RP: The Scare Who: Kenzie & Scarlett What: Kenzie stops into Bazaar's Curiosities hoping for a peek of Scarlett and ends up in St. Mungo's instead. When: 28 April 2028 Where: Bazaar's Curiosities, then St. Mungo's Warnings: Language, near-death experience, talk of sex Completion Status: Complete
A few days had passed since Scarlett had reached out to her and she had left her on read. She would swear that it wasn’t on her mind when she had gotten ready that morning and decided she was going to pop by to see Penny. Yet, as she put her hand on the handle to let herself into the shop, she found herself hoping that maybe Scarlett was there. Maybe Scar had needed to come in to see Penny for something. Two minutes, she just wanted to see her, be sure she was doing okay. She was mad at her, but she still at least wanted to see her.
When she turned around from opening the door and saw Scarlett however, she felt her heart sink to her sneakers. She turned abruptly, wanting to leave, but instead bumped into a customer that was just leaving. They got outside the door, just as Kenzie’s elbow bumped into a stand, shattering a clay pot. An alarm sounded, and suddenly she could feel wards falling into place. Well fuck.
The phone was ringing immediately, alarm still sounding. The conversation was quick, Penny checked that Scarlett was safe, what was wrong at the shop, and the bad news. It was going to take her a few to get to the shop to spring the girls. She could set off the alarm, but the wards would keep them in, and everyone but Penny out until she got back from a meeting with the DMLE.
Kenzie stood stock still where she’d bumped the harmless artifact, flushing as she looked down at the dust on her jeans. “Am I going to die?” she called out, unable to help the words that slipped from her mouth. The alarm had stopped just a moment before, she hoped that meant she wasn’t about to die. Who knew what Penny had in the shop. When Penny first asked Scarlett to come into the shop, she'd been a bit grumpy. The shop customer service bits of her job were far less exciting than working the high roller games Penny hosted, but she loved working those enough to help out in the shop when Penny needed it. And, thankfully, she'd needed it less and less now that she'd replaced Mr. Douchebag. All in all, she wasn't about to grumble at her boss about the little bit of extra help that was being asked of her.
Scarlett dressed a little more conservatively for the job, though the outfit still felt like her. It was bright and light and felt like spring, and even if Kenzie was going to keep leaving her on read, she wasn't going to let that dampen her good mood. She had a regular fuck-buddy in Hugo now, after all, and several others she could cycle through as she saw fit. She hadn't given Aldrich a thought in weeks. Honestly.
It was a slow day at the shop, thankfully, and she was just sorting through some inventory behind the counter, a box of smaller, jeweled pieces that Penny had already priced and created informational placards for, when the bell above the door jingled. Before she could look up and welcome the customer to the shop, though, there was a commotion and then the alarms were blaring. Well, fuck. Of course, the phone rang a moment later, and she knew it would be Penny. Blissful, the alarm stopped a few seconds into the call.
Finally able to give the customer her attention, Scarlett froze when she saw it was Kenzie. And then she gasped when she realized what was all over Kenzie. "Don't move," she cautioned, pulling her wand out and hurrying around the counter to her best friend. It didn't matter that they hadn't really talked in two months. Kenzie was here now, and she was not okay. Waving her wand, Scarlett conjured two masks, putting one over her nose and mouth before stepping up to Kenzie and putting the other on her and taking a few steps back again.
"You'll probably have to go to St. Mungo's, but if you didn't breathe too much of it in, you won't die," she told her rather bluntly. Waving her wand again, she repaired the vase that Kenzie had, apparently, knocked over. The next spell was more difficult, more intricate, and Scarlett focused as she called all the dust particles back to the vase. She wouldn't have even been able to tell where she'd learned the spell. It was possible she'd only ever seen it cast once before and picked it up subconsciously, but she took care with the magic now, not about to let anything happen to Kenzie if she could help it. There was no hesitation as Scarlett told her to stand still, she did just that. Standing stock still, barely even breathing. She could already feel the start of a panic attack, but it was the next words that sealed the deal. She'd have to go to St. Mungo's. Her heart raced in her chest, eyes impossibly wide with fear, and any high she may have had was out the window. All she could hear was a little voice in her head screaming that she was about to die.
Yes, they were fighting. No, Kenzie didn't think they were still friends. Yes, she had convinced herself that Scarlett didn't actually care about her even slightly. Yet when the other woman started spell casting, Kenzie trusted her completely. Her anxiety started to recede a little as she watched Scarlett work. She always forgot how good with magic her friend was until they got into situations like this, where Scarlett pulled something out of her ass to save the day. Why hadn't she done that with Aldrich?
Just thinking of her cousin made her sick. Was there even a slight chance Kenzie could get out of here without the pair having a discussion over what had happened? The work was distracting enough to keep Scarlett from focusing on Kenzie, but before long, all the dust was back in the vase, and there was nothing to do but look at Kenzie. "You're going to be okay," she said fiercely. You have to be, she thought. "Just breathe slowly with me, okay? In two, three; out two three." She guided Kenzie through the breaths, adding a second each cycle until they were breathing in for seven seconds, then back out.
She stepped closer, her hands coming up to rub up and down Kenzie's arms as she continued calmly guiding Kenzie through her breathing. Though she couldn't say how much time had passed, she was relieved when she felt the subtle shift of the alarm wards being dismantled. Moments later, the bell jingled again as Penny entered the shop. The emergency response healers weren't far behind, and Scarlett indicated which artifact had been shattered. She barely even processed the Healers' praise of her quick thinking with the masks and cleaning up the dust.
The entire time, she refused to move away from Kenzie. And when they said they were taking Kenzie to St. Mungo's for a full workup, trying to nudge Scarlett out of the way, she fiercely said, "I'm coming with!" The breathing exercise was one they had done countless times, before Kenzie had figured out just how helpful weed had been for her. It helped to melt that brick of ice that had settled around her heart over the last month and some change. She found it harder with the mask on, but she was able to finally breathe in for the full seven seconds, then out again. Her eyes slipped closed feeling Scar touching her arms, tears welling up in her eyes. Everything was more complicated than this, wasn't it?
Very suddenly everything was moving again, people were poking at her, breaking her calm. The only thing that was helping stop the calm was her pinky linked with Scarlett's. It was only when one very pushy Healer was trying to hustle Kenzie from the room, without Scar, that their connection broken. "Can she please?" she asked in a quiet and meek voice, the anxiety building once again.
Penny had been talking with the pushy Healer, giving up as much information as she could on the object. She even handed over the authentication that had come with it. They assured her they had the antidote at St. Mungo's, and that Kenzie would be alright. She followed after the woman when she went to scoop up the girls, wanting to be sure to at least check in with her girlfriend's sister. She was certain Hailey would hex her if she didn't. "Hey, I'm going to call Hailey," she warned Kenzie, her own dark orbs carefully taking in the young woman. Her breathing was growing labored, and she seemed to be sweating. She stepped away then, not bothering to hold the group up any longer. She was wasting time.
She was left alone in the shop before she could blink. Fuck, Hailey was going to be pissed. She supposed now was as good a time as any to give her girlfriend a more in depth look into her business. She wondered if she'd still have a girlfriend afterwards. Although she wasn't about to take no for an answer, Scarlett was glad for Kenzie speaking up, as it expedited the process. She stepped close to Kenzie again, one hand curling around hers while the other reached out to touch the object one of the healers held out to transport them. It was a specialized sort of portkey, one which would let them through the strict wards at St. Mungo's. They landed with a gentle thud in a room clearly designed for arrivals. A witch with bright pink hair and cat-eye glasses greeted them cheerfully, which Scarlett found a bit morbid in a hospital, before leading the whole entourage to a room.
Despite not being a private room, the other bed was empty, which gave the impression of privacy. Refusing to move away from Kenzie, Scarlett merely glared at the healers as they bustled around them if they tried to get her to move. Finally, the antidote having been retrieved and administered, the healers left the room, and Scarlett's shoulders dropped on a sigh. Utterly unselfconscious, she kicked off her heels, nudged Kenzie to scoot over, and climbed up onto the bed with her.
Curling up against her best friend's side, she wrapped an arm over her torso and pressed her cheek against the crook of her neck. "You're not allowed to scare me like that," she said softly, quietly enough that it might not have been heard if there'd been any other noise in the room. The witch with the bright pink hair was gorgeous, and Kenzie found herself staring at her as the whole team was carted off. There were more important things going on than her libido. Like getting the antidote for whatever came out of the vase thing she had knocked over. Soon she was in a room, antidote administered, and she was able to relax into the sterile smelling bed. She hated this.
Her heart raced as Scarlett climbed into the bed with her, one of her own arms lifting up to slide around her middle. Tears sprung to her eyes, sniffling as she squeezed her arm that was around her waist. "I didn't do it on purpose, I didn't..." She hadn't wanted to see Scarlett, to have to deal with their fight, to deal with all of the hurt feelings on both sides. Yet all of that anger was gone, as her head tipped to rest on top of Scar's. Did she tell her she had been in love with her? Was it even important anymore? Scarlett scoffed at her words. Not because she didn't believe Kenzie, but because that wasn't the point. She didn't think Kenzie had done it on purpose; the point was that Kenzie needed to try harder to make sure shit like that didn't happen again. "You have to be okay. I don't... I'm not sure I could deal with you not being okay." The admission hurt, but she'd not been able to hold it back. Being mad at Kenzie had been more painful than she'd thought possible, definitely more painful than she'd wanted to admit, but this...? This had been downright terrifying. "You dealt just well without me for months!" It was dramatic, it had maybe been a month and a half, but to Kenzie it had felt like years. Each message that went unanswered and just read had stung. She immediately felt bad for even saying anything, the regret causing the tears to fall. Rolling her eyes, Scarlett said, "I was mad at you. You really hurt me. And sure, maybe ghosting you like that was wrong, but I fucking love you, so no, I did not do just well without you." Her tone was firm and fierce and before Kenzie had a chance to respond, she tilted her head up to brush her lips against Kenzie's. It was chaste on her end, but in that moment, she wasn't thinking about the poorly hidden feelings Kenzie had for her, but on how close she'd been to losing her best friend in a very permanent way. There had been words that Kenzie was trying to form, but the very air was sucked from her lungs when Scarlett kissed her. It was just a simple brush of the lips, nothing like the fiery and romantic kisses that she shared with Jasper. She choked back a hurt sob. "I'm in love with you, Scarlett. I'm so sorry," she said, her voice oh so very tiny. She knew that her friend didn't want that, didn't want anyone falling in love with her. She was breaking her number one rule. Unable to help herself, Scarlett rolled her eyes again. "Oh for Circe's sake, no you're not. But let's say for argument's sake that you are. What does it matter? You're my best friend, and it's not like you want anything exclusive anyway." And she was never going to want Kenzie that way, anyway. She couldn't imagine wanting to have sex with Kenzie without a guy with them. Did that matter to Kenzie, though? What did she even want from her? And why didn't it freak her out the way Aldrich saying he loved her had? Kenzie's free hand came up to wipe at the tears that were slipping down her cheeks. "It felt like a break-up, not hearing from you for so long," she admitted, the shame she felt causing her cheeks to flush. "Could you ever imagine having sex with me, without one of the boys?" she asked in that soft voice, hoping to point out why it mattered. There was a small part of Kenzie that hoped Scarlett would say yes, but the past few weeks hinted otherwise. Hearing Kenzie refer to it as feeling like a breakup made Scarlett more uncomfortable than she wanted to admit. And then she heard that question, and she froze, her face screwing up in distaste. "No," she answered honestly. It wasn't fair for Kenzie to spring it on her, and she didn't think it was fair for Kenzie to expect anything like that from her. She'd always made it clear that she wasn't into women that way. "I love you, but it's never going to be like that for me." Would she want her to go now? She hoped not. She'd only just got her back. It would be stupid for this to ruin things between them again. It hurt to hear, but she wasn't surprised. She had known, some part of her had known since the night she tried to take Scar home from the carnival. Instead of fighting for her as Aldrich did, she just nodded her head. "I know," she croaked out, shame surfacing on her features. "I just want us to stay best friends," she admitted in a tiny voice. It felt so stupid to say, but at the end of the day she wanted her best friend more than whatever idea her brain concocted between Scar and herself. She had just needed time, something Scar had given her without meaning to. "Well, you've got that," she assured her best friend. Scarlett wasn't going to make any grand promises about their future beyond friendship, as that would be giving Kenzie false hope, but even she could admit that there were things about her threesomes with Kenzie that she missed. Before either of them could say anything else on the matter, though, Kenzie's sister and father burst into the room. Scarlett gave her one more fierce squeeze before sliding out of the bed and giving the family some space. Before the fallout, she'd probably have held her ground and stayed curled up against Kenzie, but now? Now, that felt like too much of a statement. Instead, she pulled out her phone and sent Jasper a message. Maybe things really could get back to normal now. It had only taken Kenzie almost dying... No big deal.