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

[lesparker]

"Fine. Sorry," Les says, feeling bad. But he happily accepts by the pickles and peanut butter. He bites into another, and it's equally as delicious. "Lara's here? That's probably good. Guess that means I'm not late to work..." He muses to himself, but then he has another more pressing thought. "Does your sister like make these? Or...? The pickles I mean."

[jiyunnies]

"She is. I doubt you really have to worry about work today. What with the whole dark spell thing going down and all," she says, hopping up on the counter. 'Mmhmm. She grows everything herself. Her magic is gardening-based."

[lesparker]

Les eyes widen. "Shut up," he says. "She grows magic pickles. Oh god, where is she? I'm marrying her." He wanders out of the kitchen with his pickles.

[jiyunnies]

"Hey!" she fusses, grabbing his arm. "What did I tell you about messing with my sister?"

[lesparker]

"You didn't tell me she was a magical vegetable grower," Les accuses.

[jiyunnies]

"I also didn't tell you she's very protective of her gardens and she'll murder you for touching her babies."

[lesparker]

"I didn't touch them!" Les assures her. "Just the pickles. Your sister threatened to murder me earlier by the way. A trait that runs in the family I am familiar." He rolls his eyes but hops onto the counter beside her. "So what's going on?"

[jiyunnies]

"Aww. She's a sweetie." Riley leans over and takes a pickle from him. "We're trying to figure out what to do next. Moira Coombs and James Thornton have gone missing. Looks like the old curse is back."

[lesparker]

"Why do we have to do anything?" Les asks her, but he is surprised to hear that Moira is missing. James he gets, because there were several witches in this town that would've taken that guy out themselves. But Moira... "It's not our curse."

[jiyunnies]

"No, but it's our town. It's not just the Thorntons and Coombs anymore. You feel how dark that spell is." She sighs. "And who knows, maybe going after those two families isn't enough anymore."

[lesparker]

"Definitely not," Les admits. "It was..." He thinks back to the spirit crossing him in the street and tries to put it into words what he felt when his counter-spell was crushed under its weight. "Chaos. I don't think it's looking for anyone, or anything. Not anymore anyway if it already took Moira and James."

[jiyunnies]

"We can't function normally with that thing around. None of us are safe." She looks him over. "You're okay, right? No injuries?"

[lesparker]

"Well, you know, it didn't really stop to say hi--" Les smirks at her and then shrugs. "Look, I get you and your sister and Lara want to play town heroes, but that thing is dangerous. It's not gonna be easy..."

[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?"

[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."

[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."

[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?"

[lesparker]

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

[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.

[jiyunnies]

"What do you think she would do?" Riley never dabbled in black magic. Her only experience with it is what she's read In books.

[lesparker]

Les paces for a second, thinking, trying to imagine his mother's voice. Something does eventually pop into his head. "How good are you at cloaking?" Les asks. "If I do the scry, you could shield our faces and location. It would need to be strong."

[jiyunnies]

Riley grins at him. "I'm pretty damn good, actually. You're brilliant sometimes, Les."

[lesparker]

Les raises his eyes at her. He feels good about having impressed her with this plan. "See you're starting to come around," he laughs. "Let's just hopes she's still in town. Any further, and I don't think I'm strong enough to reach her."