Coven

Do you believe that people always come into your life for a reason? Every interaction you have shapes who you are. There's a kind of magic in that, one that can't be found in spellbooks or tarot cards. It's the sort of magic that witches like us can't even begin to understand. But we don't have to understand it to harness it, and now that we're together, we're content to do just that. [ A 1x1 OC RP blog. ]

[xblessedbe]

nightmare.

[melicr]

Zarya listened intently to what the blonde said, trying to make some sense out of the words. From what she could gather this was bad. No, horrible, even. It was already bad enough that her best friend had to go through something as terrible on her own and experience it first hand, but this also meant they had to do something about it as soon as possible. Something was going to happen otherwise, or else Robyn wouldn’t have dreamed about it so vividly. They were in danger, for whatever reason, and that fact seemed so final to her that she couldn’t quite grasp it just yet… This seemed to be important. And how they dealt with this new found information would probably decide on how their lives continued or how short they ended… A trail of thought that sent a shiver down the brunette’s spine. Pretty much the only hint that they got out of this were books, but what could they do with that information? Were they supposed to look for answers in books or did the books have something to do with their death? It was all jumbled, but for now she had to make sure that her friend could gather herself.

“It’s okay. You’re okay,” she muttered, running a hand over the back of Robyn’s head soothingly. “Don’t apologize.” Zarya tightened her grip, trying to keep herself from crying along with the woman in her arms, not capable of imagining what she had just seen and gone through. “I’m sorry.” She now whispered herself, sorry that the blonde had been the one to receive the message and sorry that she could hardly do anything to help. Pulling back gently, she ran a thumb over Robyn’s cheek to wipe away a stray tear as well, brows furrowing with concern before she slowly began to ease herself upwards. “Come on, let’s get some tea and cookies. We’ll figure this out, don’t worry.”

[xblessedbe]

By the time Zarya pulled away, Robyn had started to calm down a little. Her sobs had quieted and lost their hysterical edge, and she felt like she could think -- at least a little. Still, she couldn’t help automatically leaning forward as her friend pulled away, trying to close the gap between them before she realized what the other girl meant to do, that she wasn’t going far. She reached out and clung to the sides of the other’s shirt with her sweaty fists, trying and failing to stop the trembling that wracked its way through her entire body. Although her sobs had quieted, the tears kept coming and coming, leaving a hollow, sickly feeling in the pit of her stomach, her throat aching like she was coming on with a cold. She was horribly sad, but beyond that, she was terrified, and she could hardly remember what she was terrified of -- the jumbled words that she had managed to get out to Zarya were all that she had left. The vivid images she had been shown were gone, so why did she feel like she could still see them etched on the backs of her eyelids every time she blinked?

Still, she nodded when Zarya suggested they go get tea and cookies. The idea of anything sweet made her stomach turn unpleasantly -- a first -- but the tea sounded nice. Warm and comforting. And, of course, she would follow wherever Zarya went. The idea of having the other out of her sight even for a moment sent a bolt of panic down her spine that she only half-understood. “O-Okay,” she said shakily, clinging to the other as she got slowly to her feet. It was getting easier, now -- just hearing Zarya say that they’d figure this out made her feel a little better. But she still couldn’t remember feeling this poorly -- not since well before she got out of her gloomy, death-filled house. The aura of that place seemed to be looming over her head ten times worse now, but it was fading. Thank God, it was fading.

[melicr]

Raina had always been willing to listen to Clarice’s point of view and found herself corrected by her from time to time. Her distrust had come from the contact with magic and its dangers throughout her childhood, her parents always informing her about potential dangers and scaring her to proceed with caution. She had only allowed herself to slip once, with the woman before her, and had no regret regarding that at all. Why should she then not trust what she believed and thought was best in a situation like this one? “You’re right,” she nodded in confirmation. “We should give them a chance and maybe… I’m just being too quick to judge again.” A chuckle followed her words, features softening and truly believing that Clarice likely was more aware of what she was doing… Dealing with darker topics in tarot cards way too often wasn’t doing her any good. “Let’s just be cautious, okay? Be prepared for the worst, even if nothing will happen…. Even if it’s just to sooth my nerves.”

[xblessedbe]

Clarice smiled with a bit of relief as Raina agreed with her. She was glad that she wasn’t being completely irrational -- if she was, Raina would tell her. Just as she’d tell Raina if she thought her fear was completely irrational. It wasn’t -- there was something strange going on, and they’d do well to be cautious. So when Raina warned that they should do exactly that, Clarice had no problem agreeing with her. “Of course. We don’t have to rush into anything ... I just don’t want to stay completely closed off, either.” She grinned, leaning in. “Tempting as it may be to lock you up and keep you all to myself.” She pressed their lips together for a long, lingering kiss, hands slowly traveling down the other’s side, resting against her waist until -- the timer she had set for the tea went off, prompting her to break away with more than a little bit of reluctance. Little moments like that felt like they could last an eternity.

[xblessedbe]

nightmare.

[melicr]

Zarya jumped back at her friend’s reaction, her own face pulling into a painful grimace as she did her very best not to start crying at the terror Robyn was experiencing. The brown-blackish hint to her aura nearly ripped Zarya’s heart in two as she had no idea how to help her friend yet knew that she was suffering. The usually radiate and colorful aura that her friend owned was taunted by whatever she was currently seeing and at the latest of then Z knew that this wasn’t simply an usual bad dream, this was something more.

She kept her distance, not wanting to put too much pressure on the blonde before her and living her some room for herself, hands held up in a silent surrender and heart beating in panic. Once Robyn’s eyes seemed to focus on her again and she threw herself into her arms, the brunette welcomed her by wrapping her arms tightly around her frame in return. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” she whispered, a hand coming up to gently stroking through her hair in an attempt to sooth her. Never before had she witnessed her friend being this way… Not in such an extreme. It frightened her to death. “Shh, breathe, take a few deep breaths, okay?” Right then she knew getting the information that Robyn had gained was important, but among sure she steadied herself was of higher priority. She weighed back and forth, pressing a soft kiss against the blonde’s forehead and looking down at her with both worry and fear. “What kind of danger? What did you see?”

[xblessedbe]

Zarya was warm. She was alive. Robyn clung to her, wanting to forget the horror of the illusion that had turned her gray and cold. But Robyn knew that she couldn’t -- not yet, not until she had told Zarya everything she could articulate. “It -- There was a wi -- woman, and she -- she was warning us.” Us. Not me. It wasn’t just Robyn who was in danger. “She was killed, because -- it was for her color -- her -- God, it was pouring out of her -- she was so gray, but -- the color, it was -- she couldn’t scream --” She wasn’t making sense. The dream hardly made sense, not anymore. It was slipping through her fingers. “There were books,” she whispered, before burying her face in Zarya’s neck and sobbing.

“I don’t know, I don’t know. I’m sorry.” It was all fading now, leaving only sickly, unknowing terror and guilt. The message of the dream hadn’t quite gotten across to her. Whatever lengths the ghost had taken to get that dream to her ... Had it been worth it? Robyn didn’t feel like she could get anything from it, but then again, she was too frightened to think much of anything. As she began to cry herself out, sobs running down into sniffles and hiccups, her usual optimism began to reassert herself. The imagery from the dream had already faded into a jumble of nonsense words, but she had gotten some of it out to Zarya. Maybe they’d be able to get something out of it -- if she managed to just calm down. She reached up a shaky hand to wipe away her tears. “I’m sorry, that -- It’s never happened -- that bad. The dream, it was just --” She had no words. She shivered, sweat dried cold against her skin.

[melicr]

Raina nodded, shifting her eyes to meet the other’s dark ones and completely agreeing with what she had said. “You’re right,” she confirmed, reaching forward to cautiously intertwine their fingers yet again, leaning in to cautiously bump her nose against Clarice’s. “We should give them a shot… Maybe Vanessa is like us,” a soft shrug followed, “who knows?” The other woman continued to speak, asking her a question that she couldn’t give a definite answer too but she was at least going to give her the truth that she was aware of. “I just got a really bad feeling in there, babe, I don’t know what it was, but…” Raina hesitated, shuddering at the memory. “It was definitely not harmless. I-I guess I’m just afraid of endangering you, or us, for that matter. I could never live with myself if I had given that woman the information that we are witches just for her to turn out to be an enemy.” She chewed on the inside of her lip, her free hand moving forward to wrap itself around her girlfriend’s waist. “Just how lucky must we get or how much can we stress fate until we stumble upon people who are strangers and don’t turn out to be like us? I’m not sure of I’m willing to risk it.”

[xblessedbe]

Clarice relished the contact between them, the casual touches that came so easily now that they were alone together. In public, she hesitated even to hold Raina’s hand, but here, it was everything she could do to keep herself from kissing the other woman until she didn’t feel any doubt, any fear. Just bliss and the knowledge that, as long as they two were together, nothing could go wrong. She restrained herself from that, at least. This was a conversation that they needed to have, and years in a relationship had taught her that these types of things only got worse if they put them off. “I know, love. I felt strange, too. Honestly, I’ve been feeling strange since Robyn came into our shop. And I’m not going to pretend like the idea of danger is impossible. But ... Can we really say that those women were the source? And if they weren’t ... If the danger was coming from something else ... Then, maybe we need the help.” The words felt right, at least to her. Robyn, Vanessa, and Wren fascinated her. It wasn’t the same way that Raina had fascinated her back in college -- not even close -- but there was that feeling of kinship. Or, had she really felt that? Or was she just imagining it now? She reached out and caressed Raina’s arm absently, fingertips trailing up and down.

[melicr]

Raina didn’t do well with changes, she never had. Maybe shew as simply so used to keeping their magic a secret and only sharing all of this with Clarice that it seemed absurd to her to even consider the option of letting anyone else into their lives and know about it. Now, smiling softly as soon as Clarice’s lips met her forehead, she exhaled deeply as soon as the other woman headed away to make the tea. “I know,” she nodded in agreement, eyes trailing after her while she seated herself at the table. “Do you really think that all of it could fit together?” She could have answered that question herself as soon as she had asked it, but she felt the urge to hear her girlfriend say it aloud as well. “I am curious, I’m just worried,” she then confirmed, chewing on the inside of her lip before rising from the chair she had taken place in only a couple of seconds before and heading after Clarice, leaning against the nearby counter while she spoke. “What if the picture we end up with isn’t a good one?”

[xblessedbe]

Clarice turned and walked carefully until she stood in front of Raina, leaning against the other gently. She reached up to push the other’s hair back tenderly, cupping her face with both hands. “If I thought like that in college, then I wouldn’t be with you today.” She smiled gently, not wanting her words to come out sounding too much like a reproach. But she spoke the truth. She had been scared when she had met Raina -- scared not only of her magic, but of the feelings that she quickly formed for the other girl. But she had gone forward anyways. And every day, she was thankful that she had chosen this woman to spend the rest of her life with. “I’m not saying that we shouldn’t be ... cautious,” she said carefully. “But I don’t want to miss out on something that could change our lives just because we’re scared.” She cocked her head to the side. “The question is ... What exactly are we scared of?” She said ‘we’ because she was scared, at least a little. But Raina was the one who had made the definitive decision to lie to Vanessa, so she must have had a reason.

[xblessedbe]

nightmare.

[melicr]

Zarya was sleeping peacefully, wrapped in her blanket contently and getting the best of a dreamless night of sleep as a thump ripped her right out of it. While it did take her a few seconds to process what she had heard, the brunette soon jumped off of her mattress and headed down the hallway towards Robyn’s room. Troubled thoughts were passing through her mind as soon as she reached the doorway of where her friend was supposed to be sleeping and she entered only briefly after the crash that had woke her. Sighting the blonde on the floor beside her bed, she dropped to her knees within a matter of seconds and tenderly reached out to grip her hand, her free one moving up to cup the side Robyn’s face as she tried to wake her from the dream that she was going through.

In all of the time that they had known each other, Zarya had rarely experienced this and of course she hated the sight of her friend suffering in the way she was and being completely unable to do anything about it. “Hey, hey,” she gently called out to the other witch, her thumb gently tracing along the skin of her cheek and the grip of her hand tightening. “You’re okay, you’re fine.”

[xblessedbe]

Robyn’s wild eyes fixed on Zarya as the other kneeled to comfort her, but she wasn’t seeing her friend as she really was. Instead, for one wild moment, she saw her in the same state as the pitiful woman from her dream -- drained of everything, devoid of life, just a smear of gray that no longer even knew her name. “No -- No!” She couldn’t bear the thought of Zarya becoming like that -- becoming just another ghost with shadowed eyes and slack lips. “Zarya, please ...” She whimpered, flinching back --

And then it was Zarya -- her Zarya, with all her life and color -- in front of her. “Oh -- Oh, Z ...” She practically moaned, throwing herself into the other girl’s arms. “There was -- She -- They’re going to --” Her breath came in short, harsh gasps, constricting the message before it could get out. She knew she had to tell Zarya what had happen, that soon the dream would be gone. But she was frightened -- more frightened than she had ever been in her life -- and it made it hard to get her thoughts together, or do anything more than tremble in her best friend’s arms as she finally broke down in sobs. “It’s -- It’s bad, it’s ... Danger ...” Yes, Zarya was in danger. She was in danger. It was what the ghost had tried to warn her -- but from what, Robyn had already forgotten. Or maybe she had never really been told.

[melicr]

After turning her keys in the lock to their apartment, Raina entered the familiarity of their own walls and closed the door behind her girlfriend as soon as she had entered. Throughout the rest of the trip her thoughts had been focused on the occurances of that day and how much it irked her that there was a feeling in the pit of her stomach that was beginning to surface towards both Vanessa and the blonde who had visited their store earlier that day. It didn’t necessarily have to mean anything at all and she couldn’t determine whether it was a good or bad feeling, but it unsettled her. They had found their place in this city, no matter how calm it was and their lack of friends to share everything with… She wasn’t quite sure if she was willing for that to change. She also wasn’t sure if this meant change, however, so instead of continuing to dwell on everything she sighed heavily and placed her purse on the kitchen counter, the take out bags that they had brought along still in her hand as she headed towards the dining table and began to place the two orders in front of the chairs they would seat themselves at. Clearing her throat she tossed a glance towards Clarice. “Quite the day, huh?”

[xblessedbe]

Raina was troubled. Clarice understood that. Whether these women were good or bad, they represented -- something. Something new. And Raina, who had been with the magical community for so much longer than she, knew both the good and the bad sides of it. But for Clarice, witches meant a new life. The ability to be who she really was, not to hide away behind prayer and piety. And Robyn -- she liked her, at least. The others she was less sure on, but she was sure that, in time, she could come to like them, too. As Raina set down the food, Clarice smiled, approaching her. “Quite the day,” she echoed. She reached out, grabbing Raina gently by the arm. “Sweetheart ... We can’t pretend like something isn’t happening here, can we?” It was easier to be affectionate when they were in private. She pressed a kiss to the top of Raina’s head before going to brew tea -- Raina’s favorite blend, and incidentally one that gave strong tea leaf readings. “In between what happened at the shop earlier with Robyn -- and those books -- those women -- everything’s coming together  to paint us a picture.” She heated up the water and measured out the tea leaves without even thinking. “I don’t know what it is yet ... But aren’t you a little curious about what it might look like if we completed it?” She wasn’t upset or agitated -- just curious.

[xblessedbe]

nightmare.

The woman was a tall and gangling smear of gray on Robyn’s wallpaper. She knew that it was impossible for a ghost to get into her room -- she had wards and enchantments all over -- which meant this had to be a dream. Ghosts only sent her dreams when things were really dire, so the thought wasn’t very comforting at all. When the ghost woman noticed that Robyn was looking, she held out her hands, begging for -- something. She opened her mouth, but instead of speaking, blood poured from her gray mouth in a shocking, vibrant red, mixed with another strange color (the color of magic -- the realization was there and gone). The woman’s already distorted form began to melt in on itself, eyes running like eggs, her mouth gaping wider and wider in an impossible, silent scream. The room around her began to melt, too -- familiar walls being replaced by tall shelves and the smell of old books, and then --

She was in her bedroom -- really in her bedroom -- tangled in her bedsheets, trapped. “No! No!” Jumbled thoughts -- she was a witch that was a witch and she was killed killed by by by -- were shocked out of her along with most of her breath as she rolled out of bed, landing heavily on the floor, still half in the melting dream world, still expecting to see the gray woman with blood and (magic) something pouring from her, leaving her empty (it was a warning).

[melicr]

Zarya didn’t mind going out as much as she usually said. If it weren’t for Robyn it probably wouldn’t belong to her activities, but the truth was that it wasn’t half as bad with the blonde accompanying her. She knew her well enough and had the best ideas on what they could do together most of the time, so it really wasn’t half bad to get out of the house and spend more quality time with her best friend usually. A grin grew on her lips as Robyn continued and she soon raised her hands to a silent surrender while continuing to chew the cookie. “Fine, fine. I’ll admit it, you’re good for me. And you forcing me to go out is also good for me… Most of the time,” she spoke and mimicked her friend’s eye roll to show that she was joking just as much. While she was grateful for the few friends that they had made around the city none of them came close to Robyn and no one ever would, they shared something more than just the secret involving their magic. No matter how sappy that sounded.

[xblessedbe]

Robyn grinned, before realizing there was probably chocolate in her teeth. She covered her mouth quickly with her hand, trying and failing not to burst into another fit of giggles. Doing her best not to completely choke on her cookie, she waited until her mouth was empty before speaking. “Well, I guess nights like this aren’t exactly the worst for me, either,” she said dramatically, as if conceding a point. “I suppose you forcing me to stay in is good for me, too ... Most of the time.” She mimicked her friend’s tone, picking up another cookie carefully between two fingers. They were cooling off quickly, but still probably too hot for consumption. That didn’t stop her from taking a giant bite, of course. Robyn was known for many things, but impulse control was not one of them. “Although I’m still taking you out, soon. Our next adventure will have to be to that tea and tarot place. You’re going to love it, Z!”

[melicr]

Raina greatly appreciated her girlfriend’s trust, even though her own thoughts and feelings went against them this time. The fact that Clarice was willing to put her discomfort and distrust first instead of acting on her own made the other woman just love her even more for it. It meant a lot that despite them disagreeing on this topic her girlfriend was willing to put that to the side and offer her support of the time being. They could always talk it through and come to a final decision later, it wasn’t like this was their last chance to contact this woman - or, well, now these two women - who were surrounding them. She had no idea where the feeling growing in the pit of her stomach started and when it had begun bet she was sure that something was off here and someone had been in this store that wasn’t worth trusting. No matter how friendly these two seemed to be. Raina offered Vanessa another smile and followed behind her towards the register, anticipating finally getting out of this store and simply being on her own with the only person that she truly had grown to trust. She handed her own book towards the bookstore owner over the counter and nodded at her a final time. “This is an amazing shop, though. I’m really impressed,” she was trying to get some more control over the situation. This was somewhat damage control. But it was also sincere, she truly liked what the other woman had made of her store.

The knowing smile that she received from Vanessa earned a quirk of a brow in return. Wren couldn’t help but wonder whether this woman possibly knew more about the world and the magic within it than what she was voicing. Especially now and since she had overheard the other two women implying the same thing, she felt her own curiosity grow. The brunette followed after the three other woman, but in a slower pace, cautiously weighing the book in one of her hands as she considered her following actions and strolled past the aisles of books slowly. Soon enough she decided that it was probably worth buying, even if just to have another reason to return to the shop another time and joined the rest of them at the register.

[xblessedbe]

Clarice put her book on the counter along with Raina’s, digging around her purse for money while her girlfriend complimented the shop owner. She smiled and nodded along with the woman’s words, however, so Vanessa would know she agreed with them. And she did -- it was a very lovely store, and Vanessa seemed like a lovely woman. As Vanessa murmured her thanks for the compliment and gave the total for the books, Clarice put down the money with a bright smile. “Thank you so much!” She hoped her smile and her thanks didn’t come across as false. She only wanted to get back home as quickly as possible, so that she and Raina could sort all of this out. It would be so much easier to deal with this once they could talk about it in private. Taking the books, she started to walk towards the exit.

When the two women were almost to the door, Vanessa called after them one more time. “Have a nice day!” She didn’t know what passed between them all, but it was something very strange. Once they were taken care of, she turned to Wren. “You’re done, as well?” She wanted to come up with something clever -- some careful reference to the fact that she had seen the other’s telekinesis -- but nothing came to mind. She was sure that if she tried to bring it up, it would only come up garbled. It was part of the reason she only spoke in short sentences, and didn’t try anything too adventurous with the syntax. She took the book from the shorter girl and rung it up, her face going blank as she pondered the events. When she realized what she was doing, however, she quickly put on a smile that felt strange now that she was actively thinking about it. Unfortunately, now that she started thinking about the minute details of her facial expressions, she couldn’t seem to stop. “Your total is $11.95,” she said.

[melicr]

Zarya had always been optimistic and carefree, but she had also always known to love what she had and what was offered to her. Robyn was one of the people that she was grateful to have and she didn’t believe for even a second that she could have lived without her… The thought that them meeting has been more than just a very large coincidence wasn’t hitting her for the first time, in a world this big with so few people who actively displayed themselves as the magicians that they were, it seemed top good to be true that she had met one of them who was so fantastic and so much alike to her in many ways without any anything else playing into it. She might not have gone as far as her friend and chosen the word ‘fate’ for it, but it most definitely was something in that direction. Now, beginning to cautiously pull the cookie in her hands into tiny pieces and popping them into her mouth, a grin broadened on her lips. “You’re asking me,” she responded to the blondes question, letting the deliciousness of the cookie fill her mouth. “I would just lock myself up in here and make cookies for the next eternity, if you’d let me.”

[xblessedbe]

Robyn giggled, pressing  hand to her lips to avoid spraying crumbs. “You should be grateful. Adventure is good for the soul.” The city was always good for that -- there was so much to see. Robyn loved just going in a random direction and seeing what she could find, even if it led to her getting lost occasionally. “Besides, without me forcing you out of the house, you wouldn’t have anything even resembling a social life.” She gave a dramatic eye-roll to let the other know that she was only joking. It was true that most of their friends were Robyn’s friends before they were Zarya’s. Then again, most of their friends were only acquaintances, at least compared to the bond that the two girls shared with each other. It was difficult to make close friends with people that you couldn’t share your true, authentic self with, after all. They had to be careful not to mention magic around any of their friends, or risk exposure. They didn’t have that problem with each other.

[melicr]

Raina met Clarice’s eyes, knowing that the woman disliked lying, even if it was just to strangers and for their own protection. She wasn’t sure how to handle the situation, terrified by the idea of their secret getting into the wrong hands. It was easy for her to read her expression, easy to see that she didn’t understand why she was doing this but she had made too many bad experiences and knew that not everyone out there who knew about people with their abilities were goodhearted… And then there was the feeling of unease that she had experienced only moments before, Raina couldn’t quite determine whether it had been caused by Vanessa or if something else had caught her attention. Either way, it was not worth the risk. She only regretted bringing her girlfriend into a situation she was uncomfortable with. Dwelling on what to respond next, she gratefully used the petite brunette’s distraction as an excuse to gather her thoughts.

“Right, should’ve checked the back, huh?” Wren laughed at her own stupidity, trying to play it off like she hadn’t intentionally wanted to bring herself into their conversation. Her eyes fleeted from one of the three women to the next, curious… the feeling in the pit of her stomach telling her that this was something more than just an incidential meeting. Something important was happening here. “Yeah, it was fine. You’d be surprised by how far someone of my height can reach, really… You learn certain tricks here and there,” she responded, bemused by the other woman’s inquiry. She was used to poking fun at her own height… She could only hope this woman didn’t know that this certain book had been up way higher than it would have been possible for her to humanely reach. “Tarot and herbs, huh?” The woman asked the other two, whom she hadn’t had the pleasure of speaking to yet. “My mother is an expert on herbs, sure she’d be happy to see that there are still people out here who appreciate the art.”

[xblessedbe]

Clarice didn’t know why, but she trusted the two women. Not the transient sort of trust that she bestowed on everyone, but something deeper. Then again, maybe the very oddness of the emotion was suspect. It could be planted, preying on her nature. With Vanessa distracting herself with another client, Clarice took a moment to read her girlfriend’s expression. A moment’s glance was enough to tell her that the other felt that something was very off. She decided that the best course of action would be to get out of the store and back home, where they could discuss the matter in private. She gave Raina a small nod and turned back to Vanessa and Wren as the shorter girl addressed them. “Well, the book looked interesting!” She kept it careful, not really a lie. It was easier that way. Then she turned back to Vanessa. “I think we’re ready to check out ...”

“Tricks ...” Vanessa echoed with a small, knowing smile. Still, she decided to keep her knowledge to herself, for the time being. There was something very strange going on, here. At least one of the women in here was an actual witch, and she had her suspicions about the other two. But there was a certain tenseness, a feeling of being watched. While she didn’t feel any threats from these women, specifically, it seemed better not to take chances. When the woman with the herb book said she was ready to check out, she felt a sneaking relief. She had a feeling that these women would take most of the tenseness out of the store with them, when they left. “Of course. You can follow me ...” She gestured towards the counter with the register, keeping the offer open in case Wren wanted to tag along to buy her book.

[melicr]

Zarya’s grin increased at the compliments that her friend was throwing her way, suddenly feeling oddly bashful as she had to force herself to shift her gaze away from the blonde in an attempt to hide it. That was unusual for her, trying to conseal what she was feeling, and especially when it came to Robyn… Over all of these years she had been an open book to her. “I really don’t want to think about that scenario…” She began to respond, a soft chuckle joining in on her words. “Seriously, if we hadn’t met and hadn’t wound up where we are now… I can’t imagine the way things would be… You’re such a… major part of my life that would be like… Imagining how things would be if I had not been born with the sight.” Zarya shrugged yet again. Robyn had shaped her as a person and she truly believed that the blonde had made her a better one than she could have ever been on her own. The life that they had built up together, for themselves, was all that she could have ever wished for. “The city turned out to be a great choice,” she confirmed what the girl was getting at, now meeting her eyes once more with an understanding smile. “Somehow we managed to come all this way… Who would have thought back in the day, huh?”

[xblessedbe]

“I couldn’t agree more,” Robyn said, although she didn’t even know what she was agreeing to. All of it, she supposed. Zarya was always able to do that -- to perfectly articulate the thoughts that were going through Robyn’s own mind. Maybe it was because she grew up being allowed to express her emotions, so it came easier to her. Robyn loved feeling her emotions, but when it came to putting them into words, sometimes she just didn’t have the vocabulary. Like, how would she even begin to express how much she loved her friend? She didn’t even know if the words existed to describe that, but if they did she certainly didn’t know them. Smiling, she picked up a cookie, pleased to find that they were finally cool enough to touch. She bit into it, closing her eyes and speaking with her mouth full of chocolate. “Oh, my God. Why don’t we do this every day?” Well, okay, most days she was more likely to want to go out and do something in the big wide world. She liked being surrounded by people, liked how everyone in the city was so full of life. But cookies were pretty awesome, too.

[melicr]

Raina was cautious to eye the other woman’s reaction, trying to see if her facial expression could give anything away or if she would at least try to drop a hint for the two of them, considering they were so openly exposing what they were capable of for her to find out if she could put the pieces together. Her eyes wandered to her girlfriend briefly, giving her a meaningful glance before returning her attention to the bookstore owner with a polite smile. “Well, that surely does sound interesting… You seem to have quite the unusual choice in books yourself if you managed to pick out all of these and little treasures like this throughout your travels.” She shrugged, not wanting to imply anything more and pretending like they were throwing all of this into the conversation randomly. Her inquisition on whether they had experience with the mentioned contents threw her slightly off track, taking a moment for the brunette to catch herself before she could respond. “Oh, no… I’ve just always found things like this interesting and whenelse to people get such a chance to gather more information?” Under normal circumstances Raina wasn’t a bad liar, but the sensitivity of their magic and not being used to covering it up so openly managed to lower her guard.

Wren, the meanwhile, caught up on what was going on between the three strangers ahead, brows arching with both interest and amusement as all of them somehow danced around the topic that they were hinting at. She wasn’t good at reading people, but even she could pick up on how at least the girl with the tarot book wasn’t handling this well. Showing up from behind the shelf she had hidden herself, she assumed that giving them a way to escape the discomfort of this situation might be nice, besides, she didn’t want to stay around here all day no matter how sympathetic she thought the owner to be. “Vanessa?” She piped in, addressing the woman with her first name and eyeing all three of them suspiciously. “Can you tell me how much this one would be?” Was she hijacking the conversation? Yes, definitely. And the glare that the tarot girl threw her way was rather hard to miss.

[xblessedbe]

Clarice looked down at the book in her hands and giggled, although it definitely sounded awkward and forced to her own ears. “And I just really like plants,” she offered, which wasn’t really a lie. Coming from her mouth, though, it sounded like one. She wasn’t a good liar -- hated lying, in fact -- but since Raina beat her to the punch she had to follow her girlfriend’s lead. And, sure, Raina’s instincts about these things were right, a lot of the time. But not all of the time. Raina was just a more suspicious person than Clarice by nature. Clarice, personally, didn’t see anything wrong with this woman knowing that they were witches. It seemed clear to her that the other woman had some sort of magical talent, as well -- someone who was merely interested wouldn’t have this kind of collection. And despite her stoic and rather intimidating demeanor, Clarice tended to trust people until they gave her a reason not to. So, when the other customer broke into the conversation, Clarice took a moment to catch her girlfriend’s eye. They had been together for so long, she figured they could communicate at least a little with a single look. Just what are you afraid of, Raina? Why do we have to lie?

Vanessa followed the other woman’s lead. “Oh, well. It’s a very interesting subject.” Her voice was low and calm, easy to mistake as emotionless. But, internally, she was calculating. Why were these women so blatantly lying to her? Were they a threat of some kind, hiding out? Vanessa didn’t think she had any true enemies, least of all in this city that she had only properly settled into a few weeks ago. But there was something ... mistrustful about these women, particularly the one with the tarot book. Vanessa had not gotten this far by being impulsive. She didn’t make any snap judgments, but she didn’t leave the two alone as she turned her attention to the shorter girl. She picked up the book and looked on the back of it. “$12,” she replied, handing it back to her. “Were you able to reach it without much trouble?” She couldn’t help the small tease, especially after what she had seen.

[melicr]

Despite how uneasy she was feeling and the subconscious warning of possible danger nearby, Clarice was able to earn a large smile from Raina as her lips planted a kiss against her knuckles and succeeded in comforting her. Secretly the brunette thought highly of such subtle gestures and deep down had quite the romantic tendencies, something as simple as that was already enough to make her forget that she was truly troubled about the situation they were in… She assumed that could both be a flaw and a positive trait at the same time. Allowing her girlfriend to lead the way, she followed after her as they headed towards the shop owner, a more polite smile now playing on her own lips as she intended to earn information from this woman and figured someone who seemingly had so many connections should be humored. “Absolutely. We found two items we would be interested in, actually,” she responded to what the woman had asked, raising the book in her own hand to display it for the sake of the conversation. “Quite a nice collection you have here, honestly. I’m impressed.” She allowed her gaze to sweep over the rest of the store one more time, hoping her question would seem casual as she let it flow in Vanessa’s direction. “Who supplies you with all of this?”

In the meantime Wren flipped through the pages of the newly retrieved book before allowing it to return back to the shelf she had taken it from, soon enough deciding that she would likely not find anything too interesting but keeping a book by her side for good measure as she slowly made her way through the aisles and caught sight of the two others conversing with the woman she had just met. Call it intuition or simply her natural curiosity, but the brunette made sure to stay within earshot, hiding in the shadows of one of the bookshelves and awfully grateful for her tiny appearance and how it allowed her to eavesdrop whenever the mood seemed to strike. Not that she was expecting anything interesting, though, they were just normal customers and they were likely only going to speak about the books they were buying, but hey, there wasn’t much else she had in mind for spending her day.

[xblessedbe]

Clarice chimed in where her girlfriend left off, holding up the book she had found. “This must be one of a kind ... There are notes written in the margins, even if other books like it exist.” With a shop this size, she wouldn’t be surprised if Vanessa didn’t remember exactly which book Clarice was holding. Maybe she hadn’t even read through it before placing it on her shelf. But, somehow, she doubted it. This woman seemed far too ... careful, or something like that. She thought that there was something in the way that she stood among her books that showed that she truly cared about each and every text that she placed along her shelves. As the shop owner looked down at the book with a knowing smile, she knew that she had made the right assumption, at least in that regard.

Vanessa recognized the book immediately, of course. That and the one that the other woman held. Both had been part of her personal collection, at one time. She had even been the one to write the notes in the margins of the plant book. But plant and tarot magic didn’t call to her the way other magics did. It dealt more with the subjective, things that she couldn’t touch. Her preferred brand of magic dealt with tangible, sure results. Still, she was happy to answer the tarot woman’s question. “I am a bit of a wanderer,” she admitted. “At least, I was. These books are either from my travels over the years, or come from suppliers that I met in those travels.” Most people weren’t interested in where Vanessa got her books. But she had been met with two different versions of the same question in a matter of minutes. She returned the two’s fascination frankly. “You two made interesting choices. Not the kinds of books novices would pick. You have experience in these matters?”

[melicr]

Zarya’s brows furrowed, a grin growing on her lips as the blonde continued to speak. It was funny to her how she suddenly seemed to be nervous, a soft twinge to her aura just adding to her confusion despite her doing her very best not to read too much into it. She assumed the rosé twist to what she was seeing was normal, a sign of their friendship.. It was usual to show affection to people you were as close to as the two of them were. What she was saying just underlined the brunette’s trail of thought, but somehow that realisation brought forward disappointment in her; what was that about? “Please, I am at least just as lucky to have you as well,” the girl chuckled, finally reaching forward and taking a still hot cookie off of the plate with the tips of her fingers. She regretted it just seconds after, nearly burning herself as she cautiously switched it back and forth between both hands. “What would I do without you, after all? I can’t even begin to imagine what things would be like if I wouldn’t have met you.” Shifting her eyes back upwards and towards the other’s blue ones the joyful expression on her face increased. “You’re adorable.”

[xblessedbe]

You’re adorable. That was the icing on the cake, earning a high-pitched laugh of of Robyn. She secretly hated that laugh, which always seemed to pop up at the most awkward times, like when she was in a job interview or when she was trying to flirt with someone. When she was flustered, at any rate, although she had no reason to be like that around Zarya. She made a big act of it, burying her face in her hand as she dissolved into less obnoxious giggles. “Oh, please,” she laughed, shaking her head. “Says the cutest cutie who ever ... cuted.” She watched Zarya struggle with the cookie, pulling a paper towel from the roll on their little table and folding it up for her friend to use as a makeshift plate. “But, seriously though ... Have you ever really thought about it? If we never met, we probably would have never moved to the city ...” She remembered talking about it with the tea and tarot shop owners, how much she loved the city. “It wound up being a really good fit for us, right? Almost like ...” She trailed off. She was going to say fate, but that seemed a bit dramatic. Fate probably had more important things to worry about than where two young witches wound up. “You know. It’s just sort of amazing to think about, sometimes.”

[melicr]

“Please, my mom always drops subtle hints at us coming to visit her, even if we just left.” The brunette grinned, allowing her thoughts to wander as she looked down at the plate of cookies. Considering that her family had always been so open and accepting, it had never been much of a surprise that her parents had welcomed Robyn to be a part of them after only meeting them twice. Maybe they had noticed how close the two of them had become and how much the blonde meant to her, that might have helped in this case. Their unusual abilities had always been embraced by every single family member so they had considered themselves lucky together to know more about the magic that her friend practiced and to exchange information about he world that they were a part of. She missed her family, even though they still had close contact, it was weird not to living with the people who had taught her and made her what she was. Zarya only found comfort in the fact that Robyn was always around, she couldn’t have asked for a better friend or roommate. Noticing that they had been sitting in silence for a while, she averted her gaze from the cookies and looked up at her friend, her own expression adapting to a bright smile of her own as soon as she saw the other’s expression. “What is it?” She asked, a small laugh joining in and head tilting in curiosity. 

[xblessedbe]

Robyn laughed and looked down at the cookies, suddenly embarrassed. She had no idea why she would feel that way -- of course she thought that Zarya was pretty, and admired it often. She was sure most best friends spent time looking into their best friends eyes and admiring the color, thinking about how it felt more like home than the house they grew up in ever could ... Okay, maybe that last bit was just Robyn, but the point still stood. Friends were supposed to admire friends. And, still, she found herself stumbling over her words. “Nothing, I just ... Was thinking about how lucky I am to have you!” Well, that still sounded sappy, but less ... pining? That was a truly silly thought. She had no reason to pine over Zarya ... They lived together, after all! She already had the best friend she could ask for, so why would she need to want for anything more? Zarya had already given her so much, and having her as a best friend and roommate was more than she could ever hope for. “It’s just ... thinking of family, and all that. Sometimes it just hits me how lucky I was to find yours. To find you. You ... I’ve told you how great you are recently, haven’t I?” She looked up and grinned, trying to show that she was at least partly joking. Robyn was a pretty sappy person, but even she had her limits.