comparable to a colander, remembering one thing was like nudging rocks loose from an amateur baby dam —– flooding. it isn’t an unfamiliar friend, the way it always spills through the hand to scrawl & streak across the page, staining the blacks and whites of words and names, and when Bill’d stretched across to pluck a case of aspirin from his bag, even the noise, even the rattling’s given something else to scribble : not about a brother, but about someone who might as well have been. that sends his stomach spinning to the pits & roiling in a blanket of trepidation even by the blast of frigid air to the face, icing fingers that’d clutched at the threads of his thin sleeves while he’d stood, stared at a cluster of meaningless street signs, and abruptly shouldered past the third shop door he’d strolled across. ( some things just happen the way they’re meant to, like the losers knew where the story needed to . . . )
pressing his tongue to the backs of his teeth, fingers that’d gone pink in the chill skimmed tips across lovingly dusted shelves, examining dark glass at eye level & hand written labels —– brand void. something you’d see peddled in the back of a caravan, the way you’d paint it out in a cautionary witch story, or draw in a pop - up book. “ so you vouch it’s all real ? . . . it’s a decent tourist trap. ”
he’d torn eyes from the bottled ooze bobbing in her hand to survey further, tickled in the aura ( she’s an actress, that’s for sure ) looking from knick to knack & kneading the cold from the backs of his hands. “ i’d buy you out of any magic potion that’d get my huh . . . huh - huh - head . . . ” words trail, overlap in his head, and Bill screwed his nose and closed his eyes.
Sally smiled, “Every last bit of it is real, it’s all based in chemistry - some of it very basic, some of it a little more complicated,” she told him, taking him in. A skeptic, fair enough. She ran into those daily, and they didn’t bother her so much as they entertained her. She usually knew there wasn’t much she could do to change their minds. What was she going to do, start going on about how she has visions? This wasn’t Halloween town. No, that would not be received well.
As he stuttered, Sally waited patiently, never taking her eyes off of him. There was something troubling him, that much was clear, she was always in tune with these things; could feel his energy in the air next to her, though that would also make her sound less than sane.
“Headache?” Sally guessed, “For that, there are some remedies...peppermint, ginger, coriander...” she trailed off. “I tend to think that there’s a plant for whatever ails you. I have not met a problem that couldn’t be solved by the Earth.”
Sally was lonely in the store near closing time, her shift long over. She could leave whenever she wanted to, but it wasn’t like she had this big social life to get to. It’d be just Sally in her small home, a book open on her lap and herbal tea warming her soul; a repeat of more of the same.
She reorganized bottles that had been moved to incorrect shelves, swept the floors, and finally, decided to spend some time sitting with a book of potions, trying to figure out if there was a potion that could make her feel like less of a wallflower. So far, she was coming up empty.
Sally didn’t have a chance to even continue looking, however, a vision overtaking her, her body tensing as the white hot sensation of what was to come hit her. Flashes of a painted face, maniacal laughter, the feeling that something sinister was coming sooner rather than later all flashed in her mind before abruptly releasing her, just as someone walked through the store’s entrance.
Out of breath, body slack, Sally was jarred - it didn’t matter how many times this happened, she never felt better. It always came with the same queasiness and dry, papery tongue.
“H-hello,” she choked out. “We’re um, we’re about to close, but I can still help you!” Sally said, trying to feel normal, but the sweat pooling on her forehead betraying her.
“It’s true, I could do my own stitches on my own body if I had to,” Sally laughed, nudging Junior as she did. She knew that a lot of what she said sounded crazy, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t unequivocally true. “I know it sounds ridiculous, but my pain tolerance is so high, I probably could do it with a straight face. I don’t want to test the theory, necessarily, but I’m very confident!”
“So what’s your hidden talent, hm?” she asked him, taking a sip of her Shirley Temple and eyeing him closely, “It’s got to be better than having high pain tolerance.” If Sally was honest, her hidden talent was much more complex, but she tried not to bring it up so often, unless she had information that was pertinent to someone, her visions were kept under wraps. It was one less thing for someone to think was strange about her, and that was how she liked it.
“Oh, here’s a good one,” Sally said, pulling her customer’s selected card to read it. “It’s the Wheel of Fortune, and it’s face up. which is a really good one, in my experience...” she noted, laying it down in front of him. Sally enjoyed these readings, except when they frightened her, then she didn’t so much.
“This could mean a few things, for example, good luck, good karma, it could mean something something’s about to change- a turning point, hopefully for the better,” Sally went on, “Oh! And I forgot, it’s also a card of destiny!”
She set her deck down, “Do you have a feeling that something is about to change in your life? Have you found a shiny penny on the ground lately?”
“You put Foxglove in what?” Sally asked a customer incredulously as they explained a healing potion they’d been trying to make. “Oh no, you must know that’s an extremely toxic plant, right? It’s a good deer repellent, but you cannot, CANNOT put that in your body. Your body is to be loved.” Sometimes, Sally really couldn’t understand how people didn’t already know these things, and other times, she simply reminded herself that not everyone has been studying these things since they were children.
Finishing with that customer, Sally turned her head to see a boy, handsome and much taller than she, browsing Madame Daphne’s who did not seem to be a regular, “Hello - do you need some help? I know there’s a lot to look at around here, I was overwhelmed the first time I took a lookthrough.” She took a bottle off the shelf in front of them, examining the ingredients.
“This is a good one for sleep, actually - all of these are, lavender being their main ingredient, do you have trouble sleeping?” She asked, “I swear I’m not trying to be nosey, I just really like to help. If you need something for energy, that’s toward the back, and I promise they’re much better than coffee- oh, I’m talking too much, sorry,” she said, apologizing out of habit. She’d told herself she’d stop doing that, but coming from where she did, how could she not?
first thing’s first, i gave sally a last name simply bc she doesn’t have one in the movie, because like, animated characters don’t usually require them, and i thought it’d be super weird if she just didn’t??
most of the things in her backstory from her canon are true, but i’ve decided to make them a bit more realistic. obviously, she’s human instead of having been created in a lab, but she still very much feels like a misfit because of her background and abilities.
she gets psychic visions that she can’t control, usually warning her of something bad happening.
her parents died when she was eighteen years old, it left her without a home and without financial security.
she’s the princess of unrequited love - back in her hometown, she was lovesick over jack skellington, who scarcely noticed her except for when she did him acts of kindness. she’s trying to get over that now, since she doesn’t live back home anymore and is trying to start anew.
she’s kind of shy and withdrawn by nature, often wanting to join in conversations but sometimes feeling she’ll be judged too quickly if she does. she often stands on the sidelines and looks on, observing behavior patterns and the way people interact with one another.
a smart cookie, sally is well versed in chemistry, concocting her own mixtures for healing, and even sometimes poisons. she is aware of almost every plant known to man and loves nature, preferring to bask outside. she also is a fantastic cook - her soups are so good that you wouldn’t even know there was poison in it if there was. and of course there definitely isn’t.
dr. finklestein was a scientist who sally was an apprentice to for many years, even living in his home for a time after the death of her parents. she began learning everything she knows about science and chemistry from him. basically, she was an unpaid intern. as time went on, he became stranger. she began enduring abuse that left scars on her body. it became clear that he was mad and viewed her as his own, though he had no claim to her whatsoever. he wouldn’t let her leave, and would punish her when she made attempts to do so. she became so desperate at one point that she tried to poison him, but to no avail. finally, she has managed to slip away, but for how long?
she has been working at madame daphne’s ever since she arrived to town, she finds that it is the place she feels most at home, surrounded by those who are like her.
theartofmadeline
areudirty
blakekathryn
