombs have both gone missing..."

She pulls a face. "No. The jackass isn't replying to my messages after asking what the most magic heavy spots are in town."

[asharpertongue]

Lara blinked. "Wait...a Thornton has gone missing too? Who?"

[jiyunnies]

"James," Riley says with a sigh. "This definitely seems like the curse at play. Which means it's old."

She blinks and turns to Val. "Wait, was the idiot going to look for James himself??"

[bewitchinghaze]

Val pauses, the thought only just hitting her. "That giant fucking idiot!" she snaps, seething with rage now. "I told him to fucking stay indoors because it's not safe. I'm going to kill him!"

[asharpertongue]

Lara sighs. "Of course he has." She tapped the table next to her thoughtfully. "This damn curse...silent for an age. Why would it wake up now? It's not even like Jame and Moira are an item."

[jiyunnies]

"I don't get the impression he's the best at listening," she says, placing a hand on Val's shoulder. "I'm sure he's fine, Val."

"That's a good question. Everything's been quiet for awhile now. Maybe that's why? Too quiet?"

[bewitchinghaze]

"I'm going to kill him anyway. Then I'll bring him back and kill him again." she seethes, honestly torn between being pissed he didn't listen to her and being worried that he was going to do something stupid.

"I'd imagine quiet would activate that kind of curse," she muses. "It doesn't want the town that started it all to be quiet, it wants it to be as restless and unsettled as it is."

[asharpertongue]

"Of course it does." She sighed. "We've been complacent. We should have been working out how to kill this curse since it happened."

[jiyunnies]

"I wouldn't even know where to start with that. Unless someone in town has more knowledge of the actual history of this place than just rumours and gossip."

[bewitchinghaze]

"I'm sure the Thorntons and Coombs do but, well... They're not much use right now, I'm sure." she sighs. "Maybe if we check the library we can find a good hardcopy history of the town?"

[asharpertongue]

"It's delicate with the families at the moment. I could ask but I doubt I'd get anywhere." Lara huffed a laugh. "Good idea but the librarian isn't my biggest fan since his daughter joined Heart of Gold so I think you'd better not mention my name there."

[jiyunnies]

"Probably the last thing either family wants to discuss is the curse."

"Oops. We'll be sure not to mention it," she grins.

[bewitchinghaze]

Val smothers a snicker. "If you want, you can stay here and hold down the fort while we check the library? We can bring any books back here so we can all look them over." she suggests, checking up on her wards for probably the tenth time since she'd arrived home.

[asharpertongue]

Lara tosses a piece of paper at Val's head for the snicker. "I think that's probably the best idea. But it might not help with this current spell."

[jiyunnies]

Riley snorts at Val getting punished. "Yeah, how exactly are any of us supposed to get to the library if we get sick as soon as we're in contact with it? Val, we need to put our heads together and come up with some kind of protective bubble."

[bewitchinghaze]

Val sticks her tongue out at Lara playfully, tossing the paper into the bin. "Hmmm... Charms, maybe? If we put sufficiently strong spells onto them we can wear them around our necks."