Nic Castell (bleedingheart) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2018-04-08 16:26:00 |
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Entry tags: | #october 2017, nic, nic x zania, zania |
Who: Nic and Zania
When: Sunday, 15th October, late night
Where: Their house
Status: Complete
It was dark. So dark. Nic blinked his eyes, but there was no difference between them being opened or closed. He wondered idly if he’d gone blind, but somehow knew that wasn’t the case. As as stood there, eyes open the whole time, his surroundings came into focus. A wooded area, filled with trees. But it was too dark to make much of anything out. He could barely see his hands. He was sure it was the woods though. He could smell the earth and hear the wind in the trees. There was no moon, though, and no clouds. Even though it felt like nature, it felt completely unnatural.
He stretched out his arms, about to move, but his surroundings shifted. The forest was gone, replaced by a field, and he could see a bit better. Perhaps there was a moon somewhere, shining more light into the darkness. The grass was cold on his feet and he shivered, wishing he’d worn something more than his pajama pants. As he turned, taking in his surroundings, he could see others there. A blond girl he could swear he’d seen before, but he didn’t know where or why. Another guy that he didn’t know at all. And Neil. He knew Neil for sure.
Nic started to walk towards him, to ask him what the hell was going on, when a scream pierced through the night. He immediately brought his hands to his ears as he flinched, his breathing heavy as he sat up in bed, the noise still ringing in his ears. He could still feel the earth on his feet, the slightly damp grass, and pulled off the covers just to make sure there wasn’t dirt in the bed. The sheets were clean, but he could’ve sworn he could still smell the earth on his skin. He ran a hand through his hair and climbed out of bed, grabbing his hoodie and a pack of cigarettes before heading down the stairs.
Walking into the kitchen, he was surprised to see all the lights on, a fresh batch of heart shaped lollipops drying on the counter. Carefully, he peeled one off the sheet of wax paper and gave it a taste. Cherry, with a hint of vanilla. He began to suck on it, then turned as he heard his sister’s footsteps coming up the basement stairs. “Hey, what’re you doing up?” he asked, leaning against the kitchen counter. “It’s late.”
Zania paused briefly when she saw Nic standing there, an amused smile curling on her lips. She was still dressed from earlier in the day, wearing a cozy, oversized gray sweater with ripped jeans, though she’d lost her shoes along the way. Her bright red dreadlocks were pulled back in a high ponytail, tied off with a black scarf. “Getting ready for the festival this weekend,” she answered, moving over to the counter where she began to carefully peel off the lollipops. “There’s a lot to get done and you’re always telling me not to procrastinate.”
Nic groaned and shook his head. “That thing’s a waste of time. It doesn’t bring in new customers and it just propogates the stereotype that all witches are con artists.” He knew what they’d see out there-- people selling junk and telling lies, all to people who wanted to believe there was magic in the world. And on a day where they’d murdered people for being different, not because they were a threat. They were basically celebrating a hate crime. Annually.
“Right? So this year I thought we’d do something different,” Zania grinned, her excitement almost oozing out of her skin as she bounced a little on her toes. She’d spent a long time thinking about this, putting together a plan. It was how she’d passed the day today, mapping it all out, and she was excited to finally share it with her brother. “Let’s be real. Out there on the street. Give ‘em a taste of real magic.”
“No,” Nic snapped. “No way. That’s how we get caught and burned at the stake. Don’t be reckless.” He didn’t even want to hear her out. Whatever she was thinking, it was a bad idea. He knew she liked to mess with people, but this was the kind of thing that could be traced back.
“I’m not gonna do anything stupid. Just some harmless little fun. No one will get hurt. I promise,” Zania said, giving her brother a little pouty face before continuing on, speaking very matter-a-factly. “Besides, you can’t burn people at the stake these days. Start accusing someone of witchcraft and they think you’re crazy, and if you talk about burning them? That’s how you get locked up.” It definitely helped that people didn’t believe anymore. No one expected real magic, which made it easier to get away with.
He couldn’t really argue with that, so Nic just sighed and sucked on the sucker for a moment before giving in. He could continue to fight with her about it, but most likely she’d just do whatever she wanted to do anyways. “Okay, so what did you have in mind?” It sounded like she already had a plan from the way she was talking, but maybe he could talk her out of the more dangerous parts.
Zania bounced up on the counter, kicking her feet a little from where she sat. “Sooooo, I’d really like something that’s mildly cursed, but I haven’t decided what yet, because, like you said, I don’t want to do something that’ll trace back, but I’m kind of thinking of making one object that allows the owner to see the shadow creatures, which really is only a bad thing in that it’ll draw attention to them and no one really wants those things lurking around,” she said, taking only a tiny breath in her rambling. “But I was thinking something like that, maybe some mild love potions, and those,” she said, nodding towards the lollipops, her grin turning just a tiny bit wicked.
Nic popped the one he’d been sucking on out of his mouth and leveled her with a glare. “What the fuck, Zan. You mean I’ve been standing here, sucking on this damn thing, and you didn’t say a thing.” He could feel the heat rising to his face, his heartbeat speeding up as anger flooded through his veins. It was one thing to mess around with random strangers, but this was different.
“I needed to prove to you that it was harmless,” she smiled sweetly, batting her eyes in a mockery of innocence. “Besides you’re the one that came in and started snacking without asking.” It completely contradicted the idea that she’d left them out for him to try, but whatever. It worked in her benefit. Now he couldn’t accuse her of trying to hex people.
“That’s because this is the kitchen!” Nic said, throwing up his arms in exasperation. “Magic downstairs, in the basement. We’ve talked about this!” So many times. He supposed he should be relieved that she was making something for consumption this time. The time she’d boiled a rat in their soup pot he’d had to throw it out. There was no amount of cleaning it that made him feel good about eating from it again.
“It’s cold down there, Nicky!” she whined. It was a bad excuse coming from a witch, but it was the truth. The basement didn’t warm as easily as the rest of the house and if she turned up the heat down there, the rest of the house would be a furnace, especially on the second floor.
“I don’t fucking care if it’s cold, you can’t make potions up here in the pots and pans we use for food!” He wasn’t sure what he needed to say or do to bore this fact into her brain. If he couldn’t trust the things in the kitchen to be edible, where was he supposed to eat? “So what’s gonna happen to me? Am I gonna have hives? Go blind? Turn blue?” He was being a little over dramatic, she wouldn’t have ever blinded a paying customer, but he was almost afraid to find out. What could she possibly think was fun?
“It’s an aphrodisiac,” Zania said, unable to hide her amusement. “Like… magical viagra. Works for girls though, too. And maybe a little bit more potent. You’ll have to let me know.” She didn’t really have anything to compare it to, but thought it had worked well enough. It had completely disabled her from doing anything for a good hour, but that was the point!
“Dammit, Zania!” Nic ran his hand through his hair in frustration, pacing back and forth in the kitchen for a moment. There was nothing he could do at this point. She was right in that it wasn’t particularly harmful. It just had to wait it out. Or beat it out. “You know what, I’m just gonna go back back to bed,” he said, taking a deep breath as if that would keep him calm. As if he could somehow force his body not to respond to the potion. Shaking his head, he dropped the remains of the sucker in the trash, then headed out.
“Of course you are,” Zania snickered. She didn’t really expect him to stay down there once he started feeling the effects. They were close, but they weren’t that close. Gross. But that didn’t stop it from amusing her. “It should kick in in about five minutes.”
“Fuck you!” Nic yelled down as he stomped up the stairs. Unbelievable. He was going to have to get her back for this. He just didn’t know how. He’d think about it later, when he could think clearly. When his body wasn’t being manipulated by a damn lollipop.
“Love you, too!” she called out with a laugh, then flipped open her phone to select a playlist. Music filled the kitchen, drowning any noises that might come from upstairs, and she began to wrap up the rest of the lollipops, dancing as she went.