Deconstructing A Curse [Open]

[bewitchinghaze]

 It's been three days since Val dragged Lou home from the police station and found the cursed plant by her bedside. Three days of trying to figure out what kind of plant it was, exactly. She's at the end of her rope with the goddamn menace, and that feeling of uselessness brought on by Yura's visit, and the news of her grandmother's passing, has reached its peak. It's time for drastic measures.

She tosses her mage kit onto her shoulder and writes a quick note to Riley, pinning it on the fridge to let her know where she is. Gathering the plant into her arms, she heads out in the the woods behind the house. She knows of a clearing surrounded by hawthorns (known for their magic enhancing abilities) and various wild flowers that will help contain negative magics so she heads straight there.

Setting the plant down in the middle of everything, she lays a circle of herbs around the edge of the clearing and calls up a bubble of magic to contain her workings. Everything set, she sits tailor style in the middle of the clearing and begins to clear her mind and falls into her magic. The green fire at the centre of her is blazing in response to her surroundings and ready to dig itself into this curse. Val lets a vine of it reach into the slimy feeling black magic around the plant, searching for the chinks in the curse. She sorts through the different bits and pieces of magics, tugging away a curse for hallucinations, another for distrust... Finally reaching the centre of it all and the toughest bit of magic, she shoves a blaze of her magic at it.

The backlash is spectacular. She's physically knocked back from the plant, the release of the curse exploding it, and the pot its in, sending sharp shards of pottery to slice cuts into her cheek and arms. Hitting the ground, she has a brief moment to think 'Fuck' and 'I hope someone finds that fucking note' before she blacks out.

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[jiyunnies]

Riley lingers in the kitchen, brewing up a quick strengthening potion, one that'll help her sister sleep as well, before she pulls out the lasagna she made earlier and pops it in the over for a bit to reheat. She plops a large piece for two on a plate, making sure to grab the tupperware of cheesecake from the fridge as well. With an unusual amount of grace and effort, she manages to get everything into Val's room in one trip and lays it all out on her bed.

"Potion, lasagna, then cheesecake," she explains. "Doctor's orders."

[bewitchinghaze]

"Yes, ma'am, Dr. Unnie," she teases, scooching over and turning back her covers to Riley can climb in next to her. Val takes the potion, just barely avoiding making a face at the taste, and digs into the lasagna. "Ugh, you are a life saver. This is amaaazing."

[jiyunnies]

"Are you proud of my, Soo-Yun? I actually followed a recipe I found online. Your veggies help, of course," she grins, climbing under the covers before taking a forkful of the lasagna. "Remember when mom and dad were convinced we'd never be able to take care of ourselves?"

[bewitchinghaze]

"So proud," she grins, taking her own forkful and letting out a happy sigh. "This is so great, really. Mom and dad didn't no what they were talking about. I mean, I'm absolutely exhausted from overworking my magic and I have a broken hand but... we're not dead!"

[jiyunnies]

Riley laughs out loud at that. "Hey, you're right. You're not dead. And you haven't starved to death. And I didn't die in that tunnel with Les. We're really living it up."

[bewitchinghaze]

"We're practically real adults now!" she laughs. "Mom and dad would be so proud of us."

[jiyunnies]

She takes a huge bite of cheesecake, speaking with her mouth full. "So damn proud."

[bewitchinghaze]

"Unnie!" she squeals, brushing at the crumbs that came from her sister speaking with a full mouth. "You're going to give us rats, one of these days. I hope you know that."

[jiyunnies]

"Rats are cute. Don't be rude to the rats." She takes Val's injured hand gently. "How's this thing doing?"

[bewitchinghaze]

"Rats get significantly less cute once they get into your potion supplies and destroy them," she points out. "Eh... It still aches every so often, but I don't notice it much, aside from how inconvenient it can be."

[jiyunnies]

"I guuuueesss."

"At least it won't take too long to heal. And hey, if she didn't have that force field, you would've gotten a good hit on Yura."

[bewitchinghaze]

"Clearly I need to find a way to get to her without her force field. I still want to smack her a good one," she grumbles, shoving a piece of cheesecake in her mouth.

[jiyunnies]

"Catch her where she feels safest, at a clothing store. I'll lay on her and you punch her."

[bewitchinghaze]

"Perfect," she smirks, making a happy little noise as she bites into the cheesecake. "She'll be so distracted by the tackiness of the clothes in this town that she won't see us coming."

[jiyunnies]

Riley smiles brightly, tickling her sister's side. "Even better, all we have to do is show up in our favourite outfits and she'll laugh herself to tears and won't have time to protect herself!"

[bewitchinghaze]

Val giggles, squirming away as far as she could. "Unnie, no!" she laughs. "My outfits are amazing!"

[jiyunnies]

She scooches closer, grabbing Val's leg. "Well, yeah, I think so, but Yura's on a whole other 'ew she's poor' level."

[bewitchinghaze]

Val's half on, half off the bed now, trying to wriggle out of her grip. "True, true. She'd probably hate that half my dresses are from Forever 21."

[jiyunnies]

"Hell, half of the nice things I wear are things you put me in, she definitely hates anything I got." She sticks her tongue out, stretching further to reach up to tickle Val's ribs again. "Hooooold still!"

[bewitchinghaze]

"Nooo!" she squeals, face pressed into the hardwood and feet kicking. "I am not going to stay still so you can tickle me, you brat!"

[jiyunnies]

"You just make this more difficult than it should be!" She instinctively ducks as a foot kicks.

[bewitchinghaze]

"Damn straight! You're lucky I'm too weak to get to my powers or you'd be covered in vines with now!" she calls back over her shoulder, clawing at the floor.

[jiyunnies]

"Wow, dramatic much? I'll stop if you agree to help me."

[bewitchinghaze]

"Help you what?" she asks, relaxing as she waits for a response.

[jiyunnies]

"I need to go clothes shopping," she frowns. Riley tries to look like a sad puppy. "Running a business means I need to dress...different?"